Animated Spacecraft

December 2, 2020, marked the 25th anniversary of the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, or SOHO – a joint mission of the European Space Agency and NASA. Since its launch on that date, the mission ...

No one really knew what Vesta looked like until NASA’s Dawn spacecraft decided to drop in on it. Now, images taken by the spacecraft have been stitched together to create a virtual flyover of the j...

Known as the "Mother of Hubble," Dr. Nancy Grace Roman was instrumental in taking the Hubble Space Telescope from an idea to reality.

The Dawn spacecraft visited the asteroid 4 Vesta for the time period May 3, 2011 to Sept. 5, 2012.

The Sun as seen in multiple wavelengths of light by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory over four days in August 2018.

See highlights from the scene at JPL on April 26-27, 2017, and some of the first raw images the spacecraft sent back from its closest-ever look at Saturn’s atmosphere.

The flight over Charon begins high over the hemisphere New Horizons saw on its closest approach, then descends over the deep, wide canyon of Serenity Chasma. 

The most prominent jets of vapor and icy particles emerging from the south polar terrain of Saturn’s moon Enceladus are shown here in graphical form in a movie clip of a “rotating” Enceladus.

New science, mined from the archives. Data from NASA's Galileo orbiter launched a generation ago yields new evidence of plumes, eruptions of water vapor, from Jupiter's moon Europa.

For 13 years the spacecraft’s incredible, truly otherworldly images have revealed the wonder of Saturn in surprising, often awe-inspiring ways.

Explore. Create. Share. How has Cassini inspired you?

Astronomy highlights for February 2020: it's the best time of the year to view Mercury; Mars disappears behind the Moon; and the bright red star on Orion’s shoulder, Betelgeuse, has been acting wei...

This is an animated artist interpretation of the area surrounding the Huygens landing site, based on images and data returned Jan. 14, 2005.

November 2020 skywatching highlights: Look for the Pleiades, the Moon with Jupiter and Saturn, and Earthshine illuminating the Moon.

Celebrate Earth Day 2018 with these images of Earth from afar.

What can you see in the March sky? Jupiter and other planets in the morning, the start of spring with the spring equinox and viewing an open star cluster called the Beehive.

When NASA’s Perseverance rover travels to Mars to search for signs of life, it’s important that the spacecraft doesn’t bring along any Earth bacteria. 

NASA's Cassini has found salt in Saturn's E ring, hinting that the moon Enceladus could have an underground liquid reservoir, perhaps even an ocean.

What's Up for January? Morning meteors, Mars meets its "rival," and the Moon comes around for another visit with Venus.

My name is Mana. Europa is my favorite It is that it is one of the very few places in our solar system that could potentially have life.

Dark spokes dance around Saturn's B ring in this series of movies comprised of images taken with Cassini's wide-angle camera.

Actual images of the July 4, 2005 impact of the Deep Impact probe into comet Tempel 1.

The Helioseismic Magnetic Imager (HMI) aboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory takes a series of images every 45 seconds in a very narrow range of wavelengths in visible light of the solar photospher...

This simulated voyage over the surface of Neptune's large moon Triton was produced using topographic maps derived from images acquired by NASA's Voyager spacecraft during its August 1989 flyby, 20 ...

: This mosaic combines views captured by Cassini as it made the first dive of the mission's Grand Finale on April 26, 2017, and shows details in bands and swirls in the atmosphere.