The Solar System

Curiosity (Rover)
Mars
Planets
The Solar System
Videos from the rover show its shadow moving across the Martian surface during a 12-hour sequence while Curiosity remained parked. When NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover isn’t on the move, it works pretty well as a sundial, as seen in two black-and-white videos recorded on Nov. 8, the 4,002nd Martian day, or sol, of the mission. […]
Posted December 28, 2023
Juno
Europa
Goddard Space Flight Center
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Jupiter
Jupiter Moons
Rings of Jupiter
The Solar System
The orbiter has performed 56 flybys of Jupiter and documented close encounters with three of the gas giant’s four largest moons. NASA’s Juno spacecraft will on Saturday, Dec. 30, make the closest flyby of Jupiter’s moon Io that any spacecraft has made in over 20 years. Coming within roughly 930 miles (1,500 kilometers) from the […]
Posted December 27, 2023
James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)
Planets
The Solar System
Uranus
Uranus Moons
The ice giant Uranus and its rings steal the show in this Dec. 18, 2023, image from the James Webb Space Telescope. The telescope captured new images of Uranus, revealing detailed features of the planet’s rings and seasonal north polar cap, as well as bright storms near and below the southern border of the cap. […]
Posted December 26, 2023
OSIRIS-APEX (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security – Apophis Explorer)
Asteroids
Goddard Space Flight Center
The Solar System
The former OSIRIS-REx spacecraft sets off on a journey to study asteroid Apophis and take advantage of the asteroid’s 2029 flyby of Earth, the likes of which hasn’t happened since the dawn of recorded history.
Posted December 22, 2023
Goddard Space Flight Center
Hubble Space Telescope
Missions
Planets
Rings of Saturn
Saturn
The Solar System
This photo of Saturn was taken by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope on October 22, 2023, when the ringed planet was approximately 850 million miles from Earth. Hubble’s ultra-sharp vision reveals a phenomenon called ring spokes. Saturn’s spokes are transient features that rotate along with the rings.
Posted December 21, 2023
James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)
Goddard Space Flight Center
Missions
Planets
The Solar System
Uranus
Uranus Moons
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope recently trained its sights on unusual and enigmatic Uranus, an ice giant that spins on its side. Webb captured this dynamic world with rings, moons, storms, and other atmospheric features – including a seasonal polar cap.
Posted December 18, 2023
Cassini
Astrobiology
Enceladus
Planetary Science
Saturn
Saturn Moons
The Solar System
A study zooms in on data that NASA’s Cassini gathered at Saturn’s icy moon and finds evidence of a key ingredient for life and a supercharged source of energy to fuel it. Scientists have known that the giant plume of ice grains and water vapor spewing from Saturn’s moon Enceladus is rich with organic compounds, […]
Posted December 14, 2023
Perseverance (Rover)
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Mars
Mars 2020
The Solar System
Now at 1,000 days on Mars, the mission has traversed an ancient river and lake system, collecting valuable samples along the way. Marking its 1,000th Martian day on the Red Planet, NASA’s Perseverance rover recently completed its exploration of the ancient river delta that holds evidence of a lake that filled Jezero Crater billions of […]
Posted December 12, 2023
MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN)
Goddard Space Flight Center
Heliophysics
Mars
Solar Wind
Space Weather
The Solar System
The Sun
In December 2022, NASA’s MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) mission observed the dramatic and unexpected “disappearance” of a stream of charged particles constantly emanating off the Sun, known as the solar wind. This was caused by a special type of solar event that was so powerful, it created a void in its wake as […]
Posted December 11, 2023
Psyche Mission
Asteroids
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Psyche Asteroid
The Solar System
The mission team has celebrated several successes since its launch from Kennedy Space Center on Oct. 13. The latest is the operation of the spacecraft’s cameras. NASA’s Psyche spacecraft is on a roll. In the eight weeks since it left Earth on Oct. 13, the orbiter has performed one successful operation after another, powering on […]
Posted December 5, 2023
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