Search Results: All Fields similar to 'Sun or Mercury or Venus or Mars or Jupiter or Saturn or Or or Uranus or Neptune or Pluto'

Solar System Montage

Title	Solar System Montage
Full Description	This is a montage of planetary images taken by spacecraft managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA. Included are (from top to bottom) images of Mercury, Venus, Earth (and Moon), Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. The spacecraft responsible for these images are as follows: the Mercury image was taken by Mariner 10, the Venus image by Magellan, the Earth image by Galileo, the Mars image by Viking, and the Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune images by Voyager. Pluto is not shown as no spacecraft has yet visited it. The inner planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Moon, and Mars) are roughly to scale to each other, the outer planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune) are roughly to scale to each other. Actual diameters are given below: Sun 1,390,000 km Mercury 4,879 km Venus 12,104 km Earth 12,756 km Moon 3,475 km Mars 6,794 km Jupiter 142.984 km Saturn 120,536 km Uranus 51,118 km Neptune 49,528 km Pluto 2,390 km
Date	04/09/1999
NASA Center	Jet Propulsion Laboratory

All Planet Sizes

title	All Planet Sizes
description	This illustration shows the approximate sizes of the planets relative to each other. Outward from the Sun, the planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. Jupiter's diameter is about 11 times that of the Earth's and the Sun's diameter is about 10 times Jupiter's. Pluto's diameter is slightly less than one-fifth of Earth's. The planets are not shown at the appropriate distance from the Sun. Image Credit: Lunar and Planetary Laboratory

Solar System Portrait - Views of 6 Planets

Solar System Portrait - View …

PIA00453

Sol (our sun)

Imaging Science Subsystem - …

Title	Solar System Portrait - Views of 6 Planets
Original Caption Released with Image	These six narrow-angle color images were made from the first ever 'portrait' of the solar system taken by Voyager 1, which was more than 4 billion miles from Earth and about 32 degrees above the ecliptic. The spacecraft acquired a total of 60 frames for a mosaic of the solar system which shows six of the planets. Mercury is too close to the sun to be seen. Mars was not detectable by the Voyager cameras due to scattered sunlight in the optics, and Pluto was not included in the mosaic because of its small size and distance from the sun. These blown-up images, left to right and top to bottom are Venus, Earth, Jupiter, and Saturn, Uranus, Neptune. The background features in the images are artifacts resulting from the magnification. The images were taken through three color filters -- violet, blue and green -- and recombined to produce the color images. Jupiter and Saturn were resolved by the camera but Uranus and Neptune appear larger than they really are because of image smear due to spacecraft motion during the long (15 second) exposure times. Earth appears to be in a band of light because it coincidentally lies right in the center of the scattered light rays resulting from taking the image so close to the sun. Earth was a crescent only 0.12 pixels in size. Venus was 0.11 pixel in diameter. The planetary images were taken with the narrow-angle camera (1500 mm focal length).

Solar System Family Portrait

title	Solar System Family Portrait
description	These six narrow-angle color images were made from the first ever 'portrait' of the solar system taken by Voyager 1, which was more than 4 billion miles from Earth and about 32 degrees above the ecliptic. The spacecraft acquired a total of 60 frames for a mosaic of the solar system which shows six of the planets. Mercury is too close to the sun to be seen. Mars was not detectable by the Voyager cameras due to scattered sunlight in the optics, and Pluto was not included in the mosaic because of its small size and distance from the sun. These blown-up images, left to right and top to bottom are Venus, Earth, Jupiter, and Saturn, Uranus, Neptune. The background features in the images are artifacts resulting from the magnification. The images were taken through three color filters -- violet, blue and green -- and recombined to produce the color images. Jupiter and Saturn were resolved by the camera but Uranus and Neptune appear larger than they really are because of image smear due to spacecraft motion during the long (15 second) exposure times. Earth appears to be in a band of light because it coincidentally lies right in the center of the scattered light rays resulting from taking the image so close to the sun. Earth was a crescent only 0.12 pixels in size. Venus was 0.11 pixel in diameter. The planetary images were taken with the narrow-angle camera (1500 mm focal length). Image Note: This 'Portrait' contains 18 frames taken through the Narrow Angle camera using the Violet, Blue, and Green Filters. The label information describes only 3 of these frames. Image Credit: NASA

Solar System Montage

Title	Solar System Montage
Description	This is a montage of planetary images taken by spacecraft managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA. Included are (from top to bottom) images of Mercury, Venus, Earth (and Moon), Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. The spacecraft responsible for these images are as follows: the Mercury image was taken by Mariner 10, the Venus image by Magellan, the Earth image by Galileo, the Mars image by Viking, and the Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune images by Voyager.
Date	02.01.1996

Eight Planets and New Solar System Designations

Eight Planets and New Solar …

Title	Eight Planets and New Solar System Designations
Explanation	How many planets are in the Solar System? This popular question now has a new formal answer according the International Astronomical Union [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Astronomical_Union ] (IAU): eight. Last week, the IAU voted [ http://www.iau2006.org/mirror/www.iau.org/iau0603/index.html ] on a new definition for planet [ http://www.iau2006.org/mirror/www.iau.org/iau0603/index.html ] and Pluto [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010319.html ] did not make the cut. Rather, Pluto was re-classified as a dwarf planet [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwarf_planet ] and is considered as a prototype for a new category of trans-Neptunian objects [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Neptunian_object ]. The eight planets now recognized by the IAU are: Mercury [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040912.html ], Venus [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040516.html ], Earth [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050102.html ], Mars [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060730.html ], Jupiter [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050911.html ], Saturn [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap041225.html ], Uranus [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010826.html ], and Neptune [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010821.html ]. Solar System objects now classified as dwarf planets are: Ceres [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060821.html ], Pluto [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060624.html ], and the currently unnamed 2003 UB313 [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060207.html ]. Planets, by the new IAU definition, must be in orbit around the sun, be nearly spherical, and must have cleared the neighborhood around their orbits. The demotion of Pluto [ http://www.nineplanets.org/pluto.html ] to dwarf planet status is a source of continuing dissent [ http://www.badastronomy.com/bablog/2006/08/18/colbert-takes-neil-tyson-down/ ] and controversy [ http://newswire.ascribe.org/cgi-bin/behold.pl?ascribeid=20060818.063045&time=07%2006%20PDT&year=2006&public=0 ] in the astronomical community.

Solar System Portrait

Title	Solar System Portrait
Explanation	On another Valentine's Day [ http://www.poets.org/poems/poems.cfm?prmID=1166 ] (February 14, 1990), cruising four billion miles from the Sun, the Voyager 1 [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap031120.html ] spacecraft looked back to make this first ever family portrait [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/ PIAGenCatalogPage.pl?PIA00451 ] of our Solar System. The complete portrait is a 60 frame mosaic [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/photo_gallery/ photogallery-solarsystem.html ] made from a vantage point 32 degrees above the ecliptic plane [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap001014.html ]. Voyager's wide angle camera frames sweep through the inner Solar System (far left) linking up with gas giant Neptune, at the time the Solar System's [ http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/overview.html ] outermost planet (scroll right). Positions [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/image/planetary/solar_system/ family_diagram.jpg ] for Venus, Earth [ http://www.seds.org/billa/psc/pbd.html ], Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are indicated by the corresponding letters while the Sun is the bright spot near the center of the circle of frames. The inset frames [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980517.html ] for each of the planets are from Voyager's narrow field camera. Unseen in the portrait are Mercury [ http://www.psrd.hawaii.edu/Jan97/Mercury Unveiled.html ], too close to the Sun to be detected, and Mars, unfortunately hidden by sunlight scattered in the camera's optical system. Small, faint Pluto's [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap011018.html ] position was not covered.

A Sky Full Of Planets

Title	A Sky Full Of Planets
Explanation	Look up tonight [ http://www.cnn.com/TECH/9712/01/heavenly.show.ap/ ]. Just after sunset, the crescent moon and all five "naked-eye" planets (Mercury [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap971130.html ], Venus [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap971014.html ], Mars [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970528.html ], Jupiter [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap971030.html ], and Saturn [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970829.html ]) will be visible (depending on your latitude), lying near our solar system's ecliptic plane [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970927.html ]. Venus and Jupiter will shine brilliantly as the brightest "stars" in the sky, but Mercury will be near the horizon and hard to see. A pair of binoculars will also reveal Uranus and Neptune and observers with a telescope and a good site may even be able to glimpse faint Pluto just above the Western horizon in the fading twilight (not shown on the chart above). Enjoy this lovely spectacle any clear night [ http://www.skypub.com/whatsup/dec97sky.html ] through about December 8. A similar gathering is expected in May 2000 [ http://www.skypub.com/special/alignmnt/whypanic.html ] but the planets will be hidden from view by the solar glare. A night sky as full of planets as this one will occur again though ... in about 100 years.

Moons of the Solar System

title	Moons of the Solar System
description	All the planetary moons in our solar system are shown here at their correct relative size and true color. Their diversity of size and appearance is testament to the unique and fascinating geologic history that each of these bodies has undergone. Two of the moons are larger than the planet Mercury, and eight of them are larger than Pluto. Earth's Moon is the fifth largest of the set, with a diameter of 3476 kilometers (2160 miles). Most of the moons are thought to have formed from a disk of debris left over from formation of the planet they orbit. However Triton, Neptune's largest moon, and several of the smallest moons, including the moons of Mars, are thought to be captured planetesimals that formed elsewhere in the solar system. Earth's Moon is thought to have formed from the debris ejected from a roughly Mars-sized object colliding with the early Earth, perhaps a unique event in the history of the solar system. The moons are organized on the diagram by the planet they orbit (top to bottom with increasing distance from the Sun) and their position relative to the planet (left to right with increasing distance from the planet). Below is a listing of the names of all the moons and the planets they orbit. Most moons are named for mythological characters associated with the character the planet is named for. While most of the planets are named for Roman characters (with the exceptions of Pluto and Uranus), most of the moon have names from Greek mythology. For example, Phobos and Deimos are the sons of Ares, the Greek version of Mars. Jupiter?s moons are all named for lovers and other close associates of Zeus (Jupiter). Saturn?s moons are named for Titans, the race that included Cronos (Saturn), Zeus? father. Neptune?s moons are named for mythological characters associated with water, and Charon was the ferryman of the dead who brought people to Pluto?s realm. By tradition, the discoverer of a moon gets to name it (now subject to approval by the International Astronomical Union). The son of the discoverer of the first two moons of Uranus (Sir William Herschel) decided to name Uranus? moons not for mythological characters, but instead for the king and queen of fairies in Shakespear?s A Midsummer Night?s Dream . This began a tradition whereby all uranian satellites are named for fairy characters in English drama. To read more about the names of the planets and their satellites, go to the U.S. Geological Survey?s nomenclature guide at http://wwwflag.wr.usgs.gov/USGSFlag/Space/nomen/append7.html . Earth Moon Mars Phobos, Deimos Jupiter Metis, Adrastea, Amalthea, Thebe, Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto, Leda, Himalia, Lysithea, Elara, Ananke, Carme, Pasiphae, Sinope Saturn Pan, Atlas, Prometheus, Pandora, Epimetheus, Janus, Mimas, Enceladus, Tethys, Calypso, Telesto, Dione, Helene, Rhea, Titan, Hyperion, Iapetus, Phoebe Uranus Cordelia, Ophelia, Bianca, Cressida, Desdemona, Juliet, Portia, Rosalind, Belinda, Puck, Miranda,, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, Oberon Neptune Naiad, Thalassa, Despina, Galatea, Larissa, Proteus, Triton, Nereid Pluto Charon Image Credit: Image processing by Tim Parker (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) and Paul Schenk and Robert Herrick (Lunar and Planetary Institute), based on NASA images.

The New Solar System

PIA02973

Title	The New Solar System
Original Caption Released with Image	This solar-system montage of the nine planets and 4 large moons of Jupiter in our solar system are set against a false-color view of the Rosette Nebula. The light emitted from the Rosette Nebula results from the presence of hydrogen (red), oxygen (green) and sulfur (blue). Most of the planetary images in this montage were obtained by NASA's planetary missions, which have dramatically changed our understanding of the solar system in the past 30 years. The following lists the mission and link for additional information on each object and image.Mercury/Mariner 10 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA02418 ]Venus/Galileo [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA00072 ]Earth/Galileo [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA00728 ]Moon/Lunar Orbiter [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA00094 ]Mars/Viking Orbiter 1 & 2 [ http://wwwflag.wr.usgs.gov/USGSFlag/Space/wall/mars/hemisph.html ]Jupiter/Voyager 1 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA01509 ]Io/Galileo [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA02309 ]Europa/Galileo [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA00502 ]Ganymede/Galileo [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA01666 ]Callisto/Galileo [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA01298 ]Saturn/Voyager 1 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA01383 ]Uranus/Voyager 2 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA00032 ]Neptune/Voyager 2 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA02210 ]Pluto/Hubble Space Telescope [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA00827 ]Rosette Nebula/Kitt Peak [ http://www.noao.edu/image_gallery/html/im0557.html ]

Planet Temperatures

title	Planet Temperatures
description	In general, the surface temperature of the planets decreases with increasing distance from the Sun. Venus is an exception because its dense atmosphere acts as a greenhouse and heats the surface to above the melting point of lead (3280C). Mercury rotates slowly and has a thin atmosphere, and consequently, the nightside temperature can be more than 5000C lower than the dayside temperature shown on the diagram. Temperatures for the gas giants (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune) are shown at a level in the atmosphere equal in pressure to sea level on Earth. Temperatures are in both Fahrenheit and Celsius, and the planets are not shown to scale. Image Credit: Lunar and Planetary Institute

A Solar System Portrait

Title	A Solar System Portrait
Explanation	As the Voyager 1 spacecraft [ http://vraptor.jpl.nasa.gov/voyager/vgrfaqs.html ] headed out of our Solar System [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980517.html ], it looked back and took a parting family portrait [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/photo_gallery/photogallery-solarsystem.html ] of the Sun [ http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/sol.html ] and planets. From beyond Pluto [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990213.html ], our Solar System looks like a bright star surrounded by faint dots. In the above picture [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/PIAGenCatalogPage.pl?PIA00451 ], the Sun is so bright it is blocked out for contrast. The innermost dots visible, labeled E and V for Earth [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990131.html ] and Venus [ http://www.nasm.edu/ceps/RPIF/VENUS/rpifvenus.html ], are particularly hard to discern. Gas giants Jupiter [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/Jovian.html ] (J) and Saturn [ http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/saturn.html ] (S) are much more noticeable. The outermost planets visible are Uranus [ http://www.hawastsoc.org/solar/eng/uranus.htm ] (U) and Neptune [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980221.html ] (N). Each planet is shown labeled and digitally enhanced in an inset image. Voyager 1 is only one of four human-made objects to leave our Solar System, the other three being Voyager 2, and Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11.

Uranus: The Tilted Planet

Title	Uranus: The Tilted Planet
Explanation	Uranus is the third largest planet in our Solar System [ http://www.nineplanets.org/overview.html ] after Jupiter [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/jupiter.html ] and Saturn [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010826.html http://www.solarviews.com/eng/saturn.htm ]. Uranus [ http://www.nineplanets.org/uranus.html ] is composed mostly of rock and ices, but with a thick hydrogen [ http://chemlab.pc.maricopa.edu/periodic/h.html ] and helium [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010120.html ] atmosphere. The blue hue of Uranus' atmosphere arises from the small amount of methane [ http://scifun.chem.wisc.edu/chemweek/methane/methane.html ] which preferentially absorbs red light. This picture [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/PIAGenCatalogPage.pl?PIA01360 ] was snapped by the Voyager 2 spacecraft [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/voyager.html ] in 1986 - the only spacecraft ever to visit Uranus. Uranus [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/uranus.html ] has many moons [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990531.html ] and a ring system [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap971126.html ]. Uranus, like Venus [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/venus.html ], has a rotation axis that is greatly tilted and sometimes points near the Sun. It remains an astronomical mystery why Uranus' axis [ http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=1991LPIP...22...59S ] is so tilted. Uranus and Neptune [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/neptune.html ] are quite similar: Uranus is slightly larger but less massive.

First ESA Faint Object Camera Science Images Pluto - the "Double Planet

First ESA Faint Object Camer …

Title	First ESA Faint Object Camera Science Images Pluto - the "Double Planet

Solar System Portrait - 60 F …

Title	Solar System Portrait - 60 Frame Mosaic
Description	The cameras of Voyager 1 on Feb. 14, 1990, pointed back toward the sun and took a series of pictures of the sun and the planets, making the first ever "portrait" of our solar system as seen from the outside. In the course of taking this mosaic consisting of a total of 60 frames, Voyager 1 made several images of the inner solar system from a distance of approximately 4 billion miles and about 32 degrees above the ecliptic plane. Thirty-nine wide angle frames link together six of the planets of our solar system in this mosaic. Outermost Neptune is 30 times further from the sun than Earth. Our sun is seen as the bright object in the center of the circle of frames. The wide-angle image of the sun was taken with the camera's darkest filter (a methane absorption band) and the shortest possible exposure (5 thousandths of a second) to avoid saturating the camera's vidicon tube with scattered sunlight. The sun is not large as seen from Voyager, only about one-fortieth of the diameter as seen from Earth, but is still almost 8 million times brighter than the brightest star in Earth's sky, Sirius. The result of this great brightness is an image with multiple reflections from the optics in the camera. Wide-angle images surrounding the sun also show many artifacts attributable to scattered light in the optics. These were taken through the clear filter with one second exposures. The insets show the planets magnified many times. Narrow-angle images of Earth, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune were acquired as the spacecraft built the wide-angle mosaic. Jupiter is larger than a narrow-angle pixel and is clearly resolved, as is Saturn with its rings. Uranus and Neptune appear larger than they really are because of image smear due to spacecraft motion during the long (15 second) exposures. From Voyager's great distance Earth and Venus are mere points of light, less than the size of a picture element even in the narrow-angle camera. Earth was a crescent only 0.12 pixel in size. Coincidentally, Earth lies right in the center of one of the scattered light rays resulting from taking the image so close to the sun.
Date	06.06.1990

Solar System Portrait - 60 F …

PIA00451

Imaging Science Subsystem - …

Title	Solar System Portrait - 60 Frame Mosaic
Original Caption Released with Image	The cameras of Voyager 1 on Feb. 14, 1990, pointed back toward the sun and took a series of pictures of the sun and the planets, making the first ever "portrait" of our solar system as seen from the outside. In the course of taking this mosaic consisting of a total of 60 frames, Voyager 1 made several images of the inner solar system from a distance of approximately 4 billion miles and about 32 degrees above the ecliptic plane. Thirty-nine wide angle frames link together six of the planets of our solar system in this mosaic. Outermost Neptune is 30 times further from the sun than Earth. Our sun is seen as the bright object in the center of the circle of frames. The wide-angle image of the sun was taken with the camera's darkest filter (a methane absorption band) and the shortest possible exposure (5 thousandths of a second) to avoid saturating the camera's vidicon tube with scattered sunlight. The sun is not large as seen from Voyager, only about one-fortieth of the diameter as seen from Earth, but is still almost 8 million times brighter than the brightest star in Earth's sky, Sirius. The result of this great brightness is an image with multiple reflections from the optics in the camera. Wide-angle images surrounding the sun also show many artifacts attributable to scattered light in the optics. These were taken through the clear filter with one second exposures. The insets show the planets magnified many times. Narrow-angle images of Earth, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune were acquired as the spacecraft built the wide-angle mosaic. Jupiter is larger than a narrow-angle pixel and is clearly resolved, as is Saturn with its rings. Uranus and Neptune appear larger than they really are because of image smear due to spacecraft motion during the long (15 second) exposures. From Voyager's great distance Earth and Venus are mere points of light, less than the size of a picture element even in the narrow-angle camera. Earth was a crescent only 0.12 pixel in size. Coincidentally, Earth lies right in the center of one of the scattered light rays resulting from taking the image so close to the sun.

An Auroral Ring on Jupiter

Title	An Auroral Ring on Jupiter
Explanation	Do other planets have aurora? Terrestrial [ http://work.ucsd.edu:5141/cgi-bin/http_webster?terrestrial ] and spacecraft observations have found evidence for aurora on Venus [ http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/venus.html ], Mars [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970609.html http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/mars.html ], Jupiter [ http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/jupiter.html ], Saturn [ http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/saturn.html ], Uranus [ http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/uranus.html ], and Neptune [ http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/neptune.html ]. In the above false-color photograph [ http://galileo.ivv.nasa.gov/callisto/043097.html ], a good portion of an auroral ring [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970609.html http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?1996BAAS%2E%2E%2E28%2E2123P&db_key=AST&nosetcookie=1 ] was captured recently in optical light by the Galileo spacecraft [ http://galileo.ivv.nasa.gov/spacecraft.html ] in orbit around Jupiter [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970609.html http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/cossc/apod_search?jupiter ]. Auroral rings [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970609.html http://www.geo.mtu.edu/weather/aurora/ ] encircle a planet's magnetic pole, and result from charged particles spiraling down magnetic field lines. Although the surroundings near Jupiter [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960803.html ] are much different than Earth [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap961230.html ], the auroral rings [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970402.html ] appear similar.

Uranus - Final Image

PIA00143

Sol (our sun)

Imaging Science Subsystem - …

Title	Uranus - Final Image
Original Caption Released with Image	This view of Uranus was recorded by Voyager 2 on Jan 25, 1986, as the spacecraft left the planet behind and set forth on the cruise to Neptune Voyager was 1 million kilometers (about 600,000 miles) from Uranus when it acquired this wide-angle view. The picture -- a color composite of blue, green and orange frames -- has a resolution of 140 km (90 mi). The thin crescent of Uranus is seen here at an angle of 153 degrees between the spacecraft, the planet and the Sun. Even at this extreme angle, Uranus retains the pale blue-green color seen by ground-based astronomers and recorded by Voyager during its historic encounter. This color results from the presence of methane in Uranus' atmosphere, the gas absorbs red wavelengths of light, leaving the predominant hue seen here. The tendency for the crescent to become white at the extreme edge is caused by the presence of a high-altitude haze Voyager 2 -- having encountered Jupiter in 1979, Saturn in 1981 and Uranus in 1986 -- will proceed on its journey to Neptune. Closest approach is scheduled for Aug 24, 1989. The Voyager project is managed for NASA by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Description	Here on the Gallery page you can find the very latest images, videos and products from the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn, including the spectacular launch, spacecraft assembly and the exciting trip to Saturn.
Full Description	This 1981 Voyager 2 image shows the vast Saturn ring system, as well as three small icy satellites and the shadow of a fourth. Saturn is the second largest planet in the Solar System. It has a volume about 760 times that of Earth. Like Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune, it has no solid surface, but is instead an enormous sphere of gas which gradually compresses into fluid at great depths beneath the clouds. Most of the visible markings are formed in a layer of ammonia ice clouds, which form at a pressure level in Saturn's atmosphere that is comparable to sea-level atmospheric pressure on Earth. Above those clouds, Saturn's atmosphere, like those of the Sun and the other three gas giant planets, is composed almost exclusively of hydrogen and helium. By contrast, Saturn's rings and icy satellites appear to be composed primarily of water ice. Image reprocessed by USGS. (P-43538)

Lightning on Jupiter

Title	Lightning on Jupiter
Explanation	Does lightning occur only on Earth? Spacecraft in our Solar System have detected radio signals consistent with lightning [ http://wwwghcc.msfc.nasa.gov/lisotd.html ] on other planets, including Venus [ http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/venus.html ], Jupiter [ http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/jupiter.html ], Saturn [ http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/saturn.html ], Uranus [ http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/uranus.html ], and Neptune [ http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/neptune.html ]. In the above photograph [ http://galileo.ivv.nasa.gov/callisto/050197.html ], optical flashes from Jupiter [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970109.html ] were photographed recently by the Galileo orbiter [ http://galileo.ivv.nasa.gov/mission.html ]. Each of the circled dots indicates lightning [ http://www.nofc.forestry.ca/~kanderso/ltgfaq.html ]. The numbers label lines of latitude [ http://www.met.fsu.edu/explores/latlon.html ]. The size of the largest spot is about 500 kilometers across and might be high clouds illuminated by several bright lightning strokes.

August 2006: View of the Pla …

Description	August 2006: View of the Planets
Full Description	Just before the eastern sky brightens with sunrise, three planets and the waning crescent moon join the starry twilight tapestry. Then, as the bright stars of Gemini and Orion fade with oncoming dawn, the planets rise and shine. About 45 minutes before sunrise on Aug. 20 to 22 the planets Venus, Mercury and Saturn dance on the ecliptic -- the plane of Earth's orbit and the imaginary line tracing it in the sky. The sun, moon and planets appear to move along this line. Venus, rising an hour and a half before sunrise, is the easiest to see in the morning sky. Two hundred forty-one million kilometers (150 million miles) distant, Venus is Earth-sized. Mercury, at a distance of 183 million kilometers (114 million miles), is the fastest and smallest of the inner planets and appears brighter than the more distant Saturn. Saturn, 1,517 million kilometers (943 million miles) distant, was at conjunction with the sun just two weeks ago and now rises nearly an hour before sunrise. On Aug. 26 and 27, Saturn pairs with much brighter Venus at dawn. What other planets can we see in late August? Mars sets 45 minutes after sunset by month's end but is lost from view in the twilight, while brilliant Jupiter remains prominent as the only planet visible for a few hours during the late August evenings. Credit: NASA/JPL
Date	August 18, 2006

Orbit of Sedna

Title	Orbit of Sedna
Description	This animation shows the location of the newly discovered planet-like object, dubbed "Sedna," in relation to the rest of the Solar System. Starting at the inner Solar System, which includes the orbits of Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars (all in yellow), the view pulls away through the asteroid belt and the orbits of the outer planets beyond (green). Pluto and the distant Kuiper Belt objects are seen next until finally Sedna comes into view. As the field widens the full orbit of Sedna can be seen along with its current location. Sedna is nearing its closest approach to the Sun, its 10,000-year orbit typically takes it to far greater distances. Moving past Sedna, what was previously thought to be the inner edge of the Oort cloud appears. The Oort cloud is a spherical distribution of cold, icy bodies lying at the limits of the Sun's gravitational pull. Sedna's presence suggests that this Oort cloud is much closer than scientists believed.

AC86-7042

Photographer : JPL Range : 1 …

1/24/86

Description	Photographer : JPL Range : 1 illion km. ( 600,000 mi. ) Resolution : 140 km. ( 90 mi. ) P-29539C This Voyager 2 image of Uranus was captured as the spacecraft was leaving Uranus behind on its cruise to Neptune. The image is a color composite of three photographs taken through blue, grren, and orange filters. Thin thin crecent seen here is at an angle of 153 degrees between the the spacecraft, the planet, and the sun. Even at this extreme angle, uranus retains the pale blue-green color seen by the ground based astronomers and recorded by Voyager 2 during its historic encounter, this color results from the presence of methane in Uranus' atmosphere. The gas absorbs red wavelengths of light, leaving the predominant hue seen here. The tendency for the cresent to become white at the extreme edge is cased by the presence of a high-altitude haze. Voyager 2, having encountered Jupiter in 1979, Saturn in 1981, and Uranus in 1986, will proceed on its jouney to Neptune. Closest approach is scheduled for August 24, 1989.
Date	1/24/86

A Jupiter-Venus Conjunction

Title	A Jupiter-Venus Conjunction
Explanation	Venus [ http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/venus.html ] and Jupiter [ http://pds.jpl.nasa.gov/planets/welcome/jupiter.htm ] appeared unusually close together in the sky last month. The conjunction was easily visible to the unaided eye because Venus [ http://www.aspsky.org/html/tnl/18/18.html ] appears brighter than any background star. The two planets were not significantly closer in space - Venus just passed nearly in front of Jupiter as seen from the Earth [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990131.html ]. Visible in the above photograph [ http://www.psiaz.com/polakis/conj0299/conj0299.html ] are actually five planets. The faint dot near the top is Saturn [ http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/saturn.html ]. Venus is the brightest spot near the center, and Jupiter [ http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/jupiter.html ] is just above it. Perhaps the hardest to see is Mercury [ http://stardate.utexas.edu/resources/ssguide/mercury.html ], visible below Venus but above the foreground Earth [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980904.html ]. A single line nearly connects all the planets [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980825.html ], a result of all planets orbiting the Sun [ http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/sol.html ] in a single plane called the ecliptic [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970927.html ].

S-1 C & BW -62

Voyager 1 looked back at Sat …

12/4/80

Date	12/4/80
Description	Voyager 1 looked back at Saturn on Nov. 16, 1980, four days after the spacecraft flew past the planet, to observe the appearance of Saturn and its rings from this unique perspective. A few of the spokelike ring features discovered by Voyager appear in the rings as bright patches in this image, taken at a distance of 5.3 million kilometers (3.3 million miles) from the planet. Saturn's shadow falls upon the rings, and the bright Saturn crescent is seen through all but the densest portion of the rings. From Saturn, Voyager 1 is on a trajectory taking the spacecraft out of the ecliptic plane, away from the Sun and eventually out of the solar system (by about 1990). Although its mission to Jupiter and Saturn is nearly over (the Saturn encounter ends Dec. 18, 1980), Voyager 1 will be tracked by the Deep Space Network as far as possible in an effort to determine where the influence of the Sun ends and interstellar space begins. Voyager 1's flight path through interstellar space is in the direction of the constellation Ophiuchus. Voyager 2 will reach Saturn on August 25, 1981, and is targeted to encounter Uranus in 1986 and possibly Neptune in 1989. The Voyager project is managed for NASA by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California. #####

Neptune: Big Blue Giant

Title	Neptune: Big Blue Giant
Explanation	This picture was taken by the Voyager 2 [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/voyager.html ] spacecraft in 1986 - the only spacecraft ever to visit Neptune. Neptune [ http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/nineplanets/nineplanets/neptune.html ] will be the farthest planet from the Sun [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap950813.html ] until 1999, when the elliptical orbit of Pluto will cause it to once again resume this status. Neptune [ http://www.c3.lanl.gov/~cjhamil/SolarSystem/neptune.html ], like Uranus [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap950816.html ], is composed mostly of liquid water, methane and ammonia, is surrounded by a thick gas atmosphere of mostly hydrogen and helium, and has many moons and rings. Neptune [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/photo_gallery/photogallery-neptune.html ]'s moon Triton [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap950805.html ] is unlike any other and has active volcanoes. The nature of Triton [ http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/nineplanets/nineplanets/triton.html ]'s unusual orbit around Neptune is the focus of much discussion and speculation. Tomorrow's picture: Pluto: The Frozen Planet

Neptune

PIA02205

Sol (our sun)

Imaging Science Subsystem - …

Title	Neptune
Original Caption Released with Image	This image of the planet Neptune was taken by the Voyager 2spacecraft on January 23, 1989, about seven months before its scheduled August 25 encounter. The spacecraft was 310 million kilometers (192 million miles) from the planet, looking from 34 degrees south of Neptune's equator through the "clear" filter. Similar images from Earth-based telescopes had shown a featureless disk, through red filters, chosen to mark methane gas, revealed irregular-shaped features associated with high-altitude hazes. The Voyager data reveal cloud structure at lower altitudes where the circulation is apparently arranged in parallel east-west bands, as is the case on Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus. In the original image, the bright bands are about 10 percent brighter than the dark band circling the South pole. This is about the same contrast shown by Saturn, and ten times more than Uranus. The brightening and sawtooth edge around the right side are artifacts of the data processing. The Voyager project is managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for the NASA Office of Space Science and Applications.

Jupiter Flyby

title	Jupiter Flyby
description	Although the main mission of the New Horizons spacecraft is to explore the Pluto system and the Kuiper Belt of icy objects, it will first fly by the solar system's largest planet, Jupiter, in 2007 - a little over a year after the planned launch date. In this artist's rendering, New Horizons is just past its closest approach to the planet. Near the Sun are Earth, Venus and Mercury. The dim crescent shape at the upper right of the Sun is Callisto, the outermost of Jupiter's four largest moons. Just left of Jupiter is Europa. Image Credit: Southwest Research Institute (Dan Durda)/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (Ken Moscati)

Planets In The Sun

Title	Planets In The Sun
Explanation	Today [ http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2000/ast02may_1.htm ], all five naked-eye planets [ http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/ ] (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn) plus the Moon and the Sun [ http://helios.gsfc.nasa.gov/ sun.html ] will at least approximately line-up. As viewed [ http://drumright.ossm.edu/astronomy/conjunctions.html ] from planet Earth, they will be clustered within about 26 degrees, the closest alignment for all these celestial bodies [ http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2000/ ast30mar_1m.htm#alignments ] since February 1962, when there was a solar eclipse [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990818.html ]! Such planetary alignments [ http://www.griffithobs.org/SkyAlignments.html ] are not dangerous, except of course that the Sun might hurt your eyes when you look at it [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap981212.html ]. So it might be easier [ http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/hotshots/ ] to appreciate today's solar system [ http://space.jpl.nasa.gov/ ] spectacle if

Charon Discovery Image

title	Charon Discovery Image
date	06.22.1978
description	On 22 June 1978, an astronomer at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C. was making routine measurements of photographic plates taken with the 1.55-meter (61-inch) Kaj Strand Astrometric Reflector at the USNO Flagstaff Station in Arizona. The purpose of these images was to refine the orbit of the far-flung planet Pluto to help compute a better ephemeris for this distant object. Astronomer James W. Christy had noticed that a number of the images of Pluto appeared elongated, but images of background stars on the same plate did not. Other plates showed the planet as a tiny, round dot. Christy examined a number of Pluto images from the USNO archives, and he noticed the elongations again. Furthermore, the elongations appeared to change position with respect to the stars over time. After eliminating the possibility that the elongations were produced by plate defects and background stars, the only plausible explanation was that they were caused by a previously unknown moon orbiting Pluto at a distance of about 19,600 kilometers (12,100 miles) with a period of just over six days. On 7 July 1978, the discovery was formally announced to the astronomical community and the world by the IAU Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams via IAU Circular 3241. The discovery received the provisional designation "1978 P 1", Christy proposed the name "Charon", after the mythological ferryman who carried souls across the river Acheron, one of the five mythical rivers that surrounded Pluto's underworld. Over the course of the next several years, another USNO astronomer, the late Robert S. Harrington, calculated that Pluto and its newly-found moon would undergo a series of mutual eclipses and occultations, beginning in early 1985. On 17 February 1985 the first successful observation of one of these transits was made at with the 0.9-meter (36-inch) reflector at the University of Texas McDonald Observatory, within 40 minutes of Harrington's predicted time. The IAU Circular announcing these confirming observations was issued on 22 February 1985. With this confirmation, the new moon was officially named Charon. Pluto was discovered at Lowell Observatory in 1930 by the late Clyde W. Tombaugh, an amateur astronomer from Kansas who was hired by the Observatory specifically to photograph the sky with a special camera and search for the planet predicted by the Observatory's founder, Percival Lowell. Lowell had deduced the existence of a "Planet X" by studying small anomalies in the orbits of Uranus and Neptune. As it turned out, Pluto's discovery was almost entirely serendipitous, Pluto's tiny mass was far too small to account for the anomalies, which were resolved when Voyager 2 determined more precise masses for Uranus and Neptune. The discovery of Charon has led to a much better understanding of just how tiny Pluto is. Its diameter is about 2274 km (1413 miles), and its mass is 0.25% of the mass of the Earth. Charon has a diameter of about 1172 kilometers (728, miles) and a mass of about 22% that of Pluto. The two worlds circle their common center of mass with a period of 6.387 days and are locked in a "super-synchronous" rotation: observers on Pluto's surface would always see Charon in the same part of the sky relative to their local horizon. Normally Pluto is considered the most distant world in the solar system, but during the period from January 1979 until February 1999 it was actually closer to the Sun than Neptune. It has the most eccentric and inclinced orbit of any of the major planets. This orbit won't bring Pluto back to its discovery position until the year 2178! Image Credit: U.S. Naval Observatory

Irregular Moons Discovered Around Uranus

Irregular Moons Discovered A …

Title	Irregular Moons Discovered Around Uranus
Explanation	Where did these two irregular moons of Uranus [ http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/uranus.html ] originate? Last week two previously undiscovered moons [ http://www.cita.utoronto.ca/~gladman/utpress.html ] of the distant gas planet were confirmed [ http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iauc/06700/06765.html ], the first in irregular orbits. All fifteen previously known moons [ http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/uramoons.html ] of Uranus [ http://bang.lanl.gov/solarsys/uranus.htm ] are 'regular', circling near the planet's equator. Most of these were discovered by the passing Voyager 2 spacecraft [ http://vraptor.jpl.nasa.gov/voyager/voyager.html ] in 1986. These newly discovered moons [ http://www.news.cornell.edu/science/Oct97/new_moons.hrs.html ] are thought to be odd-shaped and about 100 km across. They are considered irregular, though, because they orbit in odd directions and far from Uranus [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap950816.html ]. If Uranus' irregular moons have the same origin as those orbiting Jupiter [ http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/jupiter.html ], Saturn [ http://pds.jpl.nasa.gov/planets/welcome/saturn.htm ], and Neptune [ http://spacelink.msfc.nasa.gov/Instructional.Materials/Curriculum.Materials/Sciences/Astronomy/Our.Solar.System/Neptune/ ], then they were probably caught from orbits around the Sun [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960518.html ]. Moons like this are discovered by their motion. One of these moons is shown above [ http://www.cita.utoronto.ca/~gladman/ ] as the circled point of light moving from left to right. (To stop the movie from repeating, click "stop" on most browsers.)

Neptune

PIA01998

Sol (our sun)

Imaging Science Subsystem - …

Title	Neptune
Original Caption Released with Image	This image of Neptune was taken through the clear filter of the narrow-angle camera on July 16 when the Voyager 2 spacecraft was at a range of 57,000,000 kilometers (35 million miles). The image was processed by computer to show the newly resolved dark oval feature embedded in the middle of the dusky southern collar. The large dark spot nearer the equator is also prominent on the left edge of the disk. The new small dark spot rotates faster than the large dark spot indicating that the winds on Neptune have different velocities at different latitudes as is the case for Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus.

Cosmic Conjunction

title	Cosmic Conjunction
description	Five planets - Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn - gather over the ancient Stonehenge monument in England. Image Copyright: Philip Perkins

Sky and Planets

Title	Sky and Planets
Explanation	On February 10th, an evocative [ http://www.jps.net/ssumner/ ] evening sky above Rocklin, California, USA inspired astrophotographer Steve Sumner to record this remarkable sight - five planets and the Moon. Near its first quarter phase, the bright Moon [ http://lunar.arc.nasa.gov/ ] was intentionally overexposed but Saturn [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/cassini/ ], Jupiter [ http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov/ ], Mars [ http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/ ], and Mercury [ http://sd-www.jhuapl.edu/MESSENGER/ ] (and, of course, planet Earth's [ http://www.earth.nasa.gov/ ] horizon) are all clearly visible in the deepening twilight. Notably absent in this grouping of naked-eye planets is Venus [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990903.html ] which is still putting in an early appearance as the morning star [ http://ispec.scibernet.com/station/morn_star.html ]. This month, Mercury has joined Venus in the dawn twilight while Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars still shine brightly in the western sky at nightfall [ http://www.skypub.com/sights/sights.shtml ] making another gorgeous close grouping with the crescent Moon [ http://www.inconstantmoon.com/ ].

Trailing Planets

Title	Trailing Planets
Explanation	Positioning his camera and tripod on planet [ http://nfo.edu/astro/planets.htm ] Earth, near Maricopa, Arizona, USA, astrophotographer [ http://pages.prodigy.net/pam.orman/joemoon/ JoeExposurestwilight.html ] Joe Orman created this trailing display of the ongoing sky-full-of-planets [ http://www.darkhorizons.org/planets.htm ] on May 3rd. He initially captured the grouping in a 20 second long time exposure recording the positions of the bright planets and stars. Covering the camera lens for five minutes, he then exposed the same frame for 45 minutes, tracing [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980912.html ] the gentle arcs of the celestial wanderers [ http://www.sciam.com/1999/0999issue/0999rennie.html ] as the Earth's rotation carried them toward the western horizon. Of course these planets, Mercury [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap991111.html ], Venus [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010308.html ], Mars [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010627.html ], Jupiter [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960723.html ], and Saturn [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020222.html ] all still dazzle [ http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2002/ 24apr_relax.htm ] in western skies near sunset, but sky gazers who want to see Mercury should look soon. Mercury starts the evening closest to the horizon - visible here above the wide bright trail left by Venus - and in the coming days Mercury will be the first to leave the evening sky entirely as it moves closer to the setting Sun. Tonight Venus and Mars [ http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2002/images/relax/ skymap_north_10may02.gif ] will appear very close together, separated by only one third of a degree.

Solar System Montage of Voya …

Title	Solar System Montage of Voyager Images
Full Description	This montage of images taken by the Voyager spacecraft of the planets and four of Jupiter's moons is set against a false-color Rosette Nebula with Earth's moon in the foreground. Studying and mapping Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and many of their moons, Voyager provided scientists with better images and data than they had ever had before or expected from the program. Although launched sixteen days after Voyager 2, Voyager 1's trajectory was a faster path, arriving at Jupiter in March 1979. Voyager 2 arrived about four months later in July 1979. Both spacecraft were then directed to Saturn with Voyager 1 arriving in November 1980 and Voyager 2 in August 1981. Voyager 2 was then diverted to the remaining gas giants, Uranus in January 1986 and Neptune in August 1989. Data collection continues by both Voyager 1 and 2 as the renamed Voyager Interstellar Mission searches for the edge of the solar wind influence (the heliopause) and exits the Solar System. A shortened list of the discoveries of Voyager 1 and 2 include:the discovery of the Uranian and Neptunian magnetospheres (magnetic environments caused by various types of planet cores), the discovery of twenty-two new satellites including three at Jupiter, three at Saturn, ten at Uranus, and six at Neptune, Io was found to have active volcanism (the only other Solar System body than Earth to be confirmed), Triton was found to have active geyser-like structures and an atmosphere, Auroral Zones (where gases become excited after being hit by solar particles) were discovered at Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune, Jupiter was found to have rings, Neptune, originally thought to be too cold to support such atmospheric disturbances, had large-scale storms.
Date	UNKNOWN
NASA Center	Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Gas Planet Sizes

title	Gas Planet Sizes
description	Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are known as the jovian (Jupiter-like) planets because they are all gigantic compared with Earth, and they have a gaseous nature like Jupiter's. The jovian planets are also referred to as the gas giants, although some or all of them might have small solid cores. This diagram shows the approximate relative sizes of the jovian planets. Image Credit: Lunar and Planetary Institute

Venus: Earth's Sister Planet

Title	Venus: Earth's Sister Planet
Explanation	This picture in visible light was taken by the Galileo [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/galileo.html ] spacecraft. Venus [ http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/nineplanets/nineplanets/venus.html ] is very similar to Earth [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap950622.html ] in size and mass - and so is sometimes referred to as Earth's sister planet - but Venus has a quite different climate. Venus' [ http://www.c3.lanl.gov/~cjhamil/SolarSystem/venus.html ] thick clouds and closeness to the Sun [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap950813.html ] (only Mercury [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap950814.html ] is closer) make it the hottest planet - much hotter than the Earth. Humans could not survive there, and no life of any sort has ever been found. When Venus [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/photo_gallery/PhotoGallery-Venus.html ] is visible it is usually the brightest object in the sky after the Sun and the Moon. More than 20 spacecraft have visited Venus including Venera 9, which landed on the surface, and Magellan [ http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov/mveg/guide.html ], which used radar to peer through the clouds and make a map of the surface. There are still many things about Venus's unusual atmosphere that astronomers don't understand. Tomorrow's picture: Uranus: The Tilted Planet

Gas Giant Interiors

title	Gas Giant Interiors
description	Jupiter Jupiter's composition is mainly hydrogen and helium. In contrast to planetary bodies covered with a hard surface crust (the Earth, for example), the jovian surface is gaseous-liquid, rendering the boundary between the atmosphere and the planet itself almost indistinguishable. Below the roughly 1000-kilometer-thick atmosphere, a layer of liquid hydrogen extends to a depth of 20,000 kilometers. Even deeper, it is believed that there is a layer of liquid metallic hydrogen at a pressure of 3 million bars. The planet core is believed to comprise iron-nickel alloy, rock, etc., at a temperature estimated to exceed 20,000C. Saturn As with Jupiter, Saturn is mainly composed of hydrogen and helium and is observed to be of extremely low density. In fact, Saturn's mean density is only about two-thirds that of water. The Saturn atmosphere comprises, in descending order of altitude, a layer of ammonia, a layer of ammonium hydrogen sulfide, and a layer of ice. Below this, the saturnian surface is a stratum of liquid hydrogen (as in the case of Jupiter) underlain with a layer of liquid metallic hydrogen. It is believed that the liquid hydrogen layer of Saturn is thicker than that of Jupiter, while the liquid metallic hydrogen layer may be thinner. The planet's core is estimated to be composed of rock and ice. Uranus Uranus is gaseous in composition, mainly comprising hydrogen and helium as in the case of Jupiter and Saturn. The planet atmosphere is mostly hydrogen but also includes helium and methane. The planet core is estimated to be rock and ice encompassed by an outer layer of ice comprised of water, ammonium, and methane. Neptune The atmosphere of Neptune consists of mainly hydrogen, methane and helium, similar to Uranus. Below it is a liquid hydrogen layer including helium and methane. The lower layer is made up of the liquid hydrogen compounds oxygen and nitrogen. It is believed that the planet core comprises rock and ice. Neptune's average density, as well as the greatest proportion of core per planet size, is the greatest among all the gaseous planets. Image Credit: Lunar and Planetary Institute

New Horizons at Jupiter

Title	New Horizons at Jupiter
Explanation	Headed for the first close-up exploration of the Pluto-Charon system [ http://www.plutoportal.net/ ] and the icy denizens of the Kuiper belt [ http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/faculty/jewitt/kb.html ], NASA's New Horizons [ http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/mission.htm ] spacecraft is pictured here in an artist's vision of the robot probe outward bound. The dramatic scene [ http://www.swri.org/press/jest.htm ] depicts the 465 kilogram spacecraft about one year after a planned 2006 launch, following a flyby of gas giant Jupiter [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap031114.html ]. While the Jupiter flyby [ http://www.swri.edu/9what/releases/ JEST.htm ] will be used as a gravity assist [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/basics/grav/primer.html ] maneuver to save fuel and cut travel time to the outer reaches of the Solar System [ http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/ nineplanets.html ], it will also provide an opportunity to test instruments and study the giant planet, its moons, and magnetic fields. The Sun is seen from eight hundred million kilometers away, with inner planets Earth, Venus, and Mercury aligned [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap001014.html ] on the left. A dim crescent of outermost Galilean moon Callisto [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010731.html ], orbiting Jupiter just inside of the spacecraft's trajectory, appears to the upper right of the fading Sun. Left of Jupiter itself is Europa [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030919.html ] and in the distant background are the faint, unresolved stars and dust clouds of the Milky Way [ http://home.arcor-online.de/axel.mellinger/ ]. New Horizons' planned arrival at Pluto-Charon [ http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/plutocharon.htm ] is in the summer of 2015.

Pioneer 10 Trajectory

Title	Pioneer 10 Trajectory
Full Description	This image, drawn in 1970, is an artist's rendering of the Pioneer 10 spacecraft trajectory, with the planets labeled and a list of the instruments that were intended to be flown. Before the use of computer animation, artists were hired by JPL and NASA to depict a spacecraft in flight, for use as a visual aid to promote the project during development. Pioneer 10 was managed by NASA Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California. The Pioneer F spacecraft, as it was known before launch, was designed and built by TRW Systems Group, Inc. JPL developed three instruments that flew on the spacecraft: Magnetic Fields, S-Band Occultation, and Celestial Mechanics, as well as running the Deep Space Network which provided tracking and data system support. Caltech was responsible for the Jovian Infrared Thermal Structure experiment. Pioneer was very successful, crossing the orbit of Mars and the asteroid belt beyond it, encountering, studying, and photographing Jupiter, then crossing the orbits of Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. It left the solar system in 1983 and has been contacted several times in the past few years. As of July 2001, the spacecraft was still able to send a return signal to Earth. At Jupiter, the experiments of Pioneer were used to examine the environmental and atmospheric characteristics of the giant planet. Pioneer was also the vital precursor to all future flights to the outer solar system. It determined that a spacecraft could safely fly through the asteroid belt. It also measured the intensity of Jupiter's radiation belt so that NASA could design future Jupiter (and other outer planets) orbiters.
Date	03/07/1972
NASA Center	Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Three Planets in Dawn Skies

Title	Three Planets in Dawn Skies
Explanation	Three children of the Sun [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap061116.html ] rise in the east in this peaceful dawn skyview recorded December 7th near Bolu, Turkey. Inner planet Mercury [ http://kids.nineplanets.org/mercury.htm ], fresh from its second transit [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap061114.html ] of the 21st century, stands highest in the bright sky at the top right. Gas giant Jupiter [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/ jupiterfact.html ] lies below the cloud bank near picture center. A newsworthy Mars [ http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mars/news/ mgs-20061206.html ] is also visible, right of Jupiter and just above the dark cloud bank. On Sunday, these planets will form a much tighter grouping [ http://skytonight.com/observing/ataglance ] before sunrise [ http://niteskys.com/mercury_mars_jupiter_120806.html ], while in the coming days the western sky after sunset will be ruled by brilliant planet Venus [ http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Venus_Express/ ], also known as the evening star.

Nashville Four Planet Skylin …

Title	Nashville Four Planet Skyline
Explanation	So far this February, evening skies [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000504.html ] have been blessed with a glorious Moon and three bright planets, Venus [ http://www.library.utoronto.ca/utel/rp/poems/ longfe10.html ], Jupiter, and Saturn. But just last week, on January 30th, an extreme wide-angle lens allowed astrophotographer Larry Koehn to capture this twilight view of Moon and four planets above [ http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/ see.html ] Nashville, Tennessee, USA. These major solar system [ http://space.jpl.nasa.gov/ ] bodies lie along the ecliptic plane [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap001014.html ] and so follow a diagonal line through the picture. Starting near the upper left corner is bright Jupiter [ http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/ solar_system_level2/jupiter.html ], which takes on a slightly triangular shape due to the lens distortion. Just below and right of Jupiter is Saturn [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/cassini/english/kids/ saturn_in_sky.html ]. Continuing along the diagonal toward the lower right is an overexposed, six day old Moon [ http://www.inconstantmoon.com/ ] and brilliant Venus seemingly embedded in clouds. The fourth planet pictured is Mercury. Notoriously hard to see from planet Earth because it never wanders far from the Sun, Mercury is [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap991111.html ] visible just above the lower right corner. The line from Jupiter to Mercury spans about 92 degrees across the Nashville sky.

Mercury: Closest Planet to t …

Title	Mercury: Closest Planet to the Sun
Explanation	This picture was compiled from images taken by the NASA spacecraft Mariner 10 which flew by the planet three times in 1974. Mercury [ http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/nineplanets/nineplanets/mercury.html ] is the closest planet to the Sun [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap950813.html ], the second hottest planet (Venus gets hotter), and the second smallest planet (Pluto is smaller). Mercury [ http://www.c3.lanl.gov/~cjhamil/SolarSystem/mercury.html ] rotates so slowly that one day there - "day" meaning the normal time it takes from sunset to sunset - lasts 176 days on Earth [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap950622.html ]. It is difficult to see Mercury [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/photo_gallery/photogallery-mercury.html ] not because it is dim but because it always appears near the Sun, and is therefore only visible for a short time just after sunset or just before sunrise. Mercury is made of rocky material like Earth. No one knows why Mercury has the magnetic field that it does. Tomorrow's picture: Venus: Earth's Sister Planet

Voyager Spacecraft During Vibration Testing

Voyager Spacecraft During Vi …

Title	Voyager Spacecraft During Vibration Testing
Full Description	Two Voyager spacecraft were launched in 1977 to explore the outer planets and some of their satellites. A prototype Voyager spacecraft is shown at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, as it successfully passed vibration tests which simulated the expected launch environment. The large parabolic antenna at the top is 3.7 meters in diameter and was used at both S-band and X-band radio frequencies for communicating with Earth over the great distances from the outer planets. The spacecraft received electrical power from three nuclear power sources (lower left). The shiny cylinder on the left side under the antenna contained a folded boom, which extended after launch to hold a magnetometer instrument thirteen meters away from the body of the spacecraft. The truss-like structure on the right side is the stowed instrument boom which supported three science instruments and a scan platform. The scan platform allowed the accurate pointing of two cameras and three other science instruments at Jupiter, Saturn, the rings of Saturn, Jupiter's moons, Saturn's moons, Uranus, moons of Uranus, and Neptune.
Date	03/25/1977
NASA Center	Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Planets in the West

Title	Planets in the West
Explanation	Have you seen any bright planets lately? Chances are if you've been outside under clear skies [ http://currentsky.com/ ] just after sunset, then you have. Now shining in the west as bright "stars [ http://nfo.edu/astro/planets.htm ]" in the night sky, are all five planets of the solar system known to [ http://www.nasm.si.edu/ceps/etp/discovery/ etpdiscovery.html ] ancient astronomers - Mercury, Venus, Mars [ http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/ funzone.html ], Saturn, and Jupiter [ http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/ jupiter.html ]. Recorded from Holt, Michigan, USA about 40 minutes after sunset on April 14th, this digital image [ http://www.pa.msu.edu/people/frenchj/const/index2.html ] captures three of them, Venus, Mars, and Saturn [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/solar_system/planets/ saturn_index.html ], along with a young crescent Moon [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000728.html ]. Also indicated are the Pleiades [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010506.html ] star cluster and bright red giant star Aldebaran [ http://www.earthsky.com/Features/ Skywatching/pronounce.html ] in Taurus. Mercury [ http://www.psrd.hawaii.edu/Jan97/ MercuryUnveiled.html ], setting, is lost in the trees and glow along the horizon, while Jupiter is off the top of this view. The coming weeks [ http://www.darkhorizons.org/planets.htm ] will see photo opportunities galore as all five planets gradually move closer together, posing after sunset with the Moon and stars in the western sky [ http://www.skyviewcafe.com/skyview.shtml ]. Venus [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020330.html ], Mars, and Saturn will form the closest trio, drawing within a 5 degree circle (about the apparent size of your fist with arm extended) above Aldebaran by May 3rd.

Saturn and its rings

PIA01969

Sol (our sun)

Imaging Science Subsystem - …

Title	Saturn and its rings
Original Caption Released with Image	Voyager 1 looked back at Saturn on Nov. 16, 1980, four days after the spacecraft flew past the planet, to observe the appearance of Saturn and its rings from this unique perspective. A few of the spokelike ring features discovered by Voyager appear in the rings as bright patches in this image, taken at a distance of 5.3 million kilometers (3.3 million miles) from the planet. Saturn's shadow falls upon the rings, and the bright Saturn crescent is seen through all but the densest portion of the rings. From Saturn, Voyager 1 is on a trajectory taking the spacecraft out of the ecliptic plane, away from the Sun and eventually out of the solar system (by about 1990). Although its mission to Jupiter and Saturn is nearly over (the Saturn encounter ends Dec. 18, 1980), Voyager 1 will be tracked by the Deep Space Network as far as possible in an effort to determine where the influence of the Sun ends and interstellar space begins. Voyager 1's flight path through interstellar space is in the direction of the constellation Ophiuchus. Voyager 2 will reach Saturn on August 25, 1981, and is targeted to encounter Uranus in 1986 and possibly Neptune in 1989. The Voyager project is managed for NASA by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.

Seen here is a full-scale mo …

Description

Seen here is a full-scale model of one of the twin Voyager spacecraft, which was sent to explore the giant outer planets in our solar system. Voyager 2 was launched August 20, 1977 followed by the launch of Voyager 1 sixteen days later. Both spacecraft visited Jupiter and Saturn with Voyager 2 continuing its journey to Uranus and Neptune. In spring 1990, Voyager 2 transmitted images looking back across the span of the entire solar system. Both Voyagers continue to explore interstellar space.

Voyager 2 Launch

Title	Voyager 2 Launch
Full Description	Voyager 2 was launched August 20, 1977, sixteen days before Voyager 1 aboard a Titan-Centaur rocket. Their different flight trajectories caused Voyager 2 to arrive at Jupiter four months later than Voyager 1, thus explaining their numbering. The initial mission plan for Voyager 2 specified visits only to Jupiter and Saturn. The plan was augmented in 1981 to include a visit to Uranus, and again in 1985 to include a flyby of Neptune. After completing the tour of the outer planets in 1989, the Voyager spacecraft began exploring interstellar space. The Voyager mission has been managed by NASA's Office of Space Science and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Date	08/20/1977
NASA Center	Kennedy Space Center

Planetary Alignment. LASCO C3 image showing Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury, and Venus simultaneously on May 15, 2000.

Planetary Alignment. LASCO C …

Description	Planetary Alignment. LASCO C3 image showing Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury, and Venus simultaneously on May 15, 2000.

Sedna Orbit Animation

PIA05565

Samuel Oschin Telescope

Title	Sedna Orbit Animation
Original Caption Released with Image	This animation shows the location of the newly discovered planet-like object, dubbed "Sedna," in relation to the rest of the solar system. Starting at the inner solar system, which includes the orbits of Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars (all in yellow), the view pulls away through the asteroid belt and the orbits of the outer planets beyond (green). Pluto and the distant Kuiper Belt objects are seen next until finally Sedna comes into view. As the field widens the full orbit of Sedna can be seen along with its current location. Sedna is nearing its closest approach to the Sun, its 10,000 year orbit typically takes it to far greater distances. Moving past Sedna, what was previously thought to be the inner edge of the Oort cloud appears. The Oort cloud is a spherical distribution of cold, icy bodies lying at the limits of the Sun's gravitational pull. Sedna's presence suggests that this Oort cloud is much closer than scientists believed.

The Colorful Lives of the Ou …

Title	The Colorful Lives of the Outer Planets

Planets Over Stonehenge

Title	Planets Over Stonehenge
Explanation	Stonehenge [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990912.html ], four thousand year old [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980408.html ] monument to the Sun [ http://www.hao.ucar.edu/public/education/archeoslides/ index.html ], provides an appropriate setting for this delightful snapshot [ http://www.astrocruise.com/planets.htm ] of the Sun's children [ http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/ ] gathering in planet Earth's sky. While the massive stone [ http://www.amherst.edu/~ermace/sth/poetry.html ] structure dates from around 2000 B.C. [ http://mathforum.org/dr.math/problems/masell10.1.97.html ], this arrangement of the visible planets [ http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/planets/ article_572_1.asp ] was recorded only a few days ago on the evening of May 4th, 2002 A.D. Bright Jupiter stands highest above the horizon at the upper left. A remarkable, almost equilateral triangle [ http://mathforum.org/dr.math/faq/formulas/ faq.triangle.html ] formed by Saturn (left), Mars (top), and Venus (right) is placed just above the stones near picture center. Fighting the glow of the setting sun, Mercury can be spotted closest to the horizon, below and right of the planetary triad. Still easy to enjoy [ http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2002/24apr_relax.htm ] for casual sky gazers, this photogenic and slowly shifting planetary grouping [ http://science.nasa.gov/spaceweather/planets/ gallery_may02.html ] will be joined by a young crescent [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020419.html ] Moon beginning Monday, May 13.

A77-0849

Artist: unknown (JPL) Saturn …

7/6/77

Description	Artist: unknown (JPL) Saturn Voyager Mission Artwork depicts the spacecraft's path on it's journey to Saturn as it passed above the orbits of Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars and around Jupiter.
Date	7/6/77

AC77-0849

Artist: unknown (JPL) Saturn …

7/6/77

Description	Artist: unknown (JPL) Saturn Voyager Mission Artwork depicts the spacecraft's path on it's journey to Saturn as it passed above the orbits of Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars and around Jupiter.
Date	7/6/77

Dusk of the Planets

Title	Dusk of the Planets
Explanation	A great grouping of planets [ http://www.nineplanets.org/ ] is now visible [ http://CarnegieScienceCenter.org/exhibits/planet_calendar.asp ] to the west just after sunset. Over the next two weeks, Mercury [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010819.html ], Venus [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010916.html ], Earth, Mars [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010628.html ], Jupiter [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020205.html ], and Saturn [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020215.html ] -- the innermost six planets of our Solar System [ http://www.nineplanets.org/overview.html ] -- can be seen in a single knowing glance. The image on the left [ http://www.astropix.com/HTML/H_OTHER/PLANETS.HTM ] captured them all in one frame. Connecting the planetary dots delineates the edge-on ecliptic [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990529.html ], the plane in which the planets orbit the Sun [ http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/retrograde/copernican.html ]. The shot was taken on April 23 near Chatsworth, New Jersey [ http://www.state.nj.us/ ], USA [ http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/us.html ], and even includes scattered light from the Sun [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000403.html ] and the Moon [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010218.html ]. Besides the planets, the Pleiades [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010506.html ] and Hyades [ http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/~kaler/sow/hyades-p.html ] open clusters [ http://www.seds.org/messier/open.html ] of stars are visible [ http://www.planetary.org/html/news/articlearchive/headlines/2002/alignment.htm ].

The Rare Venus Transit

NASA joined the world June 8 …

6/9/08

Description	NASA joined the world June 8, 2004, in viewing a rare celestial event, one not seen by any person now alive. The "Venus transit" -- the apparent crossing of our planetary neighbor in front of the sun -- was captured from the unique perspective of NASA's sun-observing TRACE spacecraft. The top image shows Venus on the eastern limb of the sun. The faint ring around the planet comes from the scattering of its atmosphere, which allows some sunlight to show around the edge of the otherwise dark planetary disk. The faint glow on the disk is an effect of the TRACE telescope. The bottom left image is in the ultraviolet, and the bottom right image is in the extreme ultraviolet. The last "Venus transit" occurred more than a century ago, in 1882, and was used to compute the distance between Earth and the sun. Scientists with NASA's Kepler mission hope to discover Earth-like planets orbiting other stars by searching for transits similar to this one. If people missed the June 8, 2004, Venus transit, they will have another chance in 2012 on June 6. After that, there will not be another Venus transit until Dec. 11, 2117. Image credit: NASA/LMSAL > View QuickTime movies in ultraviolet: 4.2 Mb \| 1.4 Mb
Date	6/9/08

Moon and Planets by the Eiff …

Title	Moon and Planets by the Eiffel Tower
Explanation	The great evening grouping of planets [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020429.html ] is coming to an end. Before all the planets [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020510.html ] went their own separate directions [ http://CarnegieScienceCenter.org/exhibits/planet_calendar.asp ], however, the Moon [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010218.html ] was kind enough to pose [ http://science.nasa.gov/spaceweather/planets/gallery_may02.html ] with some of them. The planets [ http://www.nineplanets.org ] in the above picture [ http://perso.club-internet.fr/legault/planets.html ], taken last week, are Venus [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970507.html ] and Jupiter [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020205.html ]. Mars [ http://www.nineplanets.org/mars.html ], Saturn [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010702.html ], and even Mercury [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000320.html ] appear to the lower right of Venus [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/photo_gallery/photogallery-venus.html ] but are too dim to be seen. Over the next two weeks, the Moon will rise [ http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneYear.html ] later and later passing a full phase [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990419.html ] on May 26. Venus and Jupiter will continue to shine, moving together [ http://SkyandTelescope.com/observing/objects/planets/article_572_4.asp ] until their closest approach on June 3. The Eiffel Tower [ http://www.tour-eiffel.fr/teiffel/uk/ ], however, is expected to remain right where it is.

Jupiter, its great Red Spot …

Name of Image	Jupiter, its great Red Spot three of its four largest satellites
Date of Image	1979-02-05
Full Description	On February 5, 1979, Voyager 1 made its closest approach to Jupiter since early 1974 and 1975 when Pioneers 10 and 11 made their voyages to Jupiter and beyond. Voyager 1 completed its Jupiter encounter in early April, after taking almost 19,000 pictures and recording many other scientific measurements. Although astronomers had studied Jupiter from Earth for several centuries, scientists were surprised by many of Voyager 1 and 2's findings. They now understand that important physical, geological, and atmospheric processes go on that they had never observed from Earth. Discovery of active volcanism on the satellite Io was probably the greatest surprise. It was the first time active volcanoes had been seen on another body in the solar system. Voyager also discovered a ring around Jupiter. Thus Jupiter joins Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune as a ringed planet -- although each ring system is unique and distinct from the others.

Voyager 2 Launch

title	Voyager 2 Launch
date	08.20.1977
description	Voyager 2 was launched August 20, 1977, sixteen days before Voyager 1 aboard a Titan-Centaur rocket. Their different flight trajectories caused Voyager 2 to arrive at Jupiter four months later than Voyager 1, thus explaining their numbering. The initial mission plan for Voyager 2 specified visits only to Jupiter and Saturn. The plan was augmented in 1981 to include a visit to Uranus, and again in 1985 to include a flyby of Neptune. After completing the tour of the outer planets in 1989, the Voyager spacecraft began exploring interstellar space. The Voyager mission has been managed by NASA's Office of Space Science and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Image Credit: NASA

Moon And Venus Share The Sky

Title	Moon And Venus Share The Sky
Explanation	July is drawing to a close and in the past few days, some early morning risers [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990714.html ] could have looked east and seen a crescent Moon sharing the pre-dawn [ http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2000/ast25jul_1m.htm ] skies with planets Jupiter and Saturn. Planet Mercury will also pass about 2 degrees from the thin waning crescent Moon [ http://aa.usno.navy.mil/AA/faq/docs/moon_phases.html ] just before sunrise near the eastern horizon on Saturday, July 29. And finally, on the evening of July 31st, Venus will take its turn near the crescent Moon [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap991108.html ]. But this time it will be a day-old crescent Moon near the western horizon, shortly after sunset [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000507.html ]. In fact [ http://pages.prodigy.net/pam.orman/JoeAlmanac2000.html ], on July 31 (August 1 Universal Time) the Moon will occult [ http://www.skypub.com/sights/occultations/lunar/ 0001lunarocc.html ] (pass in front of) Venus for northwestern observers [ http://www.skypub.com/sights/images2000/ 0008moonvenus_big.jpg ] in North America. This telescopic picture taken on 31 December 1997, shows a lovely young crescent Moon and brilliant crescent Venus in [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990903.html ] the early evening sky near Bursa, Turkey [ http://www.mersina.com/Turkey/Marmara/Bursa/index.html ]. And what about the Sun? On Sunday, July 30, a partial eclipse of the Sun [ http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/extra/ PSE2000Jul31.html ] will be visible from some locations [ http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/OH/ PSE2000Jul.gif ] in North America.

Jupiter's Rings

Title	Jupiter's Rings
Explanation	Astronomers using NASA's Voyager [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/voyager.html ] spacecraft to search for a ring system around Jupiter discovered these faint rings in 1979. Unlike Saturn's bright rings which are composed of chunks of rock and ice, Jupiter's rings [ http://ringside.arc.nasa.gov/www/jupiter/jupiter.html ] appear to consist of fine particles of dust. One possibility is that the dust is produced by impacts with Jupiter's inner moons. This false color image has been computer enhanced. The gas giant planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are all known to have rings. For more information about planetary ring systems see the Planetary Rings Node [ http://ringside.arc.nasa.gov/ ]. Tomorrow's picture: A Volcanic Moon

Uranus' Ring System

Title	Uranus' Ring System
Explanation	The rings of Uranus [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap950816.html ] are thin, narrow, and dark compared to other planetary ring systems. Brightened artificially by computer, the ring particles reflect as little light as charcoal, although they are really made of ice chucks darkened by rock. This false-color, infrared picture [ http://www.stsci.edu/pubinfo/PR/96/15/A.html ] from the Hubble Space Telescope [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap950810.html ] taken in July 1995 shows the rings in conjunction to the planet. The infrared [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/lib/glossary.html#infrared ] light allows one to see detail in different layers of Uranus' [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/lib/uranus.html ] atmosphere, which has been digitally enhanced with false color. Three other planets in our Solar System [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap950819.html ] are known to have rings: Jupiter [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap950802.html ], Saturn [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap950705.html ], and Neptune [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap950817.html ]. Four of Uranus [ http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/nineplanets/nineplanets/uranus.html ]' moons are visible outside the ring plane. The rings of Uranus [ http://ringside.arc.nasa.gov/www/uranus/uranus.html ] were discovered from ground-based observations in 1977.

Neptune - dark oval

PIA01990

Sol (our sun)

Imaging Science Subsystem - …

Title	Neptune - dark oval
Original Caption Released with Image	The large, dark oval spot in Neptune's atmosphere is just coming into view in this picture returned from the Voyager 2 spacecraft on June 30, 1989. The spacecraft was about 83 million kilometers (51.5 million miles) from Neptune. Voyager scientists are interested in the dark oval cloud system, a very large system similar to Jupiter's Great Red Spot. Contrast of the features in Neptune's atmosphere is similar to that obtained at Saturn at about this same distance and lighting, whereas the features are similar to those seen at Jupiter. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the Voyager Project for NASA's Office of Space Science and Applications.

Voyager Tour Montage

Title	Voyager Tour Montage
Full Description	This montage of images of the planets visited by Voyager 2 was prepared from an assemblage of images taken by the Voyager 2 spacecraft. The Voyager Project is managed for NASA by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.
Date	08/01/1989
NASA Center	Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Description	Here on the Gallery page you can find the very latest images, videos and products from the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn, including the spectacular launch, spacecraft assembly and the exciting trip to Saturn.
Full Description	The solar system's largest moon, Ganymede, is captured here alongside the planet Jupiter in a color picture taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft on Dec. 3, 2000. Ganymede is larger than the planets Mercury and Pluto and Saturn's largest moon, Titan. Both Ganymede and Titan have greater surface area than the entire Eurasian continent on our planet. Cassini was 26.5 million kilometers (16.5 million miles) from Ganymede when this image was taken. The smallest visible features are about 160 kilometers (about 100 miles) across. The bright area near the south (bottom) of Ganymede is Osiris, a large, relatively new crater surrounded by bright icy material ejected by the impact which created it. Elsewhere, Ganymede displays dark terrains that NASA's Voyager and Galileo spacecraft have shown to be old and heavily cratered. The brighter terrains are younger and laced by grooves. Various kinds of grooved terrains have been seen on many icy moons in the solar system. These are believed to be the surface expressions of warm, pristine, water-rich materials that moved to the surface and froze. Ganymede has proven to be a fascinating world, the only moon known to have a magnetosphere, or magnetic environment, produced by a convecting metal core. The interaction of Ganymede's and Jupiter's magnetospheres may produce dazzling variations in the auroral glows in Ganymede's tenuous atmosphere of oxygen. Cassini is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona For higher resolution, click here.

Terrestrial Planet Interiors

title	Terrestrial Planet Interiors
description	Mercury Mercury has an average density of 5430 kilograms per cubic meter, which is second only to Earth among all the planets. It is estimated that the planet Mercury, like Earth, has a ferrous core with a size equivalent to two-thirds to three-fourths that of the planet's overall radius. The core is believed to be composed of an iron-nickel alloy covered by a mantle and surface crust. Venus It is believed that the composition of the planet Venus is similar to that of Earth. The planet crust extends to around 10-30 kilometers below the surface, under which the mantle reaches to a depth of some 3000 kilometers. The planet core comprises a liquid iron-nickel alloy. Average planet density is 5240 kilograms per cubic meter. Earth The Earth comprises three separate layers: a crust, a mantle, and a core (in descending order from the surface). The crust thickness averages 30 kilometers for land masses and 5 kilometers for seabeds. The mantle extends from just below the crust to some 2900 kilometers deep. The core below the mantle begins at a depth of around 5100 kilometers, and comprises an outer core (liquid iron-nickel alloy) and inner core (solid iron-nickel alloy). The crust is composed mainly of granite in the case of land masses and basalt in the case of seabeds. The mantle is composed primarily of peridotite and high-pressure minerals. Average planet density is 5520 kilograms per cubic meter. Mars Mars is roughly one-half the diameter of Earth. Due to its small size, it is believed that the martian center has cooled. Geological structure is mainly rock and metal. The mantle below the crust comprises iron-oxide-rich silicate. The core is made up of an iron-nickel alloy and iron sulfide. Average planet density is 3930 kilograms per cubic meter. Pluto The structure of Pluto is not very well understood at present. Nevertheless, spectroscopic observation from Earth in the 1970s has revealed that the planet surface is covered with methane ice. Surface temperature is -230?C (-382?F), and the frozen methane exhibits a bright coloration. However, with the exception of the polar caps, the frozen methane surface is seen to change to a dark red when eclipsed by its moon Charon. Average planet density is 2060 kilograms per cubic meter. The low average density requires that the planet must be a mix of ice and rock. Image Credit: Lunar and Planetary Institute

The Colorful Lives of the Ou …

Title	The Colorful Lives of the Outer Planets

Children of the Sun

Title	Children of the Sun
Explanation	For a moment [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/index.html ], planets Jupiter [ http://kids.nineplanets.org/jupiter.htm ], Venus [ http://kids.nineplanets.org/venus.htm ], Mars [ http://kids.nineplanets.org/mars.htm ], and Mercury [ http://kids.nineplanets.org/mercury.htm ] all posed near their parent star in this Sun-centered view, recorded on November 11. The picture, from a coronograph onboard the space-based SOlar Heliospheric Observatory [ http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/ ], spans 15 degrees with the Sun's size and position indicated by the white circle. Background stars are also visible as the otherwise overwhelming sunlight is blocked by the coronograph's [ http://lasco-www.nrl.navy.mil/index.php?p=content/ about_lasco ] occulting disk. But the planets themselves, in particular Jupiter and Venus, are still bright enough to cause significant horizontal streaks in the image. Mercury is actually moving most rapidly (left to right) through the field and days earlier [ http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/hotshots/2006_11_06/ ] was seen to cross in front [ http://www.spaceweather.com/eclipses/gallery_08nov06.htm ] of the solar disk. So what's that bright double star to the left of Mars? Zubenelgenubi [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040514.html ], of course.

Moon and Planets Sky Credit & Copyright: Wojtek Rychlik [ http://www.pikespeakphoto.com ]

Moon and Planets Sky Credit …

Title	Moon and Planets Sky Credit & Copyright: Wojtek Rychlik [ http://www.pikespeakphoto.com ]
Explanation	Look up into the sky tonight [ http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2004/ 19mar_planets.htm ] and without a telescope or binoculars you might have a view [ http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/staff/gmackie/billions.html ] like this one of Moon, planets and stars. The lovely photo [ http://www.pikespeakphoto.com/planets.html ] was taken on March 23rd, and captures the crescent Moon on the horizon with Venus above it. Both brilliant celestial bodies are over-exposed. Farther above Venus is the tinted glow of Mars with the Pleiades star cluster just to the red planet's right. The V-shaped arrangement of stars [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040304.html ] to the left of Mars is the Hydaes star cluster. Bright red giant Aldebaran [ http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/~kaler/sow/ aldebaran.html ], not itself a member of the Hyades cluster, marks the top left of the V. During the next week [ http://www.griffithobs.org/planetsgather.html ], all five naked-eye planets, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, along with the Moon will grace the evening sky [ http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/planets/ article_1226_1.asp ] together - a lunar and planetary spectacle that can be enjoyed by skygazers [ http://www.spaceweather.com/ ] around the world. But look just after sunset, low on the western horizon, to see Mercury [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030412.html ] before it sets. The next similar gathering [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000524.html ] of the planets will be in 2008.

An Atlas Centaur Rocket Laun …

Title	An Atlas Centaur Rocket Launches
Explanation	Atlas Centaur [ http://www.lerc.nasa.gov/Other_Groups/PAO/html/atlas2as.htm ] rockets have launched over 75 successful unmanned missions. These missions included the Surveyor [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap951008.html ] series - the first vehicles to make soft landings on the Moon [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap950903.html ], Pioneer [ http://pyroeis.arc.nasa.gov/pioneer/PNhome.html ] 10 and 11 - the first missions to fly by Jupiter [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap951206.html ] and Saturn [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap950705.html ] and the first man-made objects able to leave our Solar System [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap950819.html ], the Viking missions [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap950721.html ] which landed on Mars [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap950716.html ], several satellites in the High Energy Astrophysics Observatory [ http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] (HEAO) series, Pioneer Venus [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/pioneer_venus.html ] which circled and mapped the surface of Venus [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap950822.html ], and numerous Intelsat [ http://www.intelsat.int:8080/info/html/is5.html ] satellites. Of recent scientific interest was the Atlas [ http://www.ksc.nasa.gov/elv/ATLAS_CENTAUR/atlcent.htm ] launched SOHO [ http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/index-text.html ] mission which will continually observe the Sun [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap950813.html ]. Atlas rockets are manufactured by Lockheed Martin [ http://www.mmc.com/ ] Co.

Titania's Trenches

Title	Titania's Trenches
Explanation	British astronomer Sir William Herschel [ http://star.arm.ac.uk/history/herschel.html ] discovered Titania and Oberon in January of 1787. He wasn't reading Shakespeare's [ http://the-tech.mit.edu/Shakespeare/works.html ]"A Midsummer Night's Dream" though, he was making the first telescopic observations of moons of the planet Uranus [ http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/nineplanets/nineplanets/uranus.html ] (a planet which he himself discovered in 1781 [ http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/ HistTopics/Neptune_and_Pluto.html ]). In January of 1986, nearly 200 years later, NASA's robot explorer Voyager 2 became the only spacecraft to visit the remote Uranian [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990531.html ] system [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap971103.html ]. Above is Voyager's highest resolution picture of Titania [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/ PIAGenCatalogPage.pl?PIA00039 ], Uranus' largest moon. The picture is a composite of two images recorded from a distance of 229,000 miles. The icy, rocky world [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960304.html ] is seen to be covered with impact craters. A prominent system of fault valleys, some nearly 1,000 miles long, is visible as trench-like features near the terminator (shadow line). Deposits of highly reflective material which may represent frost can be seen along the sun-facing valley walls. The large impact crater near the top, known as Gertrude [ http://wwwflag.wr.usgs.gov/USGSFlag/Space/nomen/uranus/titacrat.html ], is about 180 miles across. At the bottom the 60 mile wide fault valley, Belmont Chasma [ http://wwwflag.wr.usgs.gov/USGSFlag/Space/nomen/uranus/titachas.html ], cuts into crater Ursula. Titania itself [ http://wwwflag.wr.usgs.gov/USGSFlag/Space/wall/titania.html ] is 1,000 miles in diameter.

March of the Planets

Title	March of the Planets
Explanation	This March stargazers [ http://www2.astronomy.com/astro/SkyEvents/Current/SkyEvents.html ] have been treated to eye-catching [ http://members.home.com/rmscott/gallery_space_sky01.html ] formations of bright planets [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990308.html ] in western evening skies. On March 3rd, looking toward a beautiful sunset from a beach on the Hawaiian [ http://www.mhpcc.edu/~erobello/homepage_ernie/ernie1.html ] isle of Maui, photographer Rick Scott recorded this fleeting, four-planet [ http://members.home.com/rmscott/space_sky01/ maui_4_planets_19990303.html ]"hockey stick" array. Mercury, closest to the horizon and immersed in fading sunlight, is easily visible between silhouetted clouds. To the left and up in the deepening blue is Jupiter with a brilliant Venus above and Saturn shining in the darkened sky near the top of the image. The planets are seen [ http://astrosun.tn.cornell.edu/courses/astro201/planet_view.htm ] to lie close to the ecliptic [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970927.html ] - the apparent path of the sun - which is nearly perpendicular to the horizon for Hawaiian latitudes [ http://leahi.kcc.hawaii.edu/org/pvs/pvs.html ] at this time of year.

Pluto: The Frozen Planet

Title	Pluto: The Frozen Planet
Explanation	The Hubble Space Telescope imaged [ http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/HST/press/pluto.html ] Pluto and its moon Charon in 1994. Pluto [ http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/nineplanets/nineplanets/pluto.html ] is usually the most distant planet from the Sun [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap950813.html ] but because of its elliptic orbit Pluto crossed inside of Neptune [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap950817.html ]'s orbit in 1979 and will cross back out again in 1999. Compared to the other planets, very little is known about Pluto. Pluto [ http://www.c3.lanl.gov/~cjhamil/SolarSystem/pluto.html ] is smaller than any other planet and even smaller than several other planet's moons. From Pluto, the Sun is just a tiny point of light. Pluto [ http://dosxx.colorado.edu/plutohome.html ] is probably composed of frozen rock and ice, much like Neptune's moon Triton [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap950805.html ]. Pluto has not yet been visited by a spacecraft, but a mission [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/pluto/ ] is being planned for the next decade. Tomorrow's picture: Our Solar System from Voyager

Saturn and Earth Ready for Cosmic Game of Peekaboo

Saturn and Earth Ready for C …

Description	SOHO images show Saturn on the left moving toward the Sun
Full Description	Saturn has a date to keep with Earth and the Sun. Since the Cassini spacecraft is orbiting Saturn, it's tagging along. Once a year Saturn and Earth find themselves almost directly opposite each other with the Sun in between, an event called conjunction. This year, conjunction will occur on Aug. 7. NASA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, known as SOHO (http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/), keeps close watch on the Sun. SOHO images show Saturn on the left moving toward the Sun, which is shielded from view but represented by a white circle in the image center. When Saturn emerges from conjunction, it will appear in SOHO images heading toward the right and away from Sun. As Earth and Saturn play peekaboo with each other, radio communications with Cassini get very noisy, so most of Cassini's science operations are temporarily suspended. "We'll still be in constant communication," says David Doody, Cassini flight operations lead, "and we'll see the quality degrading as it nears the Sun. The last high-rate science data playback, at 14,220 bits per second, will occur Aug. 4, after which Cassini switches to low-rate telemetry downlink, at 1896 bps." During conjunction, the mission switches gears. "Finally, a break," says Doody. "We know the spacecraft is safe, especially since it won't be doing lots of commanded science activities, instead just staring at Earth with its high gain antenna. We'll be carrying out radio science studies of the solar corona, using carrier signals coming down from Cassini to study the sun's extended, super-hot atmosphere. Meanwhile, the spacecraft team's radio communications engineers will watch how many out of 100 test commands sent each day are received aboard the spacecraft with the noisy Sun in the way.""We'll also be using this low-activity period to conduct an operational readiness test, realistic training using contrived problems, for many of the new members of the flight team," adds Doody. Cassini will resume returning high-rate science data on Aug. 10, when it is well past the Sun. Note for sky watchers: The first time that Saturn will be visible again to the unaided eye from here on Earth will be about two weeks after conjunction. On the morning of Aug. 20, Saturn will rise in the east an hour before the sun does. Early birds in the United States will be able to spot swift Mercury one degree above Saturn. The next morning, they can spot Mercury one degree to the lower left of the planet. On Aug. 26 and 27 Saturn pairs with much brighter Venus. To see the latest image from SOHO click here.
Date	August 3, 2006

Venus, Moon, and Neighbors

Title	Venus, Moon, and Neighbors
Explanation	Rising before the Sun on February 2nd, astrophotographer [ http://pages.prodigy.net/pam.orman/JoeGallery.html ] Joe Orman anticipated [ http://pages.prodigy.net/pam.orman/JoeAlmanac2000.html ] this apparition of the bright morning star [ http://ispec.scibernet.com/station/morn_star.html ] Venus near a lovely crescent Moon above a neighbor's house in suburban Phoenix, Arizona, USA. Fortunately, the alignment of bright planets and the Moon is one of the most inspiring sights in the night sky [ http://www.skypub.com/sights/skyevents/0004skyevents.html ] and one that is often easy to enjoy and share without any special equipment. Take tonight [ http://spacescience.com/headlines/y2000/ast30mar_1m.htm ], for example. Those blessed with clear skies can simply step outside near sunset and view a young crescent Moon very near three bright planets in the west Jupiter [ http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov/ ], Mars [ http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/ ], and Saturn [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/cassini/ ]. Jupiter will be the unmistakable brightest star near the Moon with a reddish Mars just to Jupiter's north and pale yellow Saturn directly above. Of course, these sky shows [ http://drumright.ossm.edu/astronomy/conjunctions.html ] create an evocative picture [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000310.html ] but the planets and Moon just appear to be near each other -- they are actually only approximately lined up and lie in widely separated orbits. Unfortunately, next month's highly publicized alignment of planets [ http://www.griffithobs.org/SkyAlignments.html ] on May 5th will be lost from view in the Sun's glare but such planetary alignments [ http://www.skypub.com/news/special/whypanic.html ] occur repeatedly and pose no danger [ http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/misc/planets.html ] to planet Earth.

Dr. Edward C. Stone

Dr. Stone was appointed Dire …

Description

Dr. Stone was appointed Director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory on January 1, 1991. In this capacity he also serves as a Vice President of Caltech. Dr. Stone earned his associate of arts degree in 1956 from Burlington Junior College before continuing his studies at the University of Chicago. After receiving his master of science (1959) and Ph.D. (1964) degrees in physics, he joined Caltech as a research fellow in physics. Stone was subsequently appointed senior research fellow and assistant professor (1967), associate professor (1971), professor of physics (1976), chairman of Caltech's Division of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy (1983 - 1988), and Vice President for Astronomical Facilities (1988 - 1990). Since his first cosmic-ray experiments on Discoverer satellites in 1961, Stone has been a principal investigator on nine NASA spacecraft missions and a co- investigator on five other NASA missions for which he developed high resolution instruments for measuring the isotopic and elemental composition of energetic cosmic-ray nuclei. Using these instruments, Stone and his colleagues undertook some of the first studies of the isotopic composition of three distinct samples of matter. The matter arrives at Earth as cosmic rays from nearby regions in our galaxy, as solar energetic particles from the Sun, and as the anomalous component from the local interstellar medium. These instruments also have been used for studies of planetary magnetospheres, including the discovery of energetic sulfur and oxygen ions from Jupiter's satellite, Io. Stone also jointly developed a large-area electronic satellite instrument for measuring the abundance of very rare heavy galactic cosmic-ray nuclei, such as lead and platinum, and collaborated in the development of an imaging gamma-ray telescope. Since 1972, Dr. Stone has served as the project scientist for the Voyager Mission, participating in both hardware development and mission operations. Following launch in 1977 of the twin Voyager spacecraft, he coordinated the efforts of 11 teams of scientists in their studies of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Among his many scientific awards and honors, Stone was a Sloan Foundation fellow and has received the NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal, the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Dryden Medal and Space Science Award, and the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal. He is the recipient of the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal, the Aviation Week and Space Technology Aerospace Laurels Award, the National Space Club Science Award, the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems National Award for Operations, the National Medal of Science, the American Philosophical Society Magellanic Award, the American Academy of Achievement Golden Plate Award and the COSPAR Award for Outstanding Contribution to Space Science. He has received honorary degrees from Washington University, St. Louis, Harvard University, and the University of Chicago. Stone is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the International Academy of Astronautics. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society, the American Geophysical Union, and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He is also a member of the American Astronomical Society, the International Astronomical Union and an honorary member of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. #####

Dr. Edward C. Stone

Dr. Stone was appointed Dire …

Description

Dr. Stone was appointed Director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory on January 1, 1991. In this capacity he also serves as a Vice President of Caltech. Dr. Stone earned his associate of arts degree in 1956 from Burlington Junior College before continuing his studies at the University of Chicago. After receiving his master of science (1959) and Ph.D. (1964) degrees in physics, he joined Caltech as a research fellow in physics. Stone was subsequently appointed senior research fellow and assistant professor (1967), associate professor (1971), professor of physics (1976), chairman of Caltech's Division of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy (1983 - 1988), and Vice President for Astronomical Facilities (1988 - 1990). Since his first cosmic-ray experiments on Discoverer satellites in 1961, Stone has been a principal investigator on nine NASA spacecraft missions and a co- investigator on five other NASA missions for which he developed high resolution instruments for measuring the isotopic and elemental composition of energetic cosmic-ray nuclei. Using these instruments, Stone and his colleagues undertook some of the first studies of the isotopic composition of three distinct samples of matter. The matter arrives at Earth as cosmic rays from nearby regions in our galaxy, as solar energetic particles from the Sun, and as the anomalous component from the local interstellar medium. These instruments also have been used for studies of planetary magnetospheres, including the discovery of energetic sulfur and oxygen ions from Jupiter's satellite, Io. Stone also jointly developed a large-area electronic satellite instrument for measuring the abundance of very rare heavy galactic cosmic-ray nuclei, such as lead and platinum, and collaborated in the development of an imaging gamma-ray telescope. Since 1972, Dr. Stone has served as the project scientist for the Voyager Mission, participating in both hardware development and mission operations. Following launch in 1977 of the twin Voyager spacecraft, he coordinated the efforts of 11 teams of scientists in their studies of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Among his many scientific awards and honors, Stone was a Sloan Foundation fellow and has received the NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal, the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Dryden Medal and Space Science Award, and the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal. He is the recipient of the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal, the Aviation Week and Space Technology Aerospace Laurels Award, the National Space Club Science Award, the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems National Award for Operations, the National Medal of Science, the American Philosophical Society Magellanic Award, the American Academy of Achievement Golden Plate Award and the COSPAR Award for Outstanding Contribution to Space Science. He has received honorary degrees from Washington University, St. Louis, Harvard University, and the University of Chicago. Stone is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the International Academy of Astronautics. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society, the American Geophysical Union, and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He is also a member of the American Astronomical Society, the International Astronomical Union and an honorary member of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. #####

Ganymede and Jupiter

PIA02862

Sol (our sun)

Imaging Science Subsystem

Title	Ganymede and Jupiter
Original Caption Released with Image	The solar system's largest moon, Ganymede, is captured here alongside the planet Jupiter in a color picture taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft on Dec. 3, 2000. Ganymede is larger than the planets Mercury and Pluto and Saturn's largest moon, Titan. Both Ganymede and Titan have greater surface area than the entire Eurasian continent on our planet. Cassini was 26.5 million kilometers (16.5 million miles) from Ganymede when this image was taken. The smallest visible features are about 160 kilometers (about 100 miles) across. The bright area near the south (bottom) of Ganymede is Osiris, a large, relatively new crater surrounded by bright icy material ejected by the impact, which created it. Elsewhere, Ganymede displays dark terrains that NASA's Voyager and Galileo spacecraft have shown to be old and heavily cratered. The brighter terrains are younger and laced by grooves. Various kinds of grooved terrains have been seen on many icy moons in the solar system. These are believed to be the surface expressions of warm, pristine, water-rich materials that moved to the surface and froze. Ganymede has proven to be a fascinating world, the only moon known to have a magnetosphere, or magnetic environment, produced by a convecting metal core. The interaction of Ganymede's and Jupiter's magnetospheres may produce dazzling variations in the auroral glows in Ganymede's tenuous atmosphere of oxygen. Cassini is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C.

Earth, Moon, and Jupiter, as seen from Mars

Earth, Moon, and Jupiter, as …

PIA04529

Sol (our sun)

Mars Orbiter Camera

Title	Earth, Moon, and Jupiter, as seen from Mars
Original Caption Released with Image	MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-368, 22 May 2003 What does Earth look like when viewed from Mars? At 13:00 GMT on 8 May 2003, the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) had an opportunity to find out. In addition, a fortuitous alignment of Earth and Jupiter--the first planetary conjunction viewed from another planet--permitted the MOC to acquire an image of both of these bodies and their larger satellites. At the time, Mars and the orbiting camera were 139 million kilometers (86 million miles) from Earth and almost 1 billion kilometers (nearly 600 million miles) from Jupiter. The orbit diagram, from 24-bit color to 8-bit color using a JPEG to GIF conversion program. These 8-bit color images were converted to 8-bit grayscale and an associated lookup table mapping each gray value of that image to a red-green-blue color triplet (RGB). Each color triplet was root-sum-squared (RSS), and sorted in increasing RSS value. These sorted lists were brightness-to-color maps for their respective images. Each brightness-to-color map was then used to convert the 8-bit grayscale MOC image to an 8-bit color image. This 8-bit color image was then converted to a 24-bit color image. The color image was edited to return the background to black. Three separate color tables were used: one each for the Earth, Moon and Jupiter. Jupiter's Galilean Satellites were not colored. To view images separately, see: Earth and Jupiter as viewed from Mars PIA04530 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA04530 ], Earth and Moon as viewed from Mars PIA04531 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA04531 ], Jupiter and its Galilean Satellites as viewed from Mars PIA04532 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA04532 ]., shows the geometry at the time the images were obtained. Because Jupiter is over 5 times farther from the Sun than Earth, two different exposures were needed to image the two planets. The images are shown mosaiced together. The composite has been highly contrast-enhanced and "colorized" to show both planets and their satellites. The MGS MOC high resolution camera only takes grayscale (black-and-white) images, the color was derived from Mariner 10 and Cassini pictures of Earth/Moon and Jupiter, respectively, as described in the note below. Earth/Moon: This is the first image of Earth ever taken from another planet that actually shows our home as a planetary disk. Because Earth and the Moon are closer to the Sun than Mars, they exhibit phases, just as the Moon, Venus, and Mercury do when viewed from Earth. As seen from Mars by MGS on 8 May 2003 at 13:00 GMT (6:00 AM PDT), Earth and the Moon appeared in the evening sky. The MOC Earth/Moon image has been specially processed to allow both Earth (with an apparent magnitude of -2.5) and the much darker Moon (with an apparent magnitude of +0.9) to be visible together. The bright area at the top of the image of Earth is cloud cover over central and eastern North America. Below that, a darker area includes Central America and the Gulf of Mexico. The bright feature near the center-right of the crescent Earth consists of clouds over northern South America. The image also shows the Earth-facing hemisphere of the Moon, since the Moon was on the far side of Earth as viewed from Mars. The slightly lighter tone of the lower portion of the image of the Moon results from the large and conspicuous ray system associated with the crater Tycho. Jupiter/Galilean Satellites: When Galileo first turned his telescope toward Jupiter four centuries ago, he saw that the giant planet had four large satellites, or moons. These, the largest of dozens of moons that orbit Jupiter, later became known as the Galilean satellites. The larger two, Callisto and Ganymede, are roughly the size of the planet Mercury, the smallest, Io and Europa, are approximately the size of Earth's Moon. This MGS MOC image, obtained from Mars orbit on 8 May 2003, shows Jupiter and three of the four Galilean satellites: Callisto, Ganymede, and Europa. At the time, Io was behind Jupiter as seen from Mars, and Jupiter's giant red spot had rotated out of view. This image has been specially processed to show both Jupiter and its satellites, since Jupiter, at an apparent magnitude of -1.8, was much brighter than the three satellites. A note about the coloring process: The MGS MOC high resolution camera only takes grayscale (black-and-white) images. To "colorize" the image, a Mariner 10 Earth/Moon image taken in 1973 was used to color the MOC Earth and Moon picture, and a recent Cassini image acquired during its Jupiter flyby was used to color the MOC Jupiter picture. The procedure used was as follows: the Mariner 10 and Cassini color images were converted

Earth, Moon, and Jupiter, as …

PIA04529

Sol (our sun)

Mars Orbiter Camera

Title	Earth, Moon, and Jupiter, as seen from Mars
Original Caption Released with Image	MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-368, 22 May 2003 What does Earth look like when viewed from Mars? At 13:00 GMT on 8 May 2003, the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) had an opportunity to find out. In addition, a fortuitous alignment of Earth and Jupiter--the first planetary conjunction viewed from another planet--permitted the MOC to acquire an image of both of these bodies and their larger satellites. At the time, Mars and the orbiting camera were 139 million kilometers (86 million miles) from Earth and almost 1 billion kilometers (nearly 600 million miles) from Jupiter. The orbit diagram, from 24-bit color to 8-bit color using a JPEG to GIF conversion program. These 8-bit color images were converted to 8-bit grayscale and an associated lookup table mapping each gray value of that image to a red-green-blue color triplet (RGB). Each color triplet was root-sum-squared (RSS), and sorted in increasing RSS value. These sorted lists were brightness-to-color maps for their respective images. Each brightness-to-color map was then used to convert the 8-bit grayscale MOC image to an 8-bit color image. This 8-bit color image was then converted to a 24-bit color image. The color image was edited to return the background to black. Three separate color tables were used: one each for the Earth, Moon and Jupiter. Jupiter's Galilean Satellites were not colored. To view images separately, see: Earth and Jupiter as viewed from Mars PIA04530 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA04530 ], Earth and Moon as viewed from Mars PIA04531 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA04531 ], Jupiter and its Galilean Satellites as viewed from Mars PIA04532 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA04532 ]., shows the geometry at the time the images were obtained. Because Jupiter is over 5 times farther from the Sun than Earth, two different exposures were needed to image the two planets. The images are shown mosaiced together. The composite has been highly contrast-enhanced and "colorized" to show both planets and their satellites. The MGS MOC high resolution camera only takes grayscale (black-and-white) images, the color was derived from Mariner 10 and Cassini pictures of Earth/Moon and Jupiter, respectively, as described in the note below. Earth/Moon: This is the first image of Earth ever taken from another planet that actually shows our home as a planetary disk. Because Earth and the Moon are closer to the Sun than Mars, they exhibit phases, just as the Moon, Venus, and Mercury do when viewed from Earth. As seen from Mars by MGS on 8 May 2003 at 13:00 GMT (6:00 AM PDT), Earth and the Moon appeared in the evening sky. The MOC Earth/Moon image has been specially processed to allow both Earth (with an apparent magnitude of -2.5) and the much darker Moon (with an apparent magnitude of +0.9) to be visible together. The bright area at the top of the image of Earth is cloud cover over central and eastern North America. Below that, a darker area includes Central America and the Gulf of Mexico. The bright feature near the center-right of the crescent Earth consists of clouds over northern South America. The image also shows the Earth-facing hemisphere of the Moon, since the Moon was on the far side of Earth as viewed from Mars. The slightly lighter tone of the lower portion of the image of the Moon results from the large and conspicuous ray system associated with the crater Tycho. Jupiter/Galilean Satellites: When Galileo first turned his telescope toward Jupiter four centuries ago, he saw that the giant planet had four large satellites, or moons. These, the largest of dozens of moons that orbit Jupiter, later became known as the Galilean satellites. The larger two, Callisto and Ganymede, are roughly the size of the planet Mercury, the smallest, Io and Europa, are approximately the size of Earth's Moon. This MGS MOC image, obtained from Mars orbit on 8 May 2003, shows Jupiter and three of the four Galilean satellites: Callisto, Ganymede, and Europa. At the time, Io was behind Jupiter as seen from Mars, and Jupiter's giant red spot had rotated out of view. This image has been specially processed to show both Jupiter and its satellites, since Jupiter, at an apparent magnitude of -1.8, was much brighter than the three satellites. A note about the coloring process: The MGS MOC high resolution camera only takes grayscale (black-and-white) images. To "colorize" the image, a Mariner 10 Earth/Moon image taken in 1973 was used to color the MOC Earth and Moon picture, and a recent Cassini image acquired during its Jupiter flyby was used to color the MOC Jupiter picture. The procedure used was as follows: the Mariner 10 and Cassini color images were converted

Hubble Provides a Moving Look at Neptune's Stormy Disposition

Hubble Provides a Moving Loo …

Title	Hubble Provides a Moving Look at Neptune's Stormy Disposition

The Colorful Lives of the Ou …

Title	The Colorful Lives of the Outer Planets

The Colorful Lives of the Ou …

Title	The Colorful Lives of the Outer Planets

The Colorful Lives of the Ou …

Title	The Colorful Lives of the Outer Planets

The Colorful Lives of the Ou …

Title	The Colorful Lives of the Outer Planets

It's a Rocky World

Title	It's a Rocky World
Description	This artist's concept show a massive asteroid belt in orbit around a star the same age and size as our Sun. Evidence for this possible belt was discovered by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope when it spotted warm dust around the star, presumably from asteroids smashing together. The view is from outside the belt, where planets like the one shown in the foreground, might possibly reside. A collision between two asteroids is depicted to the right. Collisions like this replenish the dust in the asteroid belt, making it detectable to Spitzer. The alien belt circles a faint, nearby star called HD 69830 located 41 light-years away in the constellation Puppis. Compared to our own solar system's asteroid belt, this one is larger and closer to its star -- it is 25 times as massive, and lies just inside an orbit equivalent to that of Venus. Our asteroid belt circles between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Because Jupiter acts as an outer wall to our asteroid belt, shepherding its debris into a series of bands, it is possible that an unseen planet is likewise marshalling this belt's rubble. Previous observations using the radial velocity technique did not locate any large gas giant planets, indicating that any planets present in this system would have to be the size of Saturn or smaller. Asteroids are chunks of rock from "failed" planets, which never managed to coalesce into full-sized planets. Asteroid belts can be thought of as construction sites that accompany the building of rocky planets.

Band of Rubble

Title	Band of Rubble
Description	This artist's animation illustrates a massive asteroid belt in orbit around a star the same age and size as our Sun. Evidence for this possible belt was discovered by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope when it spotted warm dust around the star, presumably from asteroids smashing together. The view starts from outside the belt, where planets like the one shown here might possibly reside, then moves into to the dusty belt itself. A collision between two asteroids is depicted near the end of the movie. Collisions like this replenish the dust in the asteroid belt, making it detectable to Spitzer. The alien belt circles a faint, nearby star called HD 69830 located 41 light-years away in the constellation Puppis. Compared to our own solar system's asteroid belt, this one is larger and closer to its star -- it is 25 times as massive, and lies just inside an orbit equivalent to that of Venus. Our asteroid belt circles between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Because Jupiter acts as an outer wall to our asteroid belt, shepherding its debris into a series of bands, it is possible that an unseen planet is likewise marshalling this belt's rubble. Previous observations using the radial velocity technique did not locate any large gas giant planets, indicating that any planets present in this system would have to be the size of Saturn or smaller. Asteroids are chunks of rock from "failed" planets, which never managed to coalesce into full-sized planets. Asteroid belts can be thought of as construction sites that accompany the building of rocky planets.

Venus: Earth's Cloudy Twin Credit: Galileo [ http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov/ ] Spacecraft, JPL [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/ ], NASA [ http://www.nasa.gov/ ];

Venus: Earth's Cloudy Twin C …

Title	Venus: Earth's Cloudy Twin Credit: Galileo [ http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov/ ] Spacecraft, JPL [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/ ], NASA [ http://www.nasa.gov/ ];
Explanation	This picture by the Galileo spacecraft [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/galileo.html ] shows just how cloudy Venus [ http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/nineplanets/nineplanets/venus.html ] is. Venus [ http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object/index.cfm?fobjectid=34067 ] is very similar to Earth [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010204.html ] in size and mass - and so is sometimes referred to as Earth's sister planet - but Venus [ http://pds.jpl.nasa.gov/planets/welcome/venus.htm ] has a quite different climate. Venus [ http://spacelink.nasa.gov/NASA.Projects/Space.Science/Solar.System/Pioneer.Venus/Venus.Discoveries ]' thick clouds and closeness to the Sun [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980830.html ] (only Mercury [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010819.html ] is closer) make it the hottest planet - much hotter than the Earth [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/earth.html ]. Humans could not survive there, and no life of any sort has ever been found. When Venus is visible [ http://www.space.com/spacewatch/venus_guide_031024.html ] it is usually the brightest object in the sky after the Sun and the Moon [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/moon.html ]. More than 20 spacecraft have visited Venus [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/photo_gallery/PhotoGallery-Venus.html ] including Venera 9 [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/database/MasterCatalog?sc=1975-050D ], which landed on the surface, and Magellan [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/magellan/ ], which used radar to peer through the clouds and make a map of the surface [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030427.html ]. This visible light picture of Venus [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/venus.html ] was taken by the Galileo spacecraft [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap951206.html ] that orbited Jupiter from 1995 to 2003. Many things about Venus remain unknown, including the cause of mysterious bursts of radio waves [ http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=1995JATP...57..557S ].

Description	Titan's Relative Size
Full Description	Terrestrial planets (shown in the top row) are compared with the Solar System's largest satellites. Titan is the second-largest satellite in the solar system. Only Jupiter¿s satellite Ganymede is larger in diameter. Titan is actually larger than the planet Mercury and is almost as large as Mars. For higher resolution, click here.

Flight Over Venus

Now that humans have mastere …

3/4/08

Description	Now that humans have mastered atmospheric flight above the Earth, researchers at Glenn have set their sights on flight above our neighboring planets. Venus provides several advantages for flying a solar-powered aircraft. At the top of the cloud level, the solar intensity is comparable to or greater than solar intensities above Earth. The atmospheric pressure would make flight much easier than on planets such as Mars. In addition, Venus' slow rotation would allow an airplane to fly in continuous sunlight, eliminating the need for energy storage for nighttime flight. These factors make Venus a prime choice for a long-duration solar-powered aircraft for scientific research. Exploratory planetary mapping and atmospheric sampling over Venus may lead to a greater understanding of the greenhouse effect not only on Venus but on Earth as well. digital art by Les Bossinas (InDyne, Inc.), 2001
Date	3/4/08

Martian Moons Transit the Su …

The upper-left of these imag …

6/9/08

Description	The upper-left of these images shows the passing, or transit, of the Martian moon Deimos across the sun. This event is similar to solar eclipses seen from Earth in which our moon crosses in front of the sun. The bottom three images show Phobos, Mars's other moon, transiting the sun. The potato-shaped Phobos is roughly 15 miles across, about twice the size of Deimos. Deimos appears so much smaller because it is also a bit more than twice as far away from Mars as Phobos is. The Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity took images of both moons on different days in March 2004. Image credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell
Date	6/9/08

A Double Conjunction Eclipse

Title	A Double Conjunction Eclipse
Explanation	The crescent Moon [ http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/luna.html ], Venus [ http://www.hawastsoc.org/solar/eng/venus.htm ], and Jupiter [ http://pds.jpl.nasa.gov/planets/welcome/jupiter.htm ] all appeared together in the early morning hours of April 23rd. Some locations on Earth [ http://ceps.nasm.edu:2020/RPIF/EARTH/earth.html ] were able to witness [ http://www.staigerland.com/live/astrocam/ ] a rare double conjunction [ http://www.oregano.demon.co.uk/terms.htm#conjunc ] eclipse, where the Moon [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980129.html ] occulted both Jupiter [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980202.html ] and Venus [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970603.html ] at the same time. The next [ http://www.skypub.com/news/news.shtml ] double conjunction eclipse [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970924.html ] will involve Mercury [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap971130.html ] and Mars [ http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/mars.html ] and will occur on February 13, 2056.

A Western Sky at Twilight

Title	A Western Sky at Twilight
Explanation	On April 23rd, the Moon along with planets Saturn, Mars, and Venus (and planet Earth of course ...) were all visible [ http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2004/ 21apr_planets2.htm ] in the west at twilight, captured here [ http://www.nightskyevents.com/ ] from a site near Saylorvillle Lake north of Des Moines, Iowa, USA. Putting your cursor [ http://www.fourmilab.ch/yoursky/ ] over the image will label our fellow solar system wanderers [ http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/academy/time/ weekdays.html ] and also reveal the approximate trajectory of the ecliptic plane [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap001014.html ] - defined by Earth's orbit around the Sun - angling above the western horizon. After sunset tonight, the western sky will present a similar arrangement of planets, although the Moon will have moved east out of the picture, passing bright Jupiter along the ecliptic and heading for May 4th's total lunar eclipse [ http://www.xs4all.nl/~carlkop/eclipsmaan/leclips2004.html ]. May could also [ http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/comets/ article_1238_1.asp ] be a good month for comets [ http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/comets/ article_1229_2.asp ].

Pleiades, Planets, And Hot P …

Title	Pleiades, Planets, And Hot Plasma
Explanation	Bright stars of the Pleiades, four planets, and erupting solar plasma are all captured in this spectacular image [ http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/hotshots/ ] from the space-based SOlar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). In the foreground of the 15 degree wide field of view, a bubble of hot plasma, called a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000309.html ]), is blasting away from the active Sun [ http://www.spaceweather.com/ ] whose position and relative size is indicated by the central white circle. Beyond [ http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/hotshots/2000_05_03/ diagram1.jpg ] appear four of the five [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000505.html ] naked-eye planets [ http://sse.jpl.nasa.gov/features/planets/ planetsfeat.html ] -- courtesy [ http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/misc/planets.html ] of the planetary alignment [ http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2000/ ast30mar_1m.htm#alignments ] which did not destroy the world! In the background are distant stars and the famous Pleiades [ http://www.seds.org/messier/m/m045.html ] star cluster, also easily visible to the unaided eye when it shines in the night sky [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000504.html ]. Distances for these familiar [ http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/ nineplanets.html ] celestial objects are, the Sun [ http://helios.gsfc.nasa.gov/sun.html ], 150 million kilometers away, Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn, about 58, 110, 780, and 1,400 million kilometers beyond the Sun respectively, and the Pleiades [ http://www.ras.ucalgary.ca/~gibson/pleiades/ ] star cluster at a mere 3,800 trillion kilometers (400 light-years). SOHO itself orbits 1.5 million kilometers sunward of planet Earth. The image [ http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/latestimages.html ] was recorded by the Large Angle and Spectrometric COronagraph (LASCO) instrument on board SOHO on Monday, May 15 at 10:42 UT.

Hubble Discovers Dark Cloud in the Atmosphere of Uranus

Hubble Discovers Dark Cloud …

Title	Hubble Discovers Dark Cloud in the Atmosphere of Uranus

Three Planets by the Sea

Title	Three Planets by the Sea
Explanation	On Tuesday, June 28th, the setting Sun flooded the horizon with a beautiful warm light in this view from [ http://homepages.picknowl.com.au/sparda/ NEW/Newall.htm ] the beach beside the pier at Brighton in Adelaide, South Australia [ http://www.nla.gov.au/ ]. The Sun also illuminated three planets gathered in the western sky [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050624.html ], Mercury, Venus, and Saturn. From this perspective Mercury [ http://www.fourmilab.ch/images/3planets/ elongation.html ] is at the highest point in the celestial triangle, brilliant Venus [ http://www.fourmilab.ch/images/venus_daytime/ ] is just below, and Saturn stands farther to the left and below the close pair [ http://www.alpheratz.net/observing/ VenusMercuryAppulse_2005-06-27/ ]. Of course, the planets only appear close together on the sky but are actually quite far apart in space. The orbits [ http://www.fourmilab.ch/cgi-bin/uncgi/ Solar/action?sys=-Sf ] of Mercury and Venus are both interior to Earth's orbit, while gas giant Saturn [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/ saturnfact.html ] lies in the outer solar system, over nine astronomical units [ http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/glossary/au.html ] from the Sun. Late next week [ http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/ataglance/ article_110_1.asp ], Venus and Mercury will share western skies with the young crescent Moon [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050513.html ].

Rounding the Corner

Description	Rounding the Corner
Full Description	+ View Movie A movie sequence of Saturn's G ring over a full orbital revolution captures its single bright arc on the ring's inner edge. The movie is composed of 70 individual narrow-angle camera images taken during a period of just over 20 hours while Cassini stared at the ring. The orbital period for particles in the center of the G ring is about 19.6 hours. At the beginning of the sequence, the ring arc, a site of concentrated ring particles, is seen rounding the ring edge. The arc orbits at a distance of 167,496 kilometers (104,080 miles). It is about 250 kilometers (155 miles) wide in radius and subtends less than 60 degrees of orbital longitude. The classical position of the G ring is about 172,600 kilometers (107,250 miles) from Saturn, and the arc blends smoothly into this region. Scientists suspect that bodies trapped in this remarkably bright feature may be the source of the G ring material, driven outward from the arc by electromagnetic forces in the Saturn system. The arc itself is likely held in place by gravitational resonances with Mimas of the type that anchor the famed arcs in Neptune's rings. There is an obvious narrow dark gap in the G ring beyond the arc. This feature is close to yet another resonance with Mimas, but no arcs are present at this locale. This view looks toward the unlit side of the rings from about 10 degrees above the ringplane. Imaging artifacts jitter within the scene, a result of the high phase angle and faintness of the G ring. Stars slide across the background from upper left to lower right. The images in this movie were taken on Sept. 19 and 20 at a distance of approximately 2.1 to 2.2 million kilometers (1.3 to 1.4 million miles) from Saturn and at a Sun-G ring-spacecraft, or phase, angle that ranged from 167 to 164 degrees. Image scale is about 13 kilometers (8 miles) per pixel in the radial (outward from Saturn) direction. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Date	October 11, 2006

Hands-On Book of Hubble Images Allows the Visually Impaired to "Touch the Universe

Hands-On Book of Hubble Imag …

Title	Hands-On Book of Hubble Images Allows the Visually Impaired to "Touch the Universe

Saturn IVB

An expended Saturn IVB stage …

5/5/09

Description	An expended Saturn IVB stage was being used as a target for simulated docking maneuvers over Sonora, Mexico, during Apollo 7's second revolution around Earth on Oct. 11, 1968. Image Credit: NASA
Date	5/5/09

Neptune's rings

PIA02207

Neptune

Imaging Science Subsystem - …

Title	Neptune's rings
Original Caption Released with Image	This wide-angle Voyager 2 image, taken through the camera's clear filter, is the first to show Neptune's rings in detail. The two main rings, about 53,000 km (33,000 miles) and 63,000 km (39,000 miles) from Neptune, are 5 to 10 times brighter than in earlier images. The difference is due to lighting and viewing geometry. In approach images, the rings were seen in light scattered backward toward the spacecraft at a 15-degree phase angle. However, this image was taken at a 135-degree phase angle as Voyager left the planet. That geometry is ideal for detecting microscopic particles that forward-scatter light preferentially. The fact that Neptune's rings are so much brighter at that angle means the particle-size distribution is quite different from most of Uranus' and Saturn's rings, which contain fewer dust-size grains. However, a few components of the Saturnian and Uranian ring systems exhibit forward-scattering behavior: The F ring and the Encke Gap ringlet at Saturn, and 1986U1R at Uranus. They are also narrow, clumpy ringlets with kinks, and are associated with nearby moonlets too small to detect directly. In this image, the main clumpy arc, composed of three features each about 6 to 8 degrees long, is clearly seen. This image was obtained when Voyager was 1.1 million km (683,000 miles) from Neptune. Exposure time was 111seconds. The Voyager Mission is conducted by JPL for NASA's Office of Space Science and Applications.

Description	Here on the Gallery page you can find the very latest images, videos and products from the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn, including the spectacular launch, spacecraft assembly and the exciting trip to Saturn.
Full Description	There were two flybys of Venus in Cassini's primary trajectory, on April 26, 1998 and June 24, 1999. This image shows the spacecraft near the cloud-enshrouded Venus. By David Seal (only available electronically).

Astronaut Exercise

In the next 50 years, NASA p …

7/8/08

Description	In the next 50 years, NASA plans to send astronauts to the Moon and Mars. These astronauts must follow a strenuous exercise program in-flight to prevent the health effects of space flight. These effects include decrease in bone and muscle mass, strength, sensory-motor function (i.e. balance), and the ability to perform aerobic exercise.
Date	7/8/08

ISS Battery

When the solar arrays of the …

7/8/08

Description	When the solar arrays of the International Space Station are in the sun, nickel hydrogen batteries such as the one being demonstrated collect solar energy that is later used to power the Station when it is no longer within the Sun's "line-of-sight."
Date	7/8/08

Robot Over the Horizon

The Space Shuttle Endeavour' …

4/2/09

Description	The Space Shuttle Endeavour's robotic arm hovers over Earth's horizon, backdropped by a starburst from the Sun. This photo was taken during the STS-77 shuttle mission in 1996.
Date	4/2/09

Description	Here on the Gallery page you can find the very latest images, videos and products from the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn, including the spectacular launch, spacecraft assembly and the exciting trip to Saturn.
Full Description	Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif., manages the Cassini mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona (PIA02826) For higher resolution, click here., These two images, taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft, show Jupiter in a near-infrared wavelength, and catch Europa, one of Jupiter's largest moons, at different phases. Cassini's narrow-angle camera took both images, the upper one from a distance of 69.9 million kilometers (43.4 million miles) on Oct. 17, 2000, and the lower one from a distance of 65.1 million kilometers (40.4 million miles) on Oct. 22, 2000. Both were taken at a wavelength of 727 nanometers, which is in the near-infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum. The camera's 727-nanometer filter accepts only a narrow spectral range centered on a relatively strong absorption feature due to methane gas. In this spectral region, the amount of light reflected by Jupiter's clouds is only half that reflected in a nearby spectral region outside the methane band. The features that are brightest in these images are the highest and thickest clouds, such as the Great Red Spot and the band of clouds girding the equator, as these scatter sunlight back to space before it has a chance to be absorbed by the methane gas in the atmosphere. This stratigraphic effect can be seen even more prominently in an image released on Oct. 23, 2000, taken in the stronger methane band at 889 nanometers, in which the only bright features are the highest hazes over the equator, the poles and the Great Red Spot. By comparing images taken in the 727 nanometer filter with others taken at 889 nanometers and at a weaker methane band at 619 nanometers, researchers will probe the heights and thickness of clouds in Jupiter's atmosphere. Europa, a satellite of Jupiter about the size of Earth's Moon, is visible to the left of Jupiter in the upper image, and in front of the planet in the lower image. Another of Jupiter's Galilean satellites, Ganymede, which is larger than the planet Mercury, is to the right in the upper image, with brightness variations visible across its surface. In the upper image, Europa is caught entering Jupiter's shadow, and hence appears as a bright crescent, in the lower image, it is seen about one-and-a-half orbits later, in transit across the face of the planet. Because there is neither methane nor any strong absorber in this spectral region on the surface of Europa, it appears strikingly white and bright compared to Jupiter. Imaging observations of the moons Europa, Io and Ganymede entering and passing through Jupiter's shadow are planned for the two-week period surrounding Cassini's closest approach on Dec. 30, 2000. The purpose of these eclipse observations is to detect and measure the variability of emissions that arise from the interaction of the satellites' tenuous atmospheres with the charged particles trapped in Jupiter's magnetic field. At the times these images were taken, Cassini was about 3.3 degrees above Jupiter's equatorial plane, and the Sun-Jupiter-spacecraft angle was about 20 degrees. Cassini is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian

Apollo 15 on the Launch Pad

Lightening flashes in the sk …

5/6/09

Description	Lightening flashes in the sky behind the Saturn V rocket that will propel Apollo 15 to the moon, July 25, 1971. Image Credit: NASA
Date	5/6/09

Total Eclipse of the Sun

On December 3, 2002, people …

6/9/08

Description	On December 3, 2002, people in Australia received a rare 32-second celestial show as the moon completely obscured the sun, creating a ring of light. Solar eclipses provide experts an opportunity to study the sun's outer atmosphere, called the corona. This total eclipse was the first to cover Australian shores since 1976. The next is not predicted to occur for several more decades. While people in Australia were observing the solar eclipse, the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft also had its eye on the sun. From its unique vantage point in space, scientists have been able to monitor the explosions on the sun that can impact us here on Earth. This image combines a photograph of the solar eclipse (showing the halo-like corona) with data taken by the Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope instrument aboard SOHO (showing the green inner regions). Image credit: NASA/ESA Text credit: NASA's Earth Observatory
Date	6/9/08

Neither Perpendicular nor Pa …

Most ISS images are nadir, i …

11/3/08

Description	Most ISS images are nadir, in which the center point of the image is directly beneath the lens of the camera, but this one is not. This highly oblique image of northwestern African captures the curvature of the Earth and shows its atmosphere. The Earth's atmosphere is composed of 78 percent nitrogen, 21 percent oxygen and 1 percent other constituents, and it shields us from nearly all harmful radiation coming from the sun and other stars. It also protects us from meteors, most of which burn up before they can strike the planet. Affected by changes in solar activity, the upper atmosphere contributes to weather and climate on Earth. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/UCSD/JSC
Date	11/3/08

Rounding the Corner

Description	Here on the Gallery page you can find the very latest images, videos and products from the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn, including the spectacular launch, spacecraft assembly and the exciting trip to Saturn.
Full Description	A movie sequence of Saturn's G ring over a full orbital revolution captures its single bright arc on the ring's inner edge. The movie is composed of 70 individual narrow-angle camera images taken during a period of just over 20 hours while Cassini stared at the ring. The orbital period for particles in the center of the G ring is about 19.6 hours. At the beginning of the sequence, the ring arc, a site of concentrated ring particles, is seen rounding the ring edge. The arc orbits at a distance of 167,496 kilometers (104,080 miles). It is about 250 kilometers (155 miles) wide in radius and subtends less than 60 degrees of orbital longitude. The classical position of the G ring is about 172,600 kilometers (107,250 miles) from Saturn, and the arc blends smoothly into this region. Scientists suspect that bodies trapped in this remarkably bright feature may be the source of the G ring material, driven outward from the arc by electromagnetic forces in the Saturn system. The arc itself is likely held in place by gravitational resonances with Mimas of the type that anchor the famed arcs in Neptune's rings. There is an obvious narrow dark gap in the G ring beyond the arc. This feature is close to yet another resonance with Mimas, but no arcs are present at this locale. This view looks toward the unlit side of the rings from about 10 degrees above the ringplane. Imaging artifacts jitter within the scene, a result of the high phase angle and faintness of the G ring. Stars slide across the background from upper left to lower right. The images in this movie were taken on Sept. 19 and 20 at a distance of approximately 2.1 to 2.2 million kilometers (1.3 to 1.4 million miles) from Saturn and at a Sun-G ring-spacecraft, or phase, angle that ranged from 167 to 164 degrees. Image scale is about 13 kilometers (8 miles) per pixel in the radial (outward from Saturn) direction. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org. Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Lightning on Earth

Title	Lightning on Earth
Explanation	Nobody knows what causes lightning. It is known that charges [ http://physics.bu.edu/~duffy/PY106/Charge.html ] slowly separate in some clouds [ http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/(Gh)/guides/mtr/cld/cldtyp/home.rxml ] causing rapid electrical discharges [ http://www.eng.tau.ac.il/Pages/Departments/Inter/edp_lab/ ] (lightning), but how electrical charges [ http://physicsstudio.indstate.edu/java/potential/ProyectI.html ] get separated in clouds [ http://www.geo.mtu.edu/department/classes/ge406/tjbrabec/cloud.html ] remains a topic of much research. Nevertheless, lightning [ http://wvlightning.com/info.html ] bolts are common in clouds during rainstorms, and on average 6000 lightning bolts occur between clouds and the Earth every minute. Above [ http://www.noao.edu/image_gallery/html/im0426.html ], several lightning strokes were photographed behind Kitt Peak National Observatory [ http://www.noao.edu/outreach/kpoutreach.html ] in Arizona [ http://www.state.az.us/ ]. Lightning [ http://bondo.wsc.mass.edu/dept/garp/faculty/lightn.htm ] has also been found on the planets Venus [ http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/~hansell/lightning/poster.html ], Jupiter [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap971216.html ], Saturn [ http://learn.jpl.nasa.gov/projectspacef/bkg130b.html ], and Uranus [ http://www.spacetoday.org/SolSys/Uranus/Uranus.html ]. NASA [ http://www.nasa.gov/ ] launched the TRMM mission [ http://trmm.gsfc.nasa.gov/news.html ] in 1997 that continues to measure rainfall and lightning [ http://thunder.msfc.nasa.gov/primer/ ] on planet Earth [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990131.html ].

Constellation: Earth Moon Ma …

Description	Constellation: Earth Moon Mars

What's Up for March?

Bright Saturn and a faint as …

03/03/2010

Description	Bright Saturn and a faint asteroid named Lutetia.
Date	03/03/2010

Morning Sun

The morning sun reflects on …

5/6/09

Description	The morning sun reflects on the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean as seen from the Apollo 7 spacecraft during its 134th revolution of the Earth on Oct. 20, 1968. Image Credit: NASA
Date	5/6/09

STEREO Sees Lunar Transit

This transit of the moon acr …

6/9/08

Description	This transit of the moon across the sun on Feb. 25, 2007, could not be seen from Earth. This sight was visible only from the STEREO-B spacecraft in its orbit about the sun, trailing behind the Earth. NASA's STEREO mission consists of two spacecraft launched in October 2006 to study solar storms. When STEREO-B captured this image, it was about one million miles from the Earth. That's about 4.4 times farther away from the moon than we are on Earth. As a result, the moon appeared about 4.4 times smaller than what we are used to. This alignment of STEREO-B and the moon was not just due to luck. It was arranged with a small tweak to STEREO-B's orbit in December 2006. The sun as it appears here is a composite of images in four different wavelengths of extreme ultraviolet light that were separated into color channels and then recombined. Image credit: NASA
Date	6/9/08

Neptune's rings

Title	Neptune's rings
Description	This wide-angle Voyager 2 image, taken through the camera's clear filter, is the first to show Neptune's rings in detail. The two main rings, about 53,000 km (33,000 miles) and 63,000 km (39,000 miles) from Neptune, are 5 to 10 times brighter than in earlier images. The difference is due to lighting and viewing geometry. In approach images, the rings were seen in light scattered backward toward the spacecraft at a 15-degree phase angle. However, this image was taken at a 135-degree phase angle as Voyager left the planet. That geometry is ideal for detecting microscopic particles that forward-scatter light preferentially. The fact that Neptune's rings are so much brighter at that angle means the particle-size distribution is quite different from most of Uranus' and Saturn's rings, which contain fewer dust-size grains. However, a few components of the Saturnian and Uranian ring systems exhibit forward-scattering behavior: The F ring and the Encke Gap ringlet at Saturn, and 1986U1R at Uranus. They are also narrow, clumpy ringlets with kinks, and are associated with nearby moonlets too small to detect directly. In this image, the main clumpy arc, composed of three features each about 6 to 8 degrees long, is clearly seen. This image was obtained when Voyager was 1.1 million km (683,000 miles) from Neptune. Exposure time was 111seconds. The Voyager Mission is conducted by JPL for NASA's Office of Space Science and Applications.
Date	08.26.1989

2008 Solar Eclipse Diamond R …

This "diamond ring" image sh …

8/6/08

Description	This "diamond ring" image shows the Aug. 1, 2008, solar eclipse at a point when the moon almost completely covered up the body of the sun. Credit: The Exploratorium
Date	8/6/08

Kepler Leaves Astrotech

NASA's Kepler spacecraft, en …

2/20/09

Description	NASA's Kepler spacecraft, enclosed in a canister and protective cover, leaves the Astrotech payload processing facility in Titusville, Fla. Kepler is being moved to Launch Pad 17-B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.The liftoff of Kepler aboard a Delta II rocket is currently targeted for 10:48 p.m. EST March 5 from Pad 17-B. Kepler is designed to survey more than 100,000 stars in our galaxy to determine the number of sun-like stars that have Earth-size and larger planets, including those that lie in a star's "habitable zone," a region where liquid water, and perhaps life, could exist. If these Earth-size worlds do exist around stars like our sun, Kepler is expected to be the first to find them and the first to measure how common they are. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller. Feb. 19, 2009
Date	2/20/09

Arctic Eclipse

NASA's Terra satellite was r …

8/4/08

Description	NASA's Terra satellite was rounding the top of the globe, making its way from the eastern tip of Siberia and across the Arctic Ocean towards northern Norway and northwest Russia, when it captured this unique view of a total solar eclipse on Aug. 1, 2008. The circular disk of the Moon casts an oval-shaped shadow across the left edge of this image. In the region of totality, where the Moon entirely obscures the Sun, the shadow is complete. The edges of the shadow are fuzzy, gradually lightening from black to red, brown, and yellow until the shadow is no longer discernable. In these areas of semi-shadow, the Sun is only partially blocked. On any other day, the photo-like view captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Terra satellite would be brilliant white since both the ever-present Arctic clouds and the ice that caps the northern sea reflect light. In this image, however, it is as if the world is painted in sepia: the low light casts a yellow-brown glow on much of the scene. The image was captured between 9:35 and 9:45 UTC. In the area shown in the image, the Sun was completely obscured for about two minutes. As Earth rotated, the shadow moved southeast across the surface. At the same time, the satellite crossed the Arctic, its path nearly perpendicular to the eclipse. Because the shadow was moving across Earth's surface as the satellite approached, it has a long oblong shape in this image. In an instantaneous snapshot from a platform that was not moving relative to Earth, the shadow would be more circular. Image credit: Jeff Schmaltz, NASA's MODIS Rapid Response Team Text credit: Holli Riebeek, NASA's Earth Observatory
Date	8/4/08

Eclipse View from the ISS

The International Space Stat …

6/9/08

Description	The International Space Station (ISS) was in position to view the umbral (ground) shadow cast by the moon as it moved between Earth and the sun during a solar eclipse on March 29, 2006. This astronaut image captures the umbral shadow across southern Turkey, northern Cyprus and the Mediterranean Sea. Credit: NASA
Date	6/9/08

2008 Solar Eclipse at Totali …

This image shows the Aug. 1, …

8/6/08

Description	This image shows the Aug. 1, 2008, solar eclipse at the point of totality, when the moon completely blocks out the body of the sun, revealing the normally hidden, halo-like corona. Credit: The Exploratorium
Date	8/6/08

Aug. 1 Solar Eclipse Image S …

On August 1, a total solar e …

8/4/08

Description	On August 1, a total solar eclipse was visible in parts of Canada, northern Greenland, the Arctic, central Russia, Mongolia and China. The eclipse swept across Earth in a narrow path that began in Canada's northern province of Nunavut and ended in northern China's Silk Road region. Though the eclipse was not visible in most of North America, NASA TV and the Exploratorium made streaming video of the event available online. These images are taken from that video. The sun appears differently in some of the images because of the different filters used to capture the event. Times listed are approximate. At 6:54 a.m. ET, clouds began to roll in, threatening to block out the total eclipse. The clouds began to break at 7:06 a.m., and the sky cleared long enough for views of totality at 7:10 a.m. > Larger, unlabeled image Credit: NASA TV/The Exploratorium
Date	8/4/08

Saturn's Blue Cranium

PIA06177

Sol (our sun)

Imaging Science Subsystem - …

Title	Saturn's Blue Cranium
Original Caption Released with Image	Saturn's northern hemisphere is presently a serene blue, more befitting of Uranus or Neptune, as seen in this natural color image from Cassini. Light rays here travel a much longer path through the relatively cloud-free upper atmosphere. Along this path, shorter wavelength blue light rays are scattered effectively by gases in the atmosphere, and it is this scattered light that gives the region its blue appearance. Why the upper atmosphere in the northern hemisphere is so cloud-free is not known, but may be related to colder temperatures brought on by the ring shadows cast there. Shadows cast by the rings surround the pole, looking almost like dark atmospheric bands. The ring shadows at higher latitudes correspond to locations on the ringplane that are farther from the planet--in other words, the northernmost ring shadow in this view is made by the outer edge of the A ring. Spots of bright clouds also are visible throughout the region. This view is similar to an infrared image obtained by Cassini at nearly the same time (see PIA06567 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA06567 ]). The infrared view shows a great deal more detail in the planet's atmosphere, however. Images obtained using red, green and blue spectral filters were combined to create this color view. The images were taken with the Cassini spacecraft wide angle camera on Dec. 14, 2004, at a distance of 719,200 kilometers (446,900 miles) from Saturn. The image scale is about 39 kilometers (24 miles) per pixel. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission, visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov [ http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov ] and the Cassini imaging team home page, http://ciclops.org [ http://ciclops.org ].

Hot New Rover Wheels!

NASA's next rover to Mars, u …

07/13/10

Description	NASA's next rover to Mars, under construction at JPL, turns its new set of wheels.
Date	07/13/10

Ganymede Mosaic

Title	Ganymede Mosaic
Explanation	Ganymede [ http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/ganymede.html ], one of the four Galilean moons [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/ganymede/discovery.html ] of Jupiter, is the largest moon in the Solar System. With a diameter of 5,260 kilometers it is even larger [ http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/datamax.html ] than planets Mercury and Pluto and just over three quarters the size of Mars. Ganymede is [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/ganymede/fact.html ] locked in synchronous rotation [ http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/help.html#syncrot ] with Jupiter. This detailed mosaic [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/ PIAGenCatalogPage.pl?PIA01666 ] of images from the Galileo spacecraft shows the trailing hemisphere of this planet-sized moon. Speckled with bright young craters, Ganymede's surface shows a mixture of old, dark, cratered [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980722.html ] terrain and lighter regions laced with grooves and ridges [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960711.html ]. Ganymede's true colors tend toward subtle browns and grays, but this mosaic's colors have been enhanced to increase surface contrasts. The violet shades extending from the top and bottom are likely due to frost particles in Ganymede's polar regions.

A89-7039

Photographer: JPL P-34712 Ra …

8/26/89

Description	Photographer: JPL P-34712 Range: 1.1 million kilometers (683,000 miles) This wide-angle Voyager 2 image, taken through the camera's clear filter, is the first to show Neptune's rings in detail. The two main rings, about 53,000 km (33,000 miles) and 63,000 km (39,000 miles) from Neptune, are 5 to 10 times brighter than in earlier images. The difference is due to lighting and viewing geometry. In approach images, the rings were seen in light scattered backward toward the spacecraft at a 15 _ phase angle. However, this image was taken at a 135 _ phase angle as Voyager left the planet. That geometry is ideal for detecting microscopic particles that forward scatter light preferentially. The fact that Neptune's rings are so much brighter at that angle means the particle-size distribution is quite different from most of Uranus' and Saturn's rings, which contain fewer dust-size grains. However, a few componenets of the Saturian and Uranian ring systems exhibit forward-scattering behavior: The F ring and the Encke Gap ringlet at Saturn and 1986U1R at Uranus. They are also narrow, clumpy ringlets with kinks, and are associated with nearby moonlets too small to detect directly. In this image, the main clumpy arc, composed of three features each about 6 to 8 degrees long, is clearly seen. Exposure time for this image was 111 seconds.
Date	8/26/89

Pluto: The Frozen Planet

Title	Pluto: The Frozen Planet
Explanation	This portrait of Pluto [ http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/pr/94/17.html ] and its companion Charon [ http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/nineplanets/nineplanets/ pluto.html#charon ] was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 1994. Pluto is [ http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/nineplanets/nineplanets/pluto.html ] usually the most distant planet from the Sun [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960916.html ] but because of its eccentric orbit Pluto crossed inside of Neptune's [ http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/nineplanets/nineplanets/neptune.html ] orbit in 1979. On Thursday, February 11th, it crossed back out, recovering its status [ http://www.lowell.edu/users/buie/pluto/ ] as the most distant of nine planets [ http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/nineplanets/nineplanets/ ]. Pluto [ http://www.iau.org/PlutoPR.html ] is still considered to be a planet, although very little is known about it compared to other planets. Pluto [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980708.html ] is smaller than any other planet and even smaller than several other planet's moons. Pluto is [ http://dosxx.colorado.edu/plutohome.html ] probably composed of frozen rock and ice, much like Neptune's moon Triton [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap971123.html ]. Pluto has not yet been visited by a spacecraft, but a mission is being planned [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/pluto/pkexprss.htm ] for the next decade.

Constellation Mini Feature 4

Constellation on Mars

Description	Constellation on Mars

Hubble Confirms New Moons of …

Title	Hubble Confirms New Moons of Pluto

Venus: Just Passing By

Title	Venus: Just Passing By
Explanation	Venus, the second closest planet to the Sun [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/venusfact.html ], is a popular way-point for spacecraft headed for the gas giant [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap971030.html ] planets in the outer reaches of the solar system. Why visit Venus [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap971014.html ] first? Using a " gravity assist [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/basics/bsf4-1.htm#gravity ]" maneuver, spacecraft can swing by planets and gain energy during their brief encounter saving fuel for use at the end of their long interplanetary voyage. This colorized image of Venus [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/imgcat/html/object_page/gal_p37218.html ] was recorded by the Jupiter-bound Galileo spacecraft shortly after its gravity assist flyby of Venus in February of 1990. Galileo's glimpse of the veiled planet [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap950822.html ] shows structure in swirling sulfuric acid clouds. The bright area is sunlight glinting [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980402.html ] off the upper cloud deck. The Saturn-bound Cassini spacecraft [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/cassini/ ] will complete its own [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/cassini/today/ ] second flyby of Venus on June 24th. Launched in October of 1997 [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap971016.html ], Cassini should reach Saturn [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap981105.html ] in July 2004.

Description	Here on the Gallery page you can find the very latest images, videos and products from the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn, including the spectacular launch, spacecraft assembly and the exciting trip to Saturn.
Full Description	The flyby of Earth in Cassini's primary trajectory occured on August 18, 1999, just 55 days after the second Venus flyby. This image shows the spacecraft over the South Pacific. By David Seal (only available electronically).

Saturn's Blue Cranium

Description	Saturn's Blue Cranium
Full Description	Saturn's northern hemisphere is presently a serene blue, more befitting of Uranus or Neptune, as seen in this natural color image from Cassini. Light rays here travel a much longer path through the relatively cloud-free upper atmosphere. Along this path, shorter wavelength blue light rays are scattered effectively by gases in the atmosphere, and it is this scattered light that gives the region its blue appearance. Why the upper atmosphere in the northern hemisphere is so cloud-free is not known, but may be related to colder temperatures brought on by the ring shadows cast there. Shadows cast by the rings surround the pole, looking almost like dark atmospheric bands. The ring shadows at higher latitudes correspond to locations on the ringplane that are farther from the planet -- in other words, the northernmost ring shadow in this view is made by the outer edge of the A ring. Spots of bright clouds also are visible throughout the region. This view is similar to an infrared image obtained by Cassini at nearly the same time (see http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA06567). The infrared view shows a great deal more detail in the planet's atmosphere, however. Images obtained using red, green and blue spectral filters were combined to create this color view. The images were taken with the Cassini spacecraft wide angle camera on Dec. 14, 2004, at a distance of 719,200 kilometers (446,900 miles) from Saturn. The image scale is about 39 kilometers (24 miles) per pixel. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . For images visit the Cassini imaging team home page http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Date	February 8, 2005

Pale Blue Orb (1)

Description	Pale Blue Orb
Full Description	Not since NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft saw our home as a pale blue dot from beyond the orbit of Neptune has Earth been imaged in color from the outer solar system. Now, Cassini casts powerful eyes on our home planet, and captures Earth, a pale blue orb -- and a faint suggestion of our moon -- among the glories of the Saturn system. Earth is captured here in a natural color portrait made possible by the passing of Saturn directly in front of the sun from Cassini's point of view. At the distance of Saturn's orbit, Earth is too narrowly separated from the sun for the spacecraft to safely point its cameras and other instruments toward its birthplace without protection from the sun's glare. The Earth-and-moon system is visible as a bright blue point on the right side of the image above center. Here, Cassini is looking down on the Atlantic Ocean and the western coast of north Africa. The phase angle of Earth, seen from Cassini is about 30 degrees. A magnified view of the image taken through the clear filter (monochrome) shows the moon as a dim protrusion to the upper left of Earth. Seen from the outer solar system through Cassini's cameras, the entire expanse of direct human experience, so far, is nothing more than a few pixels across. Earth no longer holds the distinction of being our solar system's only "water world," as several other bodies suggest the possibility that they too harbor liquid water beneath their surfaces. The Saturnian moon, Enceladus, is among them, and is also captured on the left in this image (see inset), with its plume of water ice particles and swathed in the blue E ring which it creates. Delicate fingers of material extend from the active moon into the E ring. See Ghostly Fingers of Enceladus, for a more detailed view of these newly-revealed features. The narrow tenuous G ring and the main rings are seen at the right. The view looks down from about 15 degrees above the un-illuminated side of the rings. Images taken using red, green and blue spectral filters were combined to create this view. The image was taken by the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Sept. 15, 2006, at a distance of approximately 2.1 million kilometers (1.3 million miles) from Saturn and at a sun-Saturn-spacecraft angle of almost 179 degrees. Image scale is 129 kilometers (80 miles) per pixel. At this time, Cassini was nearly 1.5 billion kilometers (930 million miles) from Earth. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov ., The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Date	September 19, 2006

Uranus' Largest Moon: Titani …

Title	Uranus' Largest Moon: Titania
Explanation	Titania's tortured terrain is a mix of valleys and craters. NASA's interplanetary robot spacecraft Voyager [ http://spacelink.msfc.nasa.gov/NASA.Projects/Planetary.Probes/Voyager/Mission.Summary ] 2 passed this moon of Uranus [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap950816.html ] in 1986 and took the above photograph. The photograph was then transmitted back to earth by radio [ http://www.science.uwaterloo.ca/physics/p13news/number_2/maxnew-2.html ]. The valleys of Titania [ http://bang.lanl.gov/solarsys/titania.htm ] resemble those on Ariel [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960303.html ] indicate that Titania underwent some unknown tumultuous resurfacing event in its distant past. Although Titania [ http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/nineplanets/nineplanets/titania.html ] is Uranus' largest moon, it is still much smaller than Triton [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap950805.html ] - the largest moon of Uranus' sister planet Neptune [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap950817.html ]. Titania is essentially a large dirty iceball that orbits Uranus - it is composed of about half water-ice and half rock. Titania was discovered by William Hershel [ http://www.dsi.unimi.it/Users/Students/amoroso/sun/fortunes/life-e.html ] in 1787.

Hubble Captures a Rare Eclipse on Uranus

Hubble Captures a Rare Eclip …

Title	Hubble Captures a Rare Eclipse on Uranus

Hands-On Book of Hubble Imag …

Title	Hands-On Book of Hubble Images Allows the Visually Impaired to "Touch the Universe

Frame-Filling Rhea

Description	Frame-Filling Rhea
Full Description	Saturn's moon Rhea is an alien ice world, but in this frame-filling view it is vaguely familiar. Here, Rhea's cratered surface looks in some ways similar to our own Moon, or the planet Mercury. But make no mistake - Rhea's icy exterior would quickly melt if this moon were brought as close to the Sun as Mercury. Rhea is 1,528 kilometers (949 miles) across. Instead, Rhea preserves a record of impacts at its post in the outer solar system. The large impact crater at center left (near the terminator or boundary between day and night), called Izanagi, is just one of the numerous large impact basins on Rhea. This view shows principally Rhea's southern polar region, centered on 58 degrees South, 265 degrees West. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Aug. 1, 2005, at a distance of approximately 255,000 kilometers (158,000 miles) from Rhea and at a Sun-Rhea-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 62 degrees. Image scale is 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) per pixel. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Date	September 9, 2005

The Plane of the Ecliptic

title	The Plane of the Ecliptic
description	The Plane of the Ecliptic is illustrated in this Clementine star tracker camera image which reveals (from right to left) the Moon lit by Earthshine, the Sun's corona rising over the Moon's dark limb, and the planets Saturn, Mars, and Mercury. The ecliptic plane is defined as the imaginary plane containing the Earth's orbit around the Sun. In the course of a year, the Sun's apparent path through the sky lies in this plane. The planetary bodies of our solar system all tend to lie near this plane, since they were formed from the Sun's spinning, flattened, proto-planetary disk. The snapshot above nicely captures a momentary line-up looking out along this fundamental plane of our solar system. Image Credit: NASA

Terrestrial Planet Sizes

title	Terrestrial Planet Sizes
description	The terrestrial planets are the four innermost planets in the solar system, Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. They are called terrestrial because they have a compact, rocky surface like the Earth's. The planets Venus, Earth, and Mars have significant atmospheres, while Mercury has almost none. This diagram shows the approximate relative sizes of the terrestrial planets. Distances are not to scale. Image Credit: Lunar and Planetary Institute

Hands-On Book of Hubble Imag …

Title	Hands-On Book of Hubble Images Allows the Visually Impaired to "Touch the Universe

Hands-On Book of Hubble Imag …

Title	Hands-On Book of Hubble Images Allows the Visually Impaired to "Touch the Universe

Hands-On Book of Hubble Imag …

Title	Hands-On Book of Hubble Images Allows the Visually Impaired to "Touch the Universe

Hands-On Book of Hubble Imag …

Title	Hands-On Book of Hubble Images Allows the Visually Impaired to "Touch the Universe

Hands-On Book of Hubble Imag …

Title	Hands-On Book of Hubble Images Allows the Visually Impaired to "Touch the Universe

Hands-On Book of Hubble Imag …

Title	Hands-On Book of Hubble Images Allows the Visually Impaired to "Touch the Universe

Hands-On Book of Hubble Imag …

Title	Hands-On Book of Hubble Images Allows the Visually Impaired to "Touch the Universe

Hands-On Book of Hubble Imag …

Title	Hands-On Book of Hubble Images Allows the Visually Impaired to "Touch the Universe

Hands-On Book of Hubble Imag …

Title	Hands-On Book of Hubble Images Allows the Visually Impaired to "Touch the Universe

Hands-On Book of Hubble Imag …

Title	Hands-On Book of Hubble Images Allows the Visually Impaired to "Touch the Universe

Hands-On Book of Hubble Imag …

Title	Hands-On Book of Hubble Images Allows the Visually Impaired to "Touch the Universe

Hands-On Book of Hubble Imag …

Title	Hands-On Book of Hubble Images Allows the Visually Impaired to "Touch the Universe

Hands-On Book of Hubble Imag …

Title	Hands-On Book of Hubble Images Allows the Visually Impaired to "Touch the Universe

Hands-On Book of Hubble Imag …

Title	Hands-On Book of Hubble Images Allows the Visually Impaired to "Touch the Universe

Moon Over Shiraz

Title	Moon Over Shiraz
Explanation	Early morning risers around the world [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap041108.html] have enjoyed the sight of bright planets [ http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2004/ 02nov_venusjupiter.htm ] in this week's predawn skies - further enhanced by the celestial spectacle of the waning crescent Moon [ http://tycho.usno.navy.mil/vphase.html ]. From some locations the Moon was seen to pass in front of Jupiter [ http://skyandtelescope.com/news/article_1385_1.asp ] or Venus, a lunar occultation. Recorded near sunrise on November 10th from Shiraz [ http://www.mssimmons.com/ms/Iran/Iran2002/Shiraz/ Astronomony.com4.html ], Iran, this eastern horizon view finds Jupiter (top) and a brilliant Venus in line with [ http://www.aaa.org/aaawhatsup.htm ] the Moon, a lovely conjunction of the three brightest objects in the night sky. Although the Moon has now [ http://aa.usno.navy.mil/idltemp/current_moon.html ] fallen out of the early morning scene [ http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/ataglance/ article_110_1.asp ], Venus and Jupiter (along with a much fainter Mars) still precede the rising Sun above the eastern horizon.

Dusty Planetary Disks Around Two Nearby Stars Resemble Our Kuiper Belt

Dusty Planetary Disks Around …

Title	Dusty Planetary Disks Around Two Nearby Stars Resemble Our Kuiper Belt
General Information	What is a News Nugget? News Nuggets are bulletins from the world of astronomy. These two bright debris disks of ice and dust appear to be the equivalent of our own solar system's Kuiper Belt, a ring of icy rocks outside the orbit of Neptune and the source of short-period comets. The disks encircle the types of stars around which there could be habitable zones and planets for life to develop. The disks seem to have a central area cleared of debris, perhaps by planets.

Mercury's Caloris Basin

title	Mercury's Caloris Basin
date	03.28.1974
description	Mercury: The desert closest to the sun. Computer Photomosaic of the Caloris Basin The largest basin on Mercury (1300 km or 800 miles across) was named Caloris (Greek for "hot") because it is one of the two areas on the planet that face the Sun at perihelion. The Image Processing Lab at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory produced this photomosaic using computer software and techniques developed for use in processing planetary data. The Mariner 10 spacecraft imaged the region during its initial flyby of the planet. The Mariner 10 spacecraft was launched in 1974. The spacecraft took images of Venus in February 1974 on the way to three encounters with Mercury in March and September 1974 and March 1975. The spacecraft took more than 7,000 images of Mercury, Venus, the Earth and the Moon during its mission. The Mariner 10 Mission was managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA's Office of Space Science in Washington, D.C. Image Credit: NASA

Mariner 10

On Nov. 3, 1973, the Mariner …

10/2/09

Description	On Nov. 3, 1973, the Mariner Venus/Mercury 1973 spacecraft, also known as Mariner 10, was launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center, becoming the first spacecraft designed to use gravity assist. Three months after launch it flew by Venus, changed speed and trajectory, then crossed Mercury's orbit in March 1974. This photo identifies the spacecraft's science instruments, which were used to study the atmospheric, surface and physical characteristics of Venus and Mercury. This was the sixth in the series of Mariner spacecraft that explored the inner planets beginning in 1962. Image Credit: NASA/JPL
Date	10/2/09

Evidence for Strange Stellar …

Title	Evidence for Strange Stellar Family
Description	This artist concept depicts a quadruple-star system called HD 98800. The system is approximately 10 million years old, and is located 150 light-years away in the constellation TW Hydrae. HD 98800 contains four stars, which are paired off into doublets, or binaries. The stars in the binary pairs orbit around each other, and the two pairs also circle each other like choreographed ballerinas. One of the stellar pairs, called HD 98800B, has a disk of dust around it, while the other pair does not. Although the four stars are gravitationally bound, the distance separating the two binary pairs is about 50 astronomical units (AU) -- slightly more than the average distance between our sun and Pluto. Using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, scientists finally have a detailed view of HD 98800B's potential planet-forming disk. Astronomers used the telescope's infrared spectrometer to detect the presence of two belts in the disk made of large dust grains. One belt sits approximately 5.9 AU away from the central binary, or about the distance from the sun to Jupiter, and is likely made up of asteroids and comets. The other belt sits at 1.5 to 2 AU, comparable to the area where Mars and the asteroid belt sit, and consists of fine dust grains.

Blacker than Black (Widescre …

Title	Blacker than Black (Widescreen Version)
Description	This artist's animation illustrates the hottest planet yet observed in the universe. The scorching ball of gas, a "hot Jupiter" called HD 149026b, is a sweltering 3,700 degrees Fahrenheit (2,040 degrees Celsius) -- about three times hotter than the rocky surface of Venus, the hottest planet in our solar system. The planet is so hot that astronomers believe it is absorbing almost all of the heat from its star, and reflecting very little to no light. Objects that reflect no sunlight are black. Consequently, HD 149026b might be the blackest known planet in the universe, in addition to the hottest. The temperature of this dark and balmy planet was taken with NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. While the planet reflects no visible light, its heat causes it to radiate a little visible and a lot of infrared light. Spitzer, an infrared observatory, was able to measure this infrared light through a technique called secondary eclipse. HD 149026b is what is known as a transiting planet, which means that it crosses in front of and passes behind its star -- the secondary eclipse -- when viewed from Earth. By determining the drop in total infrared light that occurs when the planet disappears, astronomers can figure out how much infrared light is coming from the planet alone. The Spitzer observations of HD 149026b also suggest a hot spot in the middle of the side of the planet that always faces its star. Even though the planet is black, the spot would glow like a black lump of charcoal. HD 149026b is thought to be tidally locked, just as our moon is to Earth, such that one side of the planet is perpetually baked under the heat of its sun. Astronomers think that HD 149026b is probably blazing hot on its sunlit side, and much cooler on its dark side. A similar phenomenon was observed previously by Spitzer for the planet Upsilon Andromedae b. In the case of both planets, heat is not being evenly distributed across their surfaces. This is the opposite of what happens on Jupiter, where temperature differences are minimal all around. HD 149026b is located 256 light-years away in the constellation Hercules. It is the smallest known transiting planet, with a size similar to Saturn's and a suspected dense core 70 to 90 times the mass of Earth. It speeds around its star every 2.9 days.

Blacker than Black

Title	Blacker than Black
Description	This artist's animation illustrates the hottest planet yet observed in the universe. The scorching ball of gas, a "hot Jupiter" called HD 149026b, is a sweltering 3,700 degrees Fahrenheit (2,040 degrees Celsius) -- about three times hotter than the rocky surface of Venus, the hottest planet in our solar system. The planet is so hot that astronomers believe it is absorbing almost all of the heat from its star, and reflecting very little to no light. Objects that reflect no sunlight are black. Consequently, HD 149026b might be the blackest known planet in the universe, in addition to the hottest. The temperature of this dark and balmy planet was taken with NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. While the planet reflects no visible light, its heat causes it to radiate a little visible and a lot of infrared light. Spitzer, an infrared observatory, was able to measure this infrared light through a technique called secondary eclipse. HD 149026b is what is known as a transiting planet, which means that it crosses in front of and passes behind its star -- the secondary eclipse -- when viewed from Earth. By determining the drop in total infrared light that occurs when the planet disappears, astronomers can figure out how much infrared light is coming from the planet alone. The Spitzer observations of HD 149026b also suggest a hot spot in the middle of the side of the planet that always faces its star. Even though the planet is black, the spot would glow like a black lump of charcoal. HD 149026b is thought to be tidally locked, just as our moon is to Earth, such that one side of the planet is perpetually baked under the heat of its sun. Astronomers think that HD 149026b is probably blazing hot on its sunlit side, and much cooler on its dark side. A similar phenomenon was observed previously by Spitzer for the planet Upsilon Andromedae b. In the case of both planets, heat is not being evenly distributed across their surfaces. This is the opposite of what happens on Jupiter, where temperature differences are minimal all around. HD 149026b is located 256 light-years away in the constellation Hercules. It is the smallest known transiting planet, with a size similar to Saturn's and a suspected dense core 70 to 90 times the mass of Earth. It speeds around its star every 2.9 days.

Blacker than Black

Title	Blacker than Black
Description	This artist's concept illustrates the hottest planet yet observed in the universe. The scorching ball of gas, a "hot Jupiter" called HD 149026b, is a sweltering 3,700 degrees Fahrenheit (2,040 degrees Celsius) -- about 3 times hotter than the rocky surface of Venus, the hottest planet in our solar system. The planet is so hot that astronomers believe it is absorbing almost all of the heat from its star, and reflecting very little to no light. Objects that reflect no sunlight are black. Consequently, HD 149026b might be the blackest known planet in the universe, in addition to the hottest. The temperature of this dark and balmy planet was taken with NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. While the planet reflects no visible light, its heat causes it to radiate a little visible and a lot of infrared light. Spitzer, an infrared observatory, was able to measure this infrared light through a technique called secondary eclipse. HD 149026b is what is known as a transiting planet, which means that it crosses in front of and passes behind its star -- the secondary eclipse -- when viewed from Earth. By determining the drop in total infrared light that occurs when the planet disappears, astronomers can figure out how much infrared light is coming from the planet alone. The Spitzer observations of HD 149026b also suggest a hot spot in the middle of the side of the planet that always faces its star. Even though the planet is black, the spot would glow like a black lump of charcoal. HD 149026b is thought to be tidally locked, just as our moon is to Earth, such that one side of the planet is perpetually baked under the heat of its sun. Astronomers think that HD 149026b is probably blazing hot on its sunlit side, and much cooler on its dark side. A similar phenomenon was observed previously by Spitzer for the planet Upsilon Andromedae b. In the case of both planets, heat is not being evenly distributed across their surfaces. This is the opposite of what happens on Jupiter, where temperature differences are minimal all around. HD 149026b is located 256 light-years away in the constellation Hercules. It is the smallest known transiting planet, with a size similar to Saturn's and a suspected dense core 70 to 90 times the mass of Earth. It speeds around its star every 2.9 days.

An Inner Neptune for 55 Canc …

Title	An Inner Neptune for 55 Cancri
Explanation	Is our Solar System [ http://www.nineplanets.org/overview.html ] unique? The discovery [ http://arXiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0408585 ] of a Neptune [ http://www.nineplanets.org/neptune.html ]-mass planet in an sub-Mercury orbit around nearby Sun [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/sun.html ]-like star 55 Cancri [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020614.html ], announced [ http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/index.html ] yesterday along with the discovery of other similar systems, gives a new indication that planetary systems [ http://exoplanets.org/exoplanets_pub.html ] as complex as our own Solar System [ http://space.jpl.nasa.gov/ ] likely exist elsewhere. The planet, discovered [ http://mcdonaldobservatory.org/news/releases/2004/0831.html ] in data from the Hobby-Eberly telescope [ http://www.as.utexas.edu/mcdonald/het/het.html ] in Texas, the Lick Observatory [ http://www.ucolick.org/ ] in California, and the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010806.html ], is one of four planets now known to orbit 55 Cancri [ http://exoplanets.org/esp/55cnc/55cnc.shtml ] -- the others being similar in mass to Jupiter. The finding involved noting subtle changes in the speed [ http://exoplanets.org/doppframe.html ] of the star caused by its orbiting planets. The above drawing [ http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/news/ssu_images.html ] depicts what this planet might look like, assuming a mass similar to Neptune [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/neptune.html ], but a composition similar [ http://www.solstation.com/stars/4planets.htm ] to Earth. The star 55 Cancri [ http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/~kaler/sow/55cnc.html ], only 40 light-years distant, is visible [ http://irtfweb.ifa.hawaii.edu/Science/GalleryOfImages/55cancri.html ] with binoculars [ http://www.birdwatching.com/optics/binoculars1.html ] towards the constellation [ http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations/extra/constellations.html ] of Cancer [ http://www.astronomical.org/portal/modules/wfsection/article.php?articleid=12 ].

Ringed Planet Uranus

Title	Ringed Planet Uranus
Explanation	Yes it does look like Saturn, but Saturn is only one of four [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020616.html ] giant [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020215.html ] ringed [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap981020.html ] planets [ http://ringmaster.arc.nasa.gov/neptune/neptune.html ] in our Solar System. And while Saturn has the brightest rings, this system of rings and moons actually belongs to planet Uranus, imaged here [ http://www.eso.org/outreach/press-rel/pr-2002/ phot-31-02.html ] in near-infrared light by the Antu [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000707.html ] telescope at the ESO Paranal Observatory in Chile. Since gas giant Uranus' [ http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/uranus.html ] methane-laced atmosphere absorbs sunlight at near-infrared wavelengths the planet appears substantially darkened, improving the contrast between the otherwise relatively bright planet and the normally faint rings. In fact, the narrow Uranian rings [ http://ringmaster.arc.nasa.gov/uranus/ uranus.html ] are all but impossible to see in visible light with earthbound telescopes and were discovered [ http://tdc-www.harvard.edu/occultations/ uranus25/ ] only in 1977 as careful astronomers noticed the then unknown rings blocking light from background stars. The rings are thought to be younger than 100 million years and may be formed of debris from the collision of a small moon with a passing comet or asteroid-like object. With moons [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000930.html ] named for characters [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990227.html ] in Shakespeare's plays, the distant ringed world Uranus [ http://vraptor.jpl.nasa.gov/voyager/vgrur_fs.html ] was last visited in 1986 by the Voyager 2 spacecraft.

Reflections on the Inner Sol …

Title	Reflections on the Inner Solar System
Explanation	Only Mars [ http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2005/ 07jul_marshoax.htm ] is missing from this reflective view of the major rocky bodies of the inner solar system [ http://www.nineplanets.org/overview.html ]. Captured on July 8th, the serene, twilight picture looks out over the Flat Tops Wilderness area from near Toponas, Colorado, USA and includes planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Earth's [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050430.html ] large natural satellite, the Moon. The Moon is in a young crescent phase [ http://www.earthsky.com/skywatching/moonphases.php ] about three degrees above bright planet Venus. Forest fires [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050707.html ] contribute to a layer of smoke in Earth's sky that almost hides planet Mercury [ http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/index.html ], still visible very near the horizon. Just a week earlier Venus [ http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/nineplanets/nineplanets/ venus.html ] and Mercury were joined by Saturn, forming a notable grouping in the west also enjoyed by skygazers across planet Earth [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050702.html ].

Io and Ganymede

PIA09239

Sol (our sun)

LORRI

Title	Io and Ganymede
Original Caption Released with Image	The New Horizons Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) took this 4-millisecond exposure of Jupiter and two of its moons at 01:41:04 UTC on January 17, 2007. The spacecraft was 68.5 million kilometers (42.5 million miles) from Jupiter, closing in on the giant planet at 41,500 miles (66,790 kilometers) per hour. The volcanic moon Io is the closest planet to the right of Jupiter, the icy moon Ganymede is to Io's right. The shadows of each satellite are visible atop Jupiter's clouds, Ganymede's shadow is draped over Jupiter's northwestern limb. Ganymede's average orbit distance from Jupiter is about 1.07 million kilometers (620,000 miles), Io's is 422,000 kilometers (262,000 miles). Both Io and Ganymede are larger than Earth's moon, Ganymede is larger than the planet Mercury.

Love and War by Moonlight

Title	Love and War by Moonlight
Explanation	Venus [ http://www.pantheon.org/articles/v/venus.html ], named for the Roman goddess of love, and Mars [ http://www.pantheon.org/articles/m/mars.html ], the war god's namesake, approach each other by moonlight [ http://www.thorstenkaye.com/tk_todayspoem3.htm#BM41 ] in this lovely sky view recorded on May 14th from Dunkirk, Maryland, USA. The four second time exposure made in twilight with a digital camera also records earthshine [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020419.html ] illuminating the otherwise dark surface of the young [ http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/ StarChild.html ] crescent Moon. Venus shines as the third brightest object in Earth's sky, after the Sun and the Moon itself, and has been appearing as the brilliant evening star [ http://www.library.utoronto.ca/utel/rp/poems/ longfe10.html ] in the pantheon of planets [ http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/ nineplanets.html ] arrayed in the west during April and May. Here, Venus' light is so intense that it produces a noticeable spike in the sensitive camera's image. Much fainter Mars [ http://www-mgcm.arc.nasa.gov/mgcm/fun/ ancient_mars.html ] is lower in the picture, caught between tree limbs swaying in a gentle evening breeze. By early June, Mars will be harder to spot as it wanders toward the horizon, but Venus and father Jupiter [ http://www.pantheon.org/articles/j/jupiter.html ] will draw closer together, presenting a spectacular pair of bright planets in the west [ http://SkyandTelescope.com/observing/objects/planets/ article_572_1.asp ].

Dr. Wernher von Braun Presen …

Name of Image	Dr. Wernher von Braun Presents Saturn C-1 Progress for the Senate Committee of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
Date of Image	1961-01-01
Full Description	Progress in the Saturn program, depicted below, was described by Dr. Wernher von Braun, Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) Director, in an appearance before the Senate Committee of Aeronautical and Space Sciences. "The flight configuration of the giant three-stage Saturn C-1 rocket (later called Saturn I Block I) is seen in the Fabrication and Assembly Engineering Division at MSFC. Dwarfed by the 180-foot C-1 are a Juno II rocket (left rear) and a Mercury-Redstone rocket (front foreground). The C-1 (first version of the Saturn rocket) is composed of an S-1 first stage or booster (rear), powered by eight H-1 engines having a thrust of 1,500,000 pounds, followed by a dummy S-IV second stage and a dummy S-V third stage. The "live" S-IV for later flights, under development by Douglas Aircraft Co., will be powered by four Pratt Whitney LR-119 engines having 17,500,000 pounds thrust each. The live S-V, under development by Convair Division of General Dynamics Corp., will use two LR-119 engines. With all three stages live, the C-1 will be capable of placing 19,000 pounds into a 300-mile Earth orbit, sending 5,000 pounds to escape velocity, or lofting 2,500 pounds to Mars or Venus. The second version Saturn C-2 (later called Saturn 1 Block II) would double these capabilities. Early C-1 flights will employ a live S-1 with dummy upper stages. The first such flight is scheduled late this year.

Centaur's Bright Surface Spot Could be Crater of Fresh Ice

Centaur's Bright Surface Spo …

Title	Centaur's Bright Surface Spot Could be Crater of Fresh Ice

A86-7002

Photographer : JPL Range : 3 …

12/27/85

Description	Photographer : JPL Range : 36 million km. ( 22 million miles ) P-29426B/W This Voyager 2 photograph of Uranus shows the is the first picture to show clear evidence of latitudinal banding in the planet's atmosphere. This is a computerized summation of five images shot by the narrow angle camera. The concentric pattern emanates like a bulls-eye from the planets pole of rotation, which, in this view, lies left of center. uranus lies almost on its side with respect to the other planets and is rotating in a counter clockwise direction, as seen here. Clouds in the Uranian atmosphere give rise to the pattern, the first clear evidence of banding similiar to that seen previosly on Saturn and Jupiter. The bandind on Uranus, however, shows much less contrast. At the distance at which the images were acquired, Voyager's camera could have detected individual features as small as 660 km. (410 miles) across, but no such cloud or markings were apparent. Scientists cannot yet say what properties, such as cloud height, composition, or particle size, are giving rise to the varying levels of brightness visible here. The images composing this picture were shot through a filter that transmits only violet light. in the original, unprocessed images, the contrast of features producing the banding is low, not more than 10 percent. In order to reduce "noise" and enhance the visiblity of the features, processors combined five images and then compared the resulting composite to a hypothetical featureless planet illuminated by the Sun from the proper direction. Only the ratio between the original data and the hypothetical image is shown.
Date	12/27/85

Southwest Mercury

Title	Southwest Mercury
Explanation	The planet Mercury resembles a moon. Mercury [ http://www.nineplanets.org/mercury.html ]'s old surface is heavily cratered [ http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/Academy/SPACE/SolarSystem/Meteors/Craters.html ] like many moons. Mercury [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030216.html http://www.solarviews.com/eng/mercury.htm ] is larger than most moons but smaller than Jupiter [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990806.html ]'s moon Ganymede [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000620.html ] and Saturn [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap021104.html ]'s moon Titan [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990207.html ]. Mercury is much denser and more massive than any moon, though, because it is made mostly of iron. In fact, the Earth [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010204.html ] is the only planet more dense. A visitor to Mercury's surface [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960121.html ] would see some strange sights. Because Mercury [ http://www.oulu.fi/~spaceweb/textbook/mercury.html ] rotates exactly three times every two orbits around the Sun [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/sun.html ], and because Mercury [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/photo_gallery/photogallery-mercury.html ]'s orbit is so elliptical, a visitor to Mercury [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010819.html ] might see the Sun [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/gifcity/interv.html ] rise, stop in the sky, go back toward the rising horizon [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000320.html ], stop again, and then set quickly over the other horizon [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap011209.html ]. From Earth, Mercury's proximity to the Sun [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap981212.html ] causes it to be visible only for a short time just after sunset or just before sunrise.

This picture of Venus was ca …

Description

This picture of Venus was captured by the Mariner 10 spacecraft during its approach to the planet in early 1974. Taken with the spacecraft's imaging system using an ultraviolet filter, the picture has been color enhanced to simulate Venus's natural color as the human eye would see it. Although the planet closest to the Earth in size and distance from the Sun, Venus is perpetually blanketed by a thick veil of clouds high in carbon dioxide, its surface temperature approaches 900 degrees Fahrenheit. Launched on November 3, 1973 atop an Atlas Centaur rocket, Mariner 10 flew by Venus on February 5, 1974. It then went on to an encounter with Mercury, thus becoming the first spacecraft ever to fly by more than one planet. Mariner 10 was designed, built and managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA's Office of Space Science and Applications.

Intercrater Plains and Heavily Cratered Terrain

Intercrater Plains and Heavi …

PIA02947

Sol (our sun)

Imaging Science Subsystem - …

Title	Intercrater Plains and Heavily Cratered Terrain
Original Caption Released with Image	Intercrater plains and heavily cratered terrain typical of much of Mercury outside the area affected by the formation of the Caloris basin are shown in this image (FDS 166738) taken during the spacecraft's second encounter with Mercury. Abundant shallow elongate craters and crater chains are present on the intercrater plains. North is to the top of this image, centered at 56 degrees S, 128 degrees W and 400 kilometers across. The Mariner 10 mission, managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA's Office of Space Science, explored Venus in February 1974 on the way to three encounters with Mercury-in March and September 1974 and in March 1975. The spacecraft took more than 7,000 photos of Mercury, Venus, the Earth and the Moon. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Northwestern University

Jupiter Ahoy!

title	Jupiter Ahoy!
date	09.04.2006
description	The Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) on NASA's New Horizons spacecraft took this photo of Jupiter on Sept. 4, 2006, from a distance of 291 million kilometers (nearly 181 million miles) away. Visible in the image are belts, zones and large storms in Jupiter's atmosphere, as well as the Jovian moons Europa (at left) and Io and the shadows they cast on Jupiter. LORRI snapped this image during a test sequence to help prepare for the Jupiter encounter observations. It was taken close to solar opposition, meaning that the Sun was almost directly behind the camera when it spied Jupiter. This makes Jupiter appear about 40 times brighter than Pluto will be for LORRI's primary observations when New Horizons encounters the Pluto system in 2015. To avoid saturation, the camera's exposure time was kept to 6 milliseconds. This image was, in part, a test to see how well LORRI would operate with such a short exposure time. Image Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute

Southwest Mercury

Title	Southwest Mercury
Explanation	The planet Mercury resembles a moon. Mercury [ http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/mercury.html ]'s old surface is heavily cratered [ http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/Academy/SPACE/SolarSystem/Meteors/Craters.html ] like many moons. Mercury [ http://www.solarviews.com/eng/mercury.htm ] is larger than most moons but smaller than Jupiter [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990806.html ]'s moon Ganymede [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990304.html ] and Saturn [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960717.html ]'s moon Titan [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990207.html ]. Mercury is much denser and more massive than any moon, though, because it is made mostly of iron. In fact, the Earth [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990131.html ] is the only planet more dense. A visitor to Mercury's surface [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960121.html ] would see some strange sights. Because Mercury [ http://www.oulu.fi/~spaceweb/textbook/mercury.html ] rotates exactly three times every two orbits around the Sun [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap951004.html ], and because Mercury [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/photo_gallery/photogallery-mercury.html ]'s orbit is so elliptical, a visitor to Mercury [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990102.html ] might see the Sun [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/gifcity/interv.html ] rise, stop in the sky, go back toward the rising horizon [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990619.html ], stop again, and then set quickly over the other horizon. From Earth [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980530.html ], Mercury's proximity to the Sun [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap981212.html ] cause it to be visible only for a short time just after sunset or just before sunrise.

AC81-0615

Composite Art C-141 KAO Airb …

9/23/81

Description	Composite Art C-141 KAO Airborne Astronomy Composite shows A/C AC80-0006-2, Venus AC78-9140, Jupiter AC79-0143-1, Uranus AC77-0359, Console AC75-1345 and Telescope AC81-0299-17
Date	9/23/81

Ganymede: The Largest Moon in the Solar System

Ganymede: The Largest Moon i …

Title	Ganymede: The Largest Moon in the Solar System
Explanation	If Ganymede orbited the Sun, it would be considered a planet. The reason is that Jupiter [ http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov/jupiter/jupiter.html ]'s moon Ganymede [ http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/ganymede.html ] is not only the largest moon in the Solar System [ http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/datamax.html ], it is larger than planets Mercury [ http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/mercury.html ] and Pluto [ http://dosxx.colorado.edu/plutohome.html ]. The robot spacecraft Galileo [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/overview.html ] currently orbiting Jupiter [ http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/jupiter.html ] has been able to zoom by Ganymede [ http://www.solarviews.com/eng/ganymede.htm ] several times and snap many close-up pictures. Ganymede, shown above [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/PIAGenCatalogPage.pl?PIA00716 ] in its natural colors, sports a large oval dark region known as Galileo Regio [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/ganymede/121896.html ]. In general, the dark regions on Ganymede [ http://sse.jpl.nasa.gov/features/planets/jupiter/ganymede.html ] are heavily cratered, implying they are very old, while the light regions are younger and dominated by unusual grooves [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960711.html ]. The origin of the grooves is still under investigation [ http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=1998Icar..135..317P ].

Mercury's South Pole

title	Mercury's South Pole
date	09.21.1974
description	Mercury's south pole was photographed by one of Mariner 10's TV cameras as the spacecraft made its second close flyby of the planet September 21. The pole is located inside the large crater (180 kilometers, 110 miles) on Mercury's limb (lower center). The crater floor is shadowed and its far rim, illuminated by the sun, appears to de disconnected from the edge of the planet. Just above and to the right of the South Pole is a double ring basin about 100 kilometers (125 miles) in diameter. A bright ray system, splashed out of a 50 kilometer (30 mile) crater is seen at upper right. The stripe across the top is an artifact introduced during computer processing. The picture (FDS 166902) was taken from a distance of 85,800 kilometers (53,200 miles) less than two hours after Mariner 10 reached its closest point to the planet. The Mariner 10 mission, managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA's Office of Space Science, explored Venus in February 1974 on the way to three encounters with Mercury-in March and September 1974 and in March 1975. The spacecraft took more than 7,000 photos of Mercury, Venus, the Earth and the Moon. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Northwestern University

Saturn, Mars, and the Beehiv …

Title	Saturn, Mars, and the Beehive Cluster
Explanation	Grab a pair of binoculars and check out Saturn and Mars [ http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2006/ 30may_starsandplanets.htm ] in the early evening sky tonight! Looking west [ http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2006/images/ starsandplanets/skymap_north_17jun06.gif ] shortly after sunset, your view could be similar to this one - recorded on June 14. But while this picture shows the two bright planets (Saturn at left) separated by around 1.5 degrees and neatly flanking M44, the Beehive Star Cluster [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060128.html ], tonight should find those planets even closer together. In fact, Saturn and Mars are scheduled to achieve their closest alignment near sunset [ http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/ataglance/ article_110_1.asp ], approaching to within about half a degree. The Beehive will still stand out in the distant starry background. Still got those binoculars in hand? You might as well [ http://www.bbc.co.uk/print/science/space/myspace/nightsky/ observingnotes.shtml ] look for [ http://home.mira.net/~reynella/skywatch/ssky.htm ] Mercury and Jupiter too.

Southwest Mercury

Title	Southwest Mercury
Explanation	The planet Mercury resembles a moon. Mercury [ http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/nineplanets/nineplanets/mercury.html ]'s old surface is heavily cratered [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap950924.html ] like many moons. Mercury [ http://bang.lanl.gov/solarsys/mercury.htm ] is larger than most moons but smaller than Jupiter [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap951013.html ]'s moon Ganymede [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap950904.html ] and Saturn [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960717.html ]'s moon Titan [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap950923.html ]. Mercury is much denser and more massive than any moon, though, because it is made mostly of iron. In fact, the Earth [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960819.html ] is the only planet more dense. A visitor to Mercury's surface [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960121.html ] would see some strange sights. Because Mercury [ http://www.oulu.fi/~spaceweb/textbook/mercury.html ]rotates exactly three times every two orbits around the Sun [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap951004.html ], and because Mercury [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/photo_gallery/PhotoGallery-Mercury.html ]'s orbit is so elliptical, a visitor to Mercury [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960912.html ] might see the Sun [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/gifcity/interv.html ] rise, stop in the sky, go back toward the rising horizon [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap951114.html ], stop again, and then set quickly over the other horizon. From Earth [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap951118.html ], Mercury's proximity to the Sun [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960727.html ] cause it to be visible only for a short time [ http://www.maths.qmw.ac.uk/~lms/research/skyeye.html#planet ] just after sunset or just before sunrise.

Solar System Web Cam

Title	Solar System Web Cam
Explanation	Ranging throughout the solar system [ http://space.jpl.nasa.gov/ ], these pictures all have something in common. They were taken with an 8 inch diameter telescope, a size popular with amateur astronomy buffs, and slightly modified "web cam" of the type widely used to send images out over the internet. The results are clearly remarkable for [ http://www.djcash.demon.co.uk/astro/webcam/webcam.htm ] such inexpensive and readily available equipment. Each sharp image was produced from 20 to 30 frames which were digitally stacked and processed using free software [ http://utopia.ision.nl/users/rjstek/english/software/ index.htm ]. Until recently, digital imaging for amateur astronomers required a specialized camera [ http://www.wvi.com/~rberry/cookbook.htm ], but the advent of low-light video surveillance cameras and web cams now presents other options for relatively bright [ http://www.astrabio.demon.co.uk/QCUIAG/ac/3dmoon.htm ] solar system objects. Want to try some unconventional [ http://www.astrabio.demon.co.uk/QCUIAG/ ] web cam astronomy? Geoff Chester, Public Affairs Officer at the U.S. Naval Observatory [ http://www.usno.navy.mil ], offers these images and an account of his own adventures [ http://www.usno.navy.mil/pao/QuickCamAstro.shtml ] from a suburban front lawn near Washington D.C.

Band of Rubble

PIA07854

Title	Band of Rubble
Original Caption Released with Image	This artist's animation illustrates a massive asteroid belt in orbit around a star the same age and size as our Sun. Evidence for this possible belt was discovered by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope when it spotted warm dust around the star, presumably from asteroids smashing together. The view starts from outside the belt, where planets like the one shown here might possibly reside, then moves into to the dusty belt itself. A collision between two asteroids is depicted near the end of the movie. Collisions like this replenish the dust in the asteroid belt, making it detectable to Spitzer. The alien belt circles a faint, nearby star called HD 69830 located 41 light-years away in the constellation Puppis. Compared to our own solar system's asteroid belt, this one is larger and closer to its star - it is 25 times as massive, and lies just inside an orbit equivalent to that of Venus. Our asteroid belt circles between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Because Jupiter acts as an outer wall to our asteroid belt, shepherding its debris into a series of bands, it is possible that an unseen planet is likewise marshalling this belt's rubble. Previous observations using the radial velocity technique did not locate any large gas giant planets, indicating that any planets present in this system would have to be the size of Saturn or smaller. Asteroids are chunks of rock from "failed" planets, which never managed to coalesce into full-sized planets. Asteroid belts can be thought of as construction sites that accompany the building of rocky planets.

Mercury Mission Control Seat …

1-Instructor's console 2-Rec …

10/30/08

Description	1-Instructor's console 2-Recovery commander (USN) 3-Operations director 4-Network commander (USAF) 5-Recovery status monitor 6-Range safety observer 7-Flight director 8-Network status monitor 9-Missile telemetry monitor 10-Strip chart recorder 11-Support control coordinator 12-Flight surgeon 13-Spacecraft environment monitor 14-Spacecraft communicator 15-Spacecraft system monitor 16-Retrofire controller 17-Flight dynamics officer 18-TV monitors 19-X-Y recorders 20-Trend charts 21-Operations summary display and alphanumeric indicators 22-Signal distribution panel 23-Teletype printers 24-Data entry console Image Credit: NASA
Date	10/30/08

Lobate Scarps within the Hummocky Plains East of Caloris Basin

Lobate Scarps within the Hum …

PIA02426

Sol (our sun)

Imaging Science Subsystem - …

Title	Lobate Scarps within the Hummocky Plains East of Caloris Basin
Original Caption Released with Image	Plains material east of the Caloris basin is shown this image (FDS 191) acquired during the spacecraft's first encounter with Mercury. Several west-facing lobate scarps occur in the hummocky plains interpreted as Caloris ejecta and may be short flow fronts of partially melted ejecta which flowed back toward the basin after deposition. The Mariner 10 mission, managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA's Office of Space Science, explored Venus in February 1974 on the way to three encounters with Mercury-in March and September 1974 and in March 1975. The spacecraft took more than 7,000 photos of Mercury, Venus, the Earth and the Moon. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Northwestern University

Large Mercurian Crater

PIA02424

Sol (our sun)

Imaging Science Subsystem - …

Title	Large Mercurian Crater
Original Caption Released with Image	This image (FDS 166), acquired during the spacecraft's first encounter with Mercury, features a 140 kilometer diameter crater and it's surrounding zone of secondary craters. The narrow width of the rim facies, the prominent subradial secondary crater chains, and grooves are representative of the larger mercurian craters. The Mariner 10 mission, managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA's Office of Space Science, explored Venus in February 1974 on the way to three encounters with Mercury-in March and September 1974 and in March 1975. The spacecraft took more than 7,000 photos of Mercury, Venus, the Earth and the Moon. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Northwestern University

Antoniadi Ridge

PIA02430

Sol (our sun)

Imaging Science Subsystem - …

Title	Antoniadi Ridge
Original Caption Released with Image	Antoniadi Ridge, over 450 kilometers long, runs along the right side of this image. The ridge transects a large crater (80-km in diameter) and in turn appears to be interrupted by an irregular rimless depression on the floor of the crater. This ridge also crosses smooth plains to the north and intercrater plains to the south of the large crater. This image (FDS 27325) was acquired during the spacecraft's first encounter with Mercury. The Mariner 10 mission, managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA's Office of Space Science, explored Venus in February 1974 on the way to three encounters with Mercury-in March and September 1974 and in March 1975. The spacecraft took more than 7,000 photos of Mercury, Venus, the Earth and the Moon. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Northwestern University

A 'Moving' Jupiter Global Map (Animation)

A 'Moving' Jupiter Global Ma …

PIA09242

Sol (our sun)

LORRI

Title	A 'Moving' Jupiter Global Map (Animation)
Original Caption Released with Image	The Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) on New Horizons has acquired six global maps of Jupiter as the spacecraft approaches the giant planet for a close encounter at the end of February. The high-resolution camera acquired each of six observation "sets" as a series of individual pictures taken one hour apart, covering a full 10-hour rotation of Jupiter. The LORRI team at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) reduced the sets to form six individual maps in a simple rectangular projection. These six maps were then combined to make the movie. The table below shows the dates and the ranges from Jupiter at which these six sets of observations were acquired. Even for the latest set of images taken January 21-22, from 60.5 million kilometers (37.6 million miles), New Horizons was still farther from Jupiter than the average distance of Mercury from the Sun. At that distance from Jupiter, a single LORRI picture resolution element amounts to 300 kilometers (186 miles) on Jupiter. Many features seen in Jupiter's atmosphere are giant storm clouds. The Little Red Spot, which LORRI will image close-up on February 27, is the target-like feature located near 30 degrees South and 230 degrees West, this storm is larger than the Earth. The even larger Great Red Spot is seen near 20 degrees South and 320 degrees West. The counterclockwise rotation of the clouds within the Great Red Spot can be seen. The westward drift of the Great Red Spot is easily seen in the movie, as is the slower drift, in the opposite direction, of the Little Red Spot. The storms of Jupiter are not fixed in location relative to each other or relative to any solid surface below, because Jupiter is a fluid planet without a solid surface. Also, dramatic changes are seen in the series of bright plume-like clouds encircling the planet between 0 and 10 degrees North. Scientists believe these result from an enormous atmospheric wave with rising air, rich in ammonia that condenses to form the plume tails, and with falling air in the dark areas just to the east of each plume. The maps of Jupiter shown here do not include the polar regions, because those regions are not well seen by LORRI from its vantage point high above Jupiter's equatorial region. Shadows of Jupiter's moons (first of Io, then of Ganymede) appear in two of the maps.

APOLLO 09 16MM ONBOARD FILM …

Film taken includes cloesup …

1969

Description	Film taken includes cloesup of Lunar module (LM) docking target, the flight day 5 Lunar-Module-active-rendezvous, and the Saturn S-4B stage after separation.
Date	1969

NASA Deputy Administrator Robert Seamans, von Braun and President Kennedy at Cape Canaveral

NASA Deputy Administrator Ro …

Dr. Wernher von Braun explai …

8/1/08

Description	Dr. Wernher von Braun explains the Saturn Launch System to President John F. Kennedy. NASA Deputy Administrator Robert Seamans is to the left of von Braun.
Date	8/1/08

Moons around Jupiter

PIA09238

Sol (our sun)

LORRI

Title	Moons around Jupiter
Original Caption Released with Image	The New Horizons Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) took this photo of Jupiter at 20:42:01 UTC on January 9, 2007, when the spacecraft was 80 million kilometers (49.6 million miles) from the giant planet. The volcanic moon Io is to the left of the planet, the shadow of the icy moon Ganymede moves across Jupiter's northern hemisphere. Ganymede's average orbit distance from Jupiter is about 1 million kilometers (620,000 miles), Io's is 422,000 kilometers (262,000 miles). Both Io and Ganymede are larger than Earth's moon, Ganymede is larger than the planet Mercury.

Discovery Lights the Sky

Looking like a sun riding a …

3/15/09

Description	Looking like a sun riding a column of smoke, space shuttle Discovery hurtles into the evening sky on the STS-119 mission. Liftoff was on time at 7:43 p.m. EDT. Photo credit: NASA/Fletch Hildreth March 15, 2009
Date	3/15/09

Standing Tall

In the Vehicle Assembly Buil …

8/17/09

Description	In the Vehicle Assembly Building's High Bay 3, Super Stack 5 is secured to the Ares I-X segments already in place on the mobile launcher platform, completing assembly of the Ares I-X rocket. The 327-foot-tall rocket is one of the largest processed in the bay, rivaling the height of the Apollo Program's 364-foot-tall Saturn V. Five super stacks make up the rocket's upper stage that is integrated with the four-segment solid rocket booster first stage. Ares I-X is the test vehicle for the Ares I, which is part of the Constellation Program to return men to the moon and beyond. The Ares I-X flight test is targeted for Oct. 31, pending formal NASA Headquarters approval. Photo credit: NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis Aug. 13, 2009
Date	8/17/09

APOLLO 07 and 08 16MM ONBOAR …

Film taken includes Earth vi …

Description

Film taken includes Earth views and nice views of the Saturn 1B launch vehicle S-4B stage after separation from the Command and Service Module (CSM) and during station keeping. Also includes Walter Cunningham donning his pressure suit, an Earth limb sunset view, and Walter Schirra, Donn Eisele, and Cunningham in the Command and Service Module (CSM). From Apollo 08, includes various full Earth views, views of lunar surface taken during lunar orbit, and Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders inside Command Module (CM).

Mercury: Photomosaic of the Kuiper Quadrangle H-6

Mercury: Photomosaic of the …

PIA02236

Sol (our sun)

Imaging Science Subsystem - …

Title	Mercury: Photomosaic of the Kuiper Quadrangle H-6
Original Caption Released with Image	The Kuiper Quadrangle was named in memory of Dr. Gerard Kuiper, a Mariner 10 Venus/Mercury imaging team member and well-known astronomer, who passed away several months before the spacecraft's arrival at Mercury. The Kuiper crater, located left of center, is the brightest and perhaps youngest crater is 60 km in diameter located at -11 degrees latitude and 31 degrees longitude. The Image Processing Lab at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory produced this photomosaic using computer software and techniques developed for use in processing planetary data. The images used to construct the Kuiper Quadrangle were taken during Mariner's first and third flybys of Mercury. The Mariner 10 spacecraft was launched in 1974. The spacecraft took images of Venus in February 1974 on the way to three encounters with Mercury in March and September 1974 and March 1975. The spacecraft took more than 7,000 images of Mercury, Venus, the Earth and the Moon during its mission. The Mariner 10 Mission was managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA's Office of Space Science in Washington, D.C.

Postcards From The Field

Lead Space Ops Controllers, …

8/18/08

Description	Lead Space Ops Controllers, Jorge Garcia, Geoff Hewitt, Scott Heck, Steve Smith, and Harry Martin in front of the 70M Mars Antenna at the NASA Deep Space Complex in CA.
Date	8/18/08

Viking 1

Viking 1 launched aboard a T …

8/1/08

Description	Viking 1 launched aboard a Tital IIIE rocket August 20, 1975 and arrived at Mars on June 19, 1976. The first month was spent in orbit around the martian planet and on July 20, 1976 Viking Lander 1 separated from the Orbiter and touched down at Chryse Planitia.
Date	8/1/08

Getting Ready

The Ares I-X rocket stands t …

10/2/09

Description	The Ares I-X rocket stands tall inside the massive Vehicle Assembly Building's High Bay 3 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Part of the Constellation Program, the Ares I-X is the test vehicle for the Ares I, which is the essential core of a space transportation system that eventually will carry crewed missions back to the moon, on to Mars and out into the solar system. Image credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett Sept. 25, 2009
Date	10/2/09

APOLLO 16MM ONBOARD SELECT VIEWS FROM HDTV TRANSFERS: APOLLO 202 TO 17 (SHORT VERSION)

APOLLO 16MM ONBOARD SELECT V …

This program contains select …

4/14/04

Description	This program contains selected views taken from the Apollo 16mm onboards edited together and set to inspirational music. Footage from all Apollo missions, Apollo-Saturn 202 through Apollo 17, is used. Includes: stage separation, spacecraft rendezvous, various in-cabin crew scenes from spacecraft operations to leisure activities, Extravehicular Activity (EVA) views, full Earth and Moon views with close up views of the Moon, Earth rise over Moon horizon, Lunar Module (LM) descent, scenes from various EVAs on the Lunar surface, scenes taken during Command Module (CM) reentry including views of the main parachutes as CM makes final descent, views of the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) and Lunar Module (LM), and a nice view of the planting of the American flag.
Date	4/14/04

APOLLO 16MM ONBOARD SELECT VIEWS FROM HDTV TRANSFERS: APOLLO 202 TO 17 (LAUNCH / ONBOARDS)

APOLLO 16MM ONBOARD SELECT V …

This program contains select …

2/6/06

Description	This program contains selected views taken from the Apollo 16mm onboards edited together and set to inspirational music. Footage from all Apollo missions, Apollo-Saturn 202 through Apollo 17, is used. Includes: Launch, stage separation, spacecraft rendezvous, various in-cabin crew scenes from spacecraft operations to leisure activities, Extravehicular Activity (EVA) views, full Earth and Moon views with close up views of the Moon, Earth rise over Moon horizon, Lunar Module (LM) descent, scenes from various EVAs on the Lunar surface, scenes taken during Command Module (CM) reentry including views of the main parachutes as CM makes final descent, views of the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) and Lunar Module (LM), and a nice view of the planting of the American flag.
Date	2/6/06

APOLLO 16MM ONBOARD SELECT VIEWS FROM HDTV TRANSFERS: APOLLO 202 TO 17 (LONG VERSION)

APOLLO 16MM ONBOARD SELECT V …

This program contains select …

5/11/04

Description	This program contains selected views taken from the Apollo 16mm onboards edited together and set to inspirational music. Footage from all Apollo missions, Apollo-Saturn 202 through Apollo 17, is used. Includes: stage separation, spacecraft rendezvous, various in-cabin crew scenes from spacecraft operations to leisure activities, Extravehicular Activity (EVA) views, transposition views, Earth rise over Moon horizon, lunar landscape, Lunar Module (LM) descent, scenes from various EVAs on the Lunar surface including planting the American flag, views of the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV), and scenes taken during Command Module (CM) reentry including views of the main parachutes as CM makes final descent.
Date	5/11/04

Afternoon Shadows

The afternoon sun casts shad …

6/25/09

Description	The afternoon sun casts shadows on space shuttle Endeavour's external fuel tank as workers remove the seal from the Ground Umbilical Carrier Plate, or GUCP, on the tank. A hydrogen leak at the location during tanking for the STS-127 mission caused the launch attempts to be scrubbed on June 13 and June 17. The plate will be examined to determine the cause of the hydrogen leak. Then it will be repaired. June 24, 2009 Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller
Date	6/25/09

Kepler Prepared for Launch

On Launch pad 17-B at Cape C …

3/4/09

Description	On Launch pad 17-B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, workers moved NASA's Kepler spacecraft toward the opening above the Delta II rocket. The spacecraft was lowered into the opening and mated with the Delta II for launch. Liftoff is currently set for 10:49 p.m. EST March 6. </br></br> Kepler is designed to survey more than 100,000 stars in our galaxy to determine the number of sun-like stars that have Earth-size and larger planets, including those that lie in a star's "habitable zone," a region where liquid water, and perhaps life, could exist. If these Earth-size worlds do exist around stars like our sun, Kepler is expected to be the first to find them and the first to measure how common they are. </br></br> Image credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller</br> Feb. 21, 2009
Date	3/4/09

Ganymede's Shadow

PIA09237

Sol (our sun)

LORRI

Title	Ganymede's Shadow
Original Caption Released with Image	The New Horizons Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) took this photo of Jupiter at 20:42:01 UTC on January 9, 2007, when the spacecraft was 80 million kilometers (49.6 million miles) from the giant planet. The volcanic moon Io is to the left of the planet, the shadow of the icy moon Ganymede moves across Jupiter's northern hemisphere. Ganymede's average orbit distance from Jupiter is about 1 million kilometers (620,000 miles), Io's is 422,000 kilometers (262,000 miles). Both Io and Ganymede are larger than Earth's moon, Ganymede is larger than the planet Mercury.

Pluto: New Horizons

Title	Pluto: New Horizons
Explanation	Pluto's [ http://dosxx.colorado.edu/plutohome.html ] horizon spans the foreground in this artist's vision, gazing sunward across that distant and not yet explored [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960212.html ] world. Titled New Horizons, the painting also depicts Pluto's [ http://maps.jpl.nasa.gov/pluto.html ] companion, Charon [ http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/nineplanets/nineplanets/ pluto.html#charon ], as a darkened, ghostly apparition with a luminous crescent [ http://www.lowell.edu/users/buie/pluto/chphases.html ] against a starry background. Beyond Charon [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/ice_fire/CharonDiscovery.htm ], the diminished Sun is immersed in a flattened cloud of zodiacal dust [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010912.html ]. Here, Pluto's ruddy colors are based on existing astronomical [ http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query? bibcode=2000DPS....32.4601Y ] observations while imagined but scientifically [ http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query? bibcode=1999AJ....117.1063Y ] tenable details provided by the artist include high atmospheric cirrus and dark plumes from surface vents, in analogy to Neptune's large moon Triton [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap950805.html ] explored by the Voyager [ http://vraptor.jpl.nasa.gov/voyager/voyager_fs.html ] 2 spacecraft in 1989. Craters suggest bombardment by Kuiper Belt [ http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/faculty/jewitt/kb.html ] objects, a newly understood population of [ http://www.solstation.com/stars/kuiper.htm ] outer solar system bodies likely related to [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010830.html ] the Pluto-Charon system [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/ice_fire//alans.htm ]. NASA is now considering a future robotic reconnaissance mission to [ ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/pressrel/2001/01-114.txt ] Pluto-Charon and the Kuiper Belt which could reach the distant worlds late in the next decade.

The Earth and Moon Planetary …

Title	The Earth and Moon Planetary System
Explanation	How similar in size are the Earth [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010204.html ] and the Moon [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000113.html ]? A dramatic visual answer [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/PIAGenCatalogPage.pl?PIA02441 ] to this question is found by combining photographs taken by the Mariner 10 spacecraft [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/tmp/1973-085A.html ] that headed out toward Venus [ http://www.nineplanets.org/venus.html ] and Mercury [ http://www.solarviews.com/eng/mercury.htm ] in 1973. The Moon [ http://www.nineplanets.org/luna.html ] can be seen to have a diameter over one quarter that of Earth [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/earth.html ], relatively large compared to its planetary companion [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap991231.html ]. In our Solar System [ http://www.nineplanets.org/overview.html ], only Pluto and Charon [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980708.html ] are closer together in size. Striking features of the Earth [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap001127.html ] visible to the passing spacecraft include blue oceans [ http://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/ocean_planet.html ] and white clouds [ http://vortex.plymouth.edu/clouds.html ], showing the Earth [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/ ] to be truly a water world [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980530.html ].

UX Tau A

Title	UX Tau A
Description	This is an artist's rendition of the one-million-year-old star system called UX Tau A, located approximately 450 light-years away. Observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope showed a gap in the dusty planet-forming disk swirling around the system's central Sun-like star. The gap extends from the equivalent of Mercury to Pluto in our solar system, and is sandwiched between thick inner and outer disks on either side. Astronomers suspect that the gap was carved out by one or more forming planets.

Old Basin Filled by Smooth P …

PIA02948

Sol (our sun)

Imaging Science Subsystem - …

Title	Old Basin Filled by Smooth Plains
Original Caption Released with Image	Old basin, 190 km in diameter, filled by smooth plains at 43 degrees S, 55 degrees W. The basin's hummocky rim is partly degraded and cratered by later events. Mariner 10 frame 166607. The Mariner 10 mission, managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA's Office of Space Science, explored Venus in February 1974 on the way to three encounters with Mercury-in March and September 1974 and in March 1975. The spacecraft took more than 7,000 photos of Mercury, Venus, the Earth and the Moon. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Northwestern University

Jupiter and Venus at Sunrise

Title	Jupiter and Venus at Sunrise
Explanation	What are those bright objects in the morning sky [ http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2004/02nov_venusjupiter.htm ]? Early morning dog [ http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/animals/pets/dogs.shtml ] walkers, among many others across our world's Northern Hemisphere, have likely noticed tremendously bright Venus [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/venus.html ] hanging in the eastern sky just before sunrise. Looking a bit like an approaching airplane, Venus holds its place in the sky and never seems to land. Last week, impressive but less bright Jupiter [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap031114.html ] appeared within a degree of the Venusian orb [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040521.html ], creating a dazzling sky [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020429.html ] that you might appreciate a bit more than your dog. This night sky early show [ http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/ataglance/article_110_1.asp ] will change slightly over the next week [ http://www.space.com/spacewatch/041105_morning_planets.html ], with the planets [ http://www.earthsky.org/skywatching/tsky.php?t=20041103 ] moving past each other, Mars moving into the picture, guest stars like Spica [ http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/~kaler/sow/spica.html ] appearing to shift in the background, and even a crescent Moon [ http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/planets/article_1364_1.asp ] stopping in for a cameo. Pictured above last week, Jupiter and Venus were photographed rising before the Sun over the city of Bursa, Turkey [ http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/tu.html ].

Lineated Terrain

PIA02428

Sol (our sun)

Imaging Science Subsystem - …

Title	Lineated Terrain
Original Caption Released with Image	Lineated terrain not clearly related to any crater or basin. Widest valleys are 10 km across. Area centered at 8 degrees S, 148 degrees W. This image (FDS 246) was taken during the spacecraft's first encounter with Mercury. The Mariner 10 mission, managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA's Office of Space Science, explored Venus in February 1974 on the way to three encounters with Mercury-in March and September 1974 and in March 1975. The spacecraft took more than 7,000 photos of Mercury, Venus, the Earth and the Moon. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Northwestern University

Terraced Craters

PIA02420

Sol (our sun)

Imaging Science Subsystem - …

Title	Terraced Craters
Original Caption Released with Image	This crater (98 km diameter) illustrates the narrow hummocky rim facies, radial ridges, and surrounding extensive field of secondary craters. The well-developed interior terraces and central peaks are typical for mercurian craters in this size range. Note that the smaller craters in the foreground (25-km diameter) also are terraced. This image(FDS 80)was taken during the spacecraft's first encounter with Mercury. The Mariner 10 mission, managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA's Office of Space Science, explored Venus in February 1974 on the way to three encounters with Mercury-in March and September 1974 and in March 1975. The spacecraft took more than 7,000 photos of Mercury, Venus, the Earth and the Moon. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Northwestern University

Interior Peaks and Hilly Flo …

PIA02419

Sol (our sun)

Imaging Science Subsystem - …

Title	Interior Peaks and Hilly Floored Crater
Original Caption Released with Image	This crater (74 km diameter) just north of the Caloris Planitia displays interior and central peaks rising up from a hilly floor. The continuous ejecta deposits and secondary crater field are well defined. This image(FDS 79) was taken during the spacecraft's first encounter with Mercury. The Mariner 10 mission, managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA's Office of Space Science, explored Venus in February 1974 on the way to three encounters with Mercury-in March and September 1974 and in March 1975. The spacecraft took more than 7,000 photos of Mercury, Venus, the Earth and the Moon. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Northwestern University

Crater Chain Groves Inside Larger Craters

Crater Chain Groves Inside L …

PIA02423

Sol (our sun)

Imaging Science Subsystem - …

Title	Crater Chain Groves Inside Larger Craters
Original Caption Released with Image	The craters in this image (128 km diameter and 195 km diameter) have interior rings of mountains and ejecta deposits which are scarred by deep secondary crater chain groves. This image (FDS 150)was taken during the spacecraft's first encounter with Mercury. The Mariner 10 mission, managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA's Office of Space Science, explored Venus in February 1974 on the way to three encounters with Mercury-in March and September 1974 and in March 1975. The spacecraft took more than 7,000 photos of Mercury, Venus, the Earth and the Moon. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Northwestern University

Northeastern Quadrant of the Caloris Basin

Northeastern Quadrant of the …

PIA02427

Sol (our sun)

Imaging Science Subsystem - …

Title	Northeastern Quadrant of the Caloris Basin
Original Caption Released with Image	This image of the northeastern quadrant of the Caloris basin shows the smooth hills and domes between the inner and outer scarps and the well-developed radial system east of the outer scarp. This image (FDS 193) was taken during the spacecraft's first encounter with Mercury. The Mariner 10 mission, managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA's Office of Space Science, explored Venus in February 1974 on the way to three encounters with Mercury-in March and September 1974 and in March 1975. The spacecraft took more than 7,000 photos of Mercury, Venus, the Earth and the Moon. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Northwestern University

Prominent Rayed Craters

PIA02429

Sol (our sun)

Imaging Science Subsystem - …

Title	Prominent Rayed Craters
Original Caption Released with Image	These two prominent rayed craters are located at 40 degrees N, 124 degrees W. Bright halos extend as far as 2 crater diameters beyond crater rims. Individual rays extend from halo. Bright streak extending from middle top to lower is unrelated to the two craters. Craters are 40 km in diameter. This image (FDS 275) was taken during the spacecraft's first encounter with Mercury The Mariner 10 mission, managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA's Office of Space Science, explored Venus in February 1974 on the way to three encounters with Mercury-in March and September 1974 and in March 1975. The spacecraft took more than 7,000 photos of Mercury, Venus, the Earth and the Moon. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Northwestern University

Venus and Jupiter Over Belfa …

Title	Venus and Jupiter Over Belfast
Explanation	Venus and Jupiter appeared to glide right past each other earlier this month. In a slow day-by-day march, Jupiter [ http://www.nineplanets.org/jupiter.html ] sank into the sunset horizon while Venus remained high and bright. The conjunction [ http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2002/24may_duo.htm ] ended the five-planet party [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020429.html ] visible over the last two months. Jupiter [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/jupiter.html ], of course, is much further away from the Earth and Sun [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010301.html ] than Venus [ http://pds.jpl.nasa.gov/planets/welcome/venus.htm ], so the passing was really just an angular illusion [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020130.html ]. Pictured above [ http://science.nasa.gov/spaceweather/planets/gallery_june02_page2.html ] on June 3, a fading sunset finds Venus shining over Jupiter above clouds, mountains, and the city lights of Belfast [ http://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/ ], Northern Ireland [ http://www.geographia.com/northern-ireland/default.htm ].

Mercury -- May 1963

Mercury astronaut L. Gordon …

7/16/08

Description	Mercury astronaut L. Gordon Cooper Jr. is wearing a spacesuit during Mercury-Atlas 9 prelaunch activities.
Date	7/16/08

The Road to Apollo

A full-scale model of the Me …

3/16/09

Description	A full-scale model of the Mercury capsule was tested in the Langley 30- by 60-Foot Full-Scale Wind Tunnel. Managed at Langley Research Center, the objectives of the Mercury program were quite specific -- to orbit a crewed spacecraft around the Earth, to investigate the ability of humans to function in space and to recover both human and spacecraft safely. Project Mercury accomplished the first orbital flight made by an American, astronaut John Glenn. Credit: NASA
Date	3/16/09

Mariner Diagram

title	Mariner Diagram
date	01.01.1965
description	A diagram of the Mariner series of spacecraft and launch vehicle. Mariner spacecraft explored Mercury, Venus and Mars. Image Credit: NASA

Mercury's Caloris Basin

PIA03102

Sol (our sun)

Imaging Science Subsystem - …

Title	Mercury's Caloris Basin
Original Caption Released with Image	Mercury: Computer Photomosaic of the Caloris Basin The largest basin on Mercury (1300 km or 800 miles across) was named Caloris (Greek for "hot") because it is one of the two areas on the planet that face the Sun at perihelion. The Image Processing Lab at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory produced this photomosaic using computer software and techniques developed for use in processing planetary data. The Mariner 10 spacecraft imaged the region during its initial flyby of the planet. The Mariner 10 spacecraft was launched in 1974. The spacecraft took images of Venus in February 1974 on the way to three encounters with Mercury in March and September 1974 and March 1975. The spacecraft took more than 7,000 images of Mercury, Venus, the Earth and the Moon during its mission. The Mariner 10 Mission was managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA's Office of Space Science in Washington, D.C.

Mercury -- April 1959

NASA introduced the Project …

8/25/08

Description	NASA introduced the Project Mercury astronauts to the world on April 9, 1959, only six months after the agency was established. Known as the Mercury Seven or Original Seven, they are (front row, left to right) Walter M. "Wally" Schirra Jr., Donald K. "Deke" Slayton, John H. Glenn Jr., M. Scott Carpenter, (back row) Alan B. Shepard Jr., Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom and L. Gordon Cooper, Jr.
Date	8/25/08

Mercury -- May 1961

Mercury-Redstone 3 pilot Ala …

7/16/08

Description	Mercury-Redstone 3 pilot Alan B. Shepard Jr. is wearing the Mercury pressure suit and holding his helmet.
Date	7/16/08

Mercury -- February 1962

Astronaut John H. Glenn Jr., …

7/16/08

Description	Astronaut John H. Glenn Jr., NASA flight surgeon William Douglas and equipment specialist Joseph W. Schmidt leave crew quarters prior to the Mercury-Atlas 6 mission. Glenn is in his pressure suit and is carrying the portable ventilation unit.
Date	7/16/08

Mercury -- September 1962

Astronaut Walter M. "Wally" …

7/16/08

Description	Astronaut Walter M. "Wally" Schirra Jr., pilot of the Mercury-Atlas 8 Earth-orbital spaceflight, goes through a suiting-up exercise at Cape Canaveral several weeks prior to his scheduled Oct. 3, 1962 flight.
Date	7/16/08

Southern Neptune

Title	Southern Neptune
Explanation	Neptune [ http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/nineplanets/nineplanets/neptune.html ], the Solar System's outermost gas giant planet, is 30 times farther from the Sun than Earth. Twelve years after a 1977 launch [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/voyager.html ], Voyager 2 flew by Neptune and found surprising activity on a planet [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap961028.html ] that receives only 3 percent as much sunlight as Jupiter [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970310.html ]. In its brief but tantalizing close-up glimpse of this dim and distant world [ http://vraptor.jpl.nasa.gov/voyager/vgrnep_fs.html ], the robot spacecraft recorded pulses of radio emission, zonal cloud bands, and large scale storm systems with up to 1500 mile per hour winds - the strongest measured on any planet. This mosaic of 5 Voyager images [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/imgcat/html/object_page/vg2_p34628.html ] shows Neptune's Southern Hemisphere. Cloud bands and the Earth-sized, late "Great Dark Spot" [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960508.html ] with trailing white clouds located at about 22 degrees southern latitude are clearly visible. The distance from the Great Dark Spot feature to Neptune's South Pole [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap951222.html ] (image center) is about 17,000 miles.

The Road to Apollo

Even before the Space Task G …

3/30/09

Description	Even before the Space Task Group was formally organized, Langley had begun to develop the concept of the "Little Joe" test vehicle that became the workhorse of the nation's initial humans-in-space program -- Mercury. Little Joe, a solid fuel rocket, carried instrumented payloads to various altitudes and allowed engineers to check the operation of the Mercury capsule escape rocket and recovery systems. Here Langley technicians construct the Little Joe capsules in-house in Langley's shops. Credit: NASA
Date	3/30/09

Mercury -- 1961

The Mercury suit included gl …

7/16/08

Description	The Mercury suit included gloves, boots and a helmet.
Date	7/16/08

Mercury -- July 1961

Donning a spacesuit for the …

9/24/08

Description	Donning a spacesuit for the Mercury-Redstone 4 mission, astronaut Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom chats with spaceflight equipment specialist Joseph W. Schmidt in the personal equipment room of Hangar S at Cape Canaveral, Fla.
Date	9/24/08

Mercury -- 1962

Astronaut M. Scott Carpenter …

7/16/08

Description	Astronaut M. Scott Carpenter is wearing a Mercury pressure suit during astronaut training at Cape Canaveral, Fla.
Date	7/16/08

Mars Express Radar Ready to …

Mars Advanced Radar for Subs …

6/24/05

NASA's MRO Spies Future Mars …

Zoom and pan moves was creat …

10/11/07

Eris: The Largest Known Dwar …

Title	Eris: The Largest Known Dwarf Planet
Explanation	Is Pluto the largest dwarf planet? No! Currently, the largest known dwarf planet is (136199) Eris [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/136199_Eris ], renamed last week from 2003 UB313 [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060207.html ]. Eris is just slightly larger than Pluto, but orbits as far as twice Pluto [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060903.html ]'s distance from the Sun. Eris is shown above [ http://www.keckobservatory.org/view_album.php?album_id=4 ] in an image taken by a 10-meter Keck Telescope [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap971227.html ] from Hawaii [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap951216.html ], USA [ https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/us.html ]. Like Pluto, Eris has a moon, which has been officially named [ http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/special/08747.pdf ] by the International Astronomical Union [ http://www.iau.org/ ] as (136199) Eris I (Dysnomia). Dysnomia [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dysnomia_%28moon%29 ] is visible above just to the right of Eris. Dwarf planets [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwarf_planet ] Pluto and Eris are trans-Neptunian objects [ http://www.planetary.org/explore/topics/trans_neptunian_objects/ ] that orbit in the Kuiper belt [ http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/~jewitt/kb.html ] of objects past Neptune. Eris [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050801.html ] was discovered in 2003, and is likely composed of frozen water-ice and methane [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methane ]. Since Pluto's recent demotion by the IAU [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Astronomical_Union ] from planet to dwarf planet status, Pluto [ http://voyagesolarsystem.org/gallery/gallery_10.html ] has recently also been given a new numeric designation: (134340) Pluto. Currently, the only other officially designated "dwarf planet" is (1) Ceres [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060821.html ].

Kuiper Crater

PIA02411

Sol (our sun)

Imaging Science Subsystem - …

Title	Kuiper Crater
Original Caption Released with Image	The Mariner 10 Television-Science Team has proposed the name "Kuiper" for this very conspicuous bright Mercury crater (top center) on the rim of a larger older crater. Prof. Gerard P. Kuiper, a pioneer in planetary astronomy and a member of the Mariner 10 TV team, died December 23, 1973, while the spacecraft was enroute to Venus and Mercury. Mariner took this picture (FDS 27304) from 88,450 kilometers (55,000 miles) some 2 1/2 hours before it passed Mercury on March 29. The bright-floored crater, 41 kilometers (25 miles) in diameter, is the center of a very large bright are which could be seen in pictures sent from Mariner 10 while Mercury was more than two million miles distant. The larger crater is 80 kilometers (50 miles) across. The Mariner 10 mission, managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA's Office of Space Science, explored Venus in February 1974 on the way to three encounters with Mercury-in March and September 1974 and in March 1975. The spacecraft took more than 7,000 photos of Mercury, Venus, the Earth and the Moon. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Northwestern University

Photomosaic of Mercury - Out …

PIA03104

Sol (our sun)

Imaging Science Subsystem - …

Title	Photomosaic of Mercury - Outbound View
Original Caption Released with Image	After passing on the darkside of the planet, Mariner 10 photographed the other, somewhat more illuminated hemisphere of Mercury. The north pole is at the top, two-thirds down from which is the equator. The Mariner 10 spacecraft was launched in 1974. The spacecraft took images of Venus in February 1974 on the way to three encounters with Mercury in March and September 1974 and March 1975. The spacecraft took more than 7,000 images of Mercury, Venus, the Earth and the Moon during its mission. The Mariner 10 Mission was managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA's Office of Space Science in Washington, D.C.

Photomosaic of Mercury - Inb …

PIA03103

Sol (our sun)

Imaging Science Subsystem - …

Title	Photomosaic of Mercury - Inbound View
Original Caption Released with Image	This is a mosaic of images taken of Mercury taken from 125,000 miles away. The tiny, brightly rayed crater (just below center top) was the first recognizable feature on the planet's surface and was named in memory of astronomer Gerard Kuiper, a Mariner 10 team member. The Mariner 10 spacecraft was launched in 1974. The spacecraft took images of Venus in February 1974 on the way to three encounters with Mercury in March and September 1974 and March 1975. The spacecraft took more than 7,000 images of Mercury, Venus, the Earth and the Moon during its mission. The Mariner 10 Mission was managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA's Office of Space Science in Washington, D.C.

Mercury's South Pole

PIA02415

Sol (our sun)

Imaging Science Subsystem - …

Title	Mercury's South Pole
Original Caption Released with Image	After passing Mercury the first time and making a trip around the Sun, Mariner 10 again flew by Mercury on September 21 at 1:59 PMPDT. This encounter brought the spacecraft in front of Mercury in the southern hemisphere. In this frame south is down, the south pole is located on the right hand edge of the large crater that has only its rim sticking up into the light (Chao Meng Fu crater). When this frame (FDS 166902) was acquired Mariner 10 was about 83,000 km from Mercury. The Mariner 10 mission, managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA's Office of Space Science, explored Venus in February 1974 on the way to three encounters with Mercury-in March and September 1974 and in March 1975. The spacecraft took more than 7,000 photos of Mercury, Venus, the Earth and the Moon. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Northwestern University

Giant Landslide on Iapetus

Description	Giant Landslide on Iapetus
Full Description	A spectacular landslide within the low-brightness region of Iapetus's surface known as Cassini Regio is visible in this image from Cassini. Iapetus is one of the moons of Saturn. The landslide material appears to have collapsed from a scarp 15 kilometers high (9 miles) that forms the rim of an ancient 600 kilometer (375 mile) impact basin. Unconsolidated rubble from the landslide extends halfway across a conspicuous, 120-kilometer diameter (75-mile) flat-floored impact crater that lies just inside the basin scarp. Landslides are common geological phenomena on many planetary bodies, including Earth and Mars. The appearance of this landslide on an icy satellite with low-brightness cratered terrain is reminiscent of landslide features that were observed during NASA's Galileo mission on the Jovian satellite Callisto. The fact that the Iapetus landslide traveled many kilometers from the basin scarp could indicate that the surface material is very fine-grained, and perhaps was fluffed by mechanical forces that allowed the landslide debris to flow extended distances. In this view, north is to the left of the picture and solar illumination is from the bottom of the frame. The image was obtained in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera on Dec. 31, 2004, at a distance of about 123,400 kilometers (76,677 miles) from Iapetus and at a Sun-Iapetus-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 78 degrees. Resolution achieved in the original image was 740 meters (2,428 feet) per pixel. The image has been contrast-enhanced and magnified by a factor of two to aid visibility. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . For images visit the Cassini imaging team home page http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Date	January 7, 2005

Mars on Earth II

In this second installment o …

6/15/04

3 Years on Mars: Spirit

Overview of Mars Exploration …

1/4/07

3 Years on Mars: Opportunity

Overview of Mars Exploration …

1/24/07

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander S …

A NASA robot equipped to dig …

7/31/07

The Challenges of Getting to …

Navigation engineers explain …

11/28/07

The Challenges of Getting to …

Spacecraft engineers explain …

3/27/08

Persistent Arc

Description	Here on the Gallery page you can find the very latest images, videos and products from the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn, including the spectacular launch, spacecraft assembly and the exciting trip to Saturn.
Full Description	This movie shows a bright arc of material flashing around the edge of Saturn's G ring, a tenuous ring outside the main ring system. The arc is the same feature identified in images of the G ring taken in May 2005 (see Rings image titled "Arc in the Tenuous G Ring"). Scientists have seen the arc a handful of times over the past year, and it always appears to be a few times brighter than the rest of the ring and very tightly confined to a narrow strip along the inside edge of the G ring. Imaging team members believe that this feature is long-lived and may be held together by resonant interactions with the moon Mimas of the type that corral similar ring arcs around Neptune. The movie consists of 15 frames acquired every half hour over a period of seven-and-a-half hours. The version in the lower panel is vertically stretched by a factor of five to make the arc easier to see. The clear-filter images in this movie sequence were acquired by the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on April 25, 2006, at a distance of 2 million kilometers (1.2 million miles) from Saturn. The image scale on the sky at the distance of Saturn is about 24 kilometers (15 miles) per pixel. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

The Road to Apollo

The Scout program began in 1 …

3/2/09

Description	The Scout program began in 1957 to build an inexpensive sounding rocket to carry small research payloads to high altitudes. Scout would eventually assist the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs by testing reentry materials, evaluating methods of protecting spacecraft from micrometeoroids, and examining ways of overcoming radio blackouts as a space capsule reentered the atmosphere. The first Scout launched at Wallops Island July 1, 1960. Credit: NASA
Date	3/2/09

The Road to Apollo

As project Mercury began in …

3/16/09

Description	As project Mercury began in the late 1950s, Langley was thrust full force into the national spotlight with the arrival in Hampton of the original seven astronauts. Under the tutelage of the Space Task Group, (from left front row) Virgil "Gus" Grissom, Scott Carpenter, Donald "Deke" Slayton, Gordon Cooper, (back row) Alan Shepard, Walter Schirra and John Glenn were trained at Langley to operate the space machines that would thrust them beyond the protective environment of Earth's atmosphere. Credit: NASA
Date	3/16/09

The Road to Apollo

After Mercury came Gemini, t …

4/6/09

Description	After Mercury came Gemini, the project that would put to the test the maneuvers that would be required if Apollo was to be successful. Gemini astronauts would have to practice the rendezvous and docking techniques necessary to link two spacecraft. Langley researchers built the Rendezvous Docking Simulator giving astronauts a routine opportunity to pilot dynamically-controlled scale-model vehicles in an environment that closely paralleled that of space. Credit: NASA
Date	4/6/09

Mars Science Laboratory (MSL …

NASA has selected the scient …

11/22/04

NASA's Mars Orbiter Photogra …

Images from NASA's Mars Reco …

12/5/06

Neptune's Interior

title	Neptune's Interior
description	The atmosphere of Neptune, similar to Uranus, consists of mainly hydrogen, methane, and helium. Below it is a liquid hydrogen layer including helium and methane. The lower layer is liquid hydrogen compounds, oxygen, and nitrogen. It is believed that the planet core comprises rock and ice. Average density, as well as the greatest proportion of core per planet size, is the greatest among the gaseous planets. Image Credit: Lunar and Planetary Institute

Jupiter: Chandra Examines Jupiter During New Horizons Approach

Jupiter: Chandra Examines Ju …

title	Jupiter: Chandra Examines Jupiter During New Horizons Approach
date	02.28.2007
description	On February 28, 2007, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft made its closest approach to Jupiter on its ultimate journey to Pluto. This flyby gave scientists a unique opportunity to study Jupiter using the package of instruments available on New Horizons, while coordinating observations from both space- and ground-based telescopes including NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. In preparation for New Horizon's approach of Jupiter, Chandra took 5-hour exposures of Jupiter on February 8, 10, and 24th. In this new composite image, data from those separate Chandra's observations were combined, and then superimposed on the latest image of Jupiter from the Hubble Space Telescope. The purpose of the Chandra observations is to study the powerful X-ray auroras observed near the poles of Jupiter. These are thought to be caused by the interaction of sulfur and oxygen ions in the outer regions of the Jovian magnetic field with particles flowing away from the Sun in the so-called solar wind. Scientists would like to better understand the details of this process, which produces auroras up to a thousand times more powerful than similar auroras seen on Earth. Following closest approach on the 28th, Chandra will continue to observe Jupiter over the next few weeks. New Horizons will take an unusual trajectory past Jupiter that takes it directly down the so-called magnetic tail of the planet, a region where no spacecraft has gone before. The sulfur and oxygen particles that dominate Jupiter's magnetosphere and originate in Io's volcanoes are eventually lost down this magnetic tail. One goal of the Chandra observations is to see if any of the X-ray auroral emissions are related to this process. By combining Chandra observations with the New Horizons data, plus ultraviolet information from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and FUSE satellite, and optical data from ground-based telescopes, astronomers hope to get a more complete picture of Jupiter's complicated system of particles and magnetic fields and energetic particles. In the weeks and months to come, astronomers will undertake detailed analysis of this bounty of data. Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SwRI/R.Gladstone et al., Optical: NASA/ESA/Hubble Heritage (AURA/STScI)

Mercury's South Pole

PIA02941

Sol (our sun)

Imaging Science Subsystem - …

Title	Mercury's South Pole
Original Caption Released with Image	Mercury's south pole was photographed by one of Mariner 10's TV cameras as the spacecraft made its second close flyby of the planet September 21. The pole is located inside the large crater (180 kilometers, 110 miles) on Mercury's limb (lower center). The crater floor is shadowed and its far rim, illuminated by the sun, appears to de disconnected from the edge of the planet. Just above and to the right of the South Pole is a double ring basin about 100 kilometers (125 miles) in diameter. A bright ray system, splashed out of a 50 kilometer (30 mile) crater is seen at upper right. The stripe across the top is an artifact introduced during computer processing. The picture (FDS 166902) was taken from a distance of 85,800 kilometers (53,200 miles) less than two hours after Mariner 10 reached its closest point to the planet. The Mariner 10 mission, managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA's Office of Space Science, explored Venus in February 1974 on the way to three encounters with Mercury-in March and September 1974 and in March 1975. The spacecraft took more than 7,000 photos of Mercury, Venus, the Earth and the Moon. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Northwestern University

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