Icelandic Legends and Aurora
8.12.2015

Legends collide in this dramatic vista of land, sea, and sky. The land is Iceland, specifically VМk М MЩrdal, a southern village known for its beautiful black sand beaches. The sea, the Atlantic Ocean...

Capsule Returns from Asteroid Ryugu
14.12.2020

The streak across the sky is a capsule returning from an asteroid. It returned earlier this month from the near-Earth asteroid 162173 Ryugu carrying small rocks and dust from its surface. The canister...

The Face on Mars
4.07.2021

Wouldn't it be fun if clouds were castles? Wouldn't it be fun if the laundry on the bedroom chair was a superhero? Wouldn't it be fun if rock mesas on Mars were interplanetary monuments to the human face? Clouds, though, are floating droplets of water and ice.

Athena to the Moon
28.02.2025

Planet Earth hangs in the background of this space age selfie. The snapshot was captured by the IM-2 Nova-C lander Athena, just after stage separation following its February 26 launch to the Moon.

Intriguing Dimples Near Eagle Crater on Mars
24.03.2004

What are those unusual looking dimples? Looking back toward Eagle crater, its landing place on Mars, the robot rover Opportunity has spotted some unusual depressions in the Martian soil. The dimples, visible above on the image left, each measure about one meter across and appear to have light colored rock in their interior.

Cassini Images Saturns A Ring
12.07.2004

What are Saturn's rings made of? In an effort to find out, the robot spacecraft Cassini that entered orbit around Saturn two weeks ago took several detailed images of the area surrounding Saturn's large A ring in ultraviolet light.

Enceladus Creates Saturns E Ring
27.03.2007

The active moon Enceladus appears to be making Saturn's E ring. An amazing picture showing the moon at work was taken late last year by the Saturn-orbiting Cassini spacecraft and is shown above. Enceladus is the bright point near the center, right near the center of Saturn's E ring.

Noctilucent Clouds Over Sweden
28.10.2007

Sometimes it's night on the ground but day in the air. As the Earth rotates to eclipse the Sun, sunset rises up from the ground. Therefore, at sunset on the ground, sunlight still shines on clouds above.

M72: A Globular Cluster of Stars
12.05.2010

Globular clusters once ruled the Milky Way. Back in the old days, back when our Galaxy first formed, perhaps thousands of globular clusters roamed our Galaxy. Today, there are less than 200 left. Many globular clusters were destroyed over the eons by repeated fateful encounters with each other or the Galactic center.

The Cliffs of Comet Churyumov Gerasimenko
22.12.2014

These high cliffs occur on the surface of a comet. They were discovered to be part of the dark nucleus of Comet ChuryumovGerasimenko (CG) by Rosetta, a robotic spacecraft launched by ESA which began orbiting the comet in early August. The ragged cliffs, as featured here, were imaged by Rosetta about two weeks ago.