12 July 2008
Scientists using data from NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft have found the bubble of solar wind surrounding the Solar System is not round, but has a dented shape.
09 July 2008
NASA recently published an exquisite image of Saturn’s magnificent rings, acquired by the Saturn-bound Cassini spacecraft. This is a detailed view of Saturn's A ring, the fourth ring in order of distance from the planet, and Saturn’s tiny moon Daphnis (8 km across), gliding in a narrow gap, known as the Keeler Gap.
08 July 2008
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) recently published an image of Janus, Saturn’s small irregularly-shaped moon. The image was acquired by the Saturn-bound Cassini spacecraft. It shows impact craters of various sizes covering the rugged surface of potato-shaped Janus (179 km across).
07 July 2008
For more than three decades, the origins of Mercury's smooth plains and the source of its magnetic field have been a matter of debate. Now, analyses of data acquired by the MESSENGER spacecraft during its January 2008 flyby of Mercury have shown that volcanoes were involved in plains formation and suggest that Mercury’s magnetic field is actively generated in the planet's core.
05 July 2008
NASA recently published an amazing image, acquired by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The image shows a very thin section of the remnant of a dead star. The star’s remains were hurled into the interstellar space by a tremendous stellar explosion, termed supernova, over 1,000 years ago.
03 July 2008
The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft is now regarded the most successful comet discoverer in history! SOHO has just has discovered its 1500th comet, making it more successful than all the other discoverers of comets throughout history put together. Amazingly, SOHO was initially designed as a solar physics mission. SOHO's history-making discovery was made on 25 June 2008, by amateur astronomer Rob Matson. This is Rob's 76th SOHO comet find.
02 July 2008
This composite NASA image of the spiral galaxy M81, located about 12 million light years away, includes X-ray data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory (blue), optical data from the Hubble Space Telescope (green), infrared data from the Spitzer Space Telescope (pink) and ultraviolet data from GALEX spacecraft (purple). The inset shows a close-up of the Chandra image. At the center of M81 is a supermassive black hole that is about 70 million times more massive than the Sun.
30 June 2008
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) recently published an image of Tethys, a bizarre Saturnian icy moon. The image was acquired by the Saturn-bound Cassini spacecraft. The image is an exquisite view of a magnificent rift on Tethys, known as Ithaca Chasma.
29 June 2008
Saturn is a ringed giant planet that dominates a mini solar system of moons, rings and one artificial satellite, the Cassini spacecraft. This magnificent image, acquired by Cassini, shows a Saturnian moon, and the shadow of another, cast upon the orb of the planet.
28 June 2008
On 30 June 2008, NASA’s Saturn-bound Cassini spacecraft completes its four-year prime mission and begins its extended mission, which was approved in April 2008. Cassini’s new two-year mission will address new questions and focus on two of Saturn’s most intriguing moons, Titan and Enceladus.