Release of Probe

This computer-generated animation shows all of Cassini's orbits - affectionaly called the "ball of yarn" by mission planners.

This frame from a video from NASA's Dawn mission shows dwarf planet Ceres in false-color renderings, which highlight differences in surface materials.

Ion propulsion isn’t something found only in science fiction. JPL engineer Mike Meacham looks at how ion engines are being used to drive NASA's Dawn spacecraft through the solar system.

MESSENGER captured this departure sequence of Venus after a close flyby of the planet in 2007.

NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft gave humanity its first glimpse of Neptune and its moon Triton in the summer of 1989.

Here is a rover's eye view of driving, scooping and drilling during Curiosity's first year on Mars, August 2012 through July 2013.

This computer-generated view shows the view from the perspective of the Cassini spacecraft as it dives between the rings and Saturn's cloud tops.

A simulated flyover of the most intriguing landmarks on giant asteroid Vesta, as seen by NASA's Dawn spacecraft.

Where is the edge of the solar system? The answer is not so simple.

Radar Mapping Titan

Change is detected on Saturn’s moon Titan, in these three composite images from data taken during flybys in October 2005, January 2006 and March 2006 by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft.

This image shows that NASA's Dawn mission detected abundances of hydrogen in a wide swath around the equator of the giant asteroid Vesta. The hydrogen probably exists in the form of hydroxyl or wat...

In this movie, strung together from a series of images provided by the framing camera on NASA's Dawn spacecraft, we see a full rotation of Vesta, which occurs over the course of roughly five hours. 

NASA's Director of Planetary Science, Jim Green, discusses the Jan. 20 Astronomical Journal science paper that points to the possibility of a new "Planet 9" in our solar system beyond Pluto.

This still from a movie shows an image taken by NASA's Dawn spacecraft layered on a digital terrain model of an unusual hill containing a dark-rayed impact crater and nearby dark deposit on asteroi...

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe mission launched Aug. 12, 2018, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

The bright crescent of Saturn's moon Enceladus slides past distant Rhea in this mutual event, or occultation, movie from Cassini.

This movie was built with data collected during the 147-minute plunge through Titan's thick orange-brown atmosphere to a soft sandy riverbed by the European Space Agency's Huygens Descent Imager/Sp...

NASA's Cassini spacecraft has spotted a glowing patch of ultraviolet light near Saturn's north pole that marks the presence of an electrical circuit that connects Saturn with its moon Enceladus.

Jupiter Magnetosphere

What can you see in the October sky? Join the global celebration of International Observe the Moon Night on Oct. 5th, then try to catch the ice giant planets Uranus and Neptune.

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.

This animation glides along the shoreline of Ontario Lacus, the largest lake on the southern hemisphere of Saturn’s moon Titan.

Two crescent moons dance around Saturn as far-off Dione slips behind its sibling moon Rhea.

This movie uses data from NASA's Dawn spacecraft to simulate the view from the spacecraft flying over the surface of the giant asteroid Vesta.