Ice Fishing for Cosmic Neutrinos
3.08.2003

Scientists are melting holes in the bottom of the world. In fact, several holes have been melted near the South Pole, and they are now being used as astronomical observatories. Astronomers with the Antarctic Muon and Neutrino Detector Array (AMANDA) lower into each vertical lake a string knotted with basketball-sized light detectors.

Red Mars from Spirit
7.01.2004

Rocks are strewn across the broad, flat Gusev crater floor in this sharp color picture from NASA's Spirit rover. Recorded by the rover's panoramic camera, the picture is part of Spirit's first color image of Mars - the highest resolution picture yet taken on the surface of another planet.

Fullerenes as Miniature Cosmic Time Capsules
29.03.2000

Scientists have found, unexpectedly, tiny time capsules from billions of years in the past. The discovery involves small molecules that can apparently become trapped during the formation of large enclosed molecules known as fullerenes, or buckyballs. Luann Becker (U.

At the Edge of Victoria Crater
3.07.2007

We're going in. The robotic Opportunity rover currently rolling across Mars has been prowling around the edge of the largest crater it has visited since landing over three years ago. It has been studying Victoria crater and looking for a way in.

Close up of the Great Red Spot
15.07.2017

On July 11, the Juno spacecraft once again swung near to Jupiter's turbulent cloud tops in its looping 53 day orbit around the Solar System's ruling gas giant. About 11 minutes after perijove 7, its closest approach on this orbit, it passed directly above Jupiter's Great Red Spot.

NEAR Spacecraft Survives Landing on Asteroid Eros
13.02.2001

Yesterday NEAR-Shoemaker became the first spacecraft to land on an asteroid and send signals back from its surface. Since the robot spacecraft was not designed for such a contingency, the success of the landing on asteroid 433

Martian Dust Storm
27.07.2001

If you've been unhappy with the weather on Earth, check out Mars, now in the grip of a planet-wide dust storm. Above, observations from the orbiting Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft illustrate the storm's progress through July 21.

Asteroid Eros Reconstructed
5.06.2001

Orbiting the Sun between Mars and Earth, asteroid 433 Eros was visited by the robot spacecraft NEAR-Shoemaker in 2000 February. Some of the 100,000+ images taken by NEAR of the tumbling space rock have been combined into the above high-resolution composite.

La Nina Watch
20.07.1998

Goodbye El Niño. Hello La Niña? Scientists are watching to see if an evolving pool of relatively cool water in the mid-Pacific Ocean will develop into a full "La Niña". Over the past several months, the water temperature in the Equatorial Pacific Ocean has been doing a flip-flop.

A Hurricane Over the South Pole of Saturn
13.11.2006

What's happening at the south pole of Saturn? To find out, scientists sent the robot Cassini probe now orbiting Saturn directly over the lower spin axis of the ringed giant. Cassini found there a spectacular massive swirling storm system with a well developed eye-wall, similar to a hurricane here on Earth.