As Titan Turns

OSIRIS-REx has imaged Bennu in higher resolution than we have Earth and our own Moon. Since its arrival at the asteroid on Dec. 3, 2018, the spacecraft has discovered boulders the size of buildings...

This artist's concept shows the European Space Agency's Huygens probe descent sequence.

In this month's sky, look for lovely crescent Moons at the start and end of the month. The September equinox brings the beginning of fall in the Northern Hemisphere. And Mars is at solar conjunctio...

: 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.

Unveiling Rogue Planets

This animation shows the last 30 seconds of Cassini's X- and S-band radio signals as they disappeared from mission control on Sept. 15, 2017.

The Seven Sisters meet the evening star, Mars continues its getaway, and unpacking the Moon illusion.

This 4K visualization shows the Moon's phase and libration at hourly intervals throughout 2021, as viewed from the Northern Hemisphere. Each frame represents one hour. 

What's Up for August? This month our main focus is the Perseid meteor shower.

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.

At approximately 4:16 p.m. EDT on May 10, 2021, NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will fire its main thrusters for seven minutes and start its long journey home with more than 60 grams (2.1 ounces) of a...

Look for Mars close to the Pleiades in the first weeks of March. Then wake up early to observe the giant planets Jupiter and Saturn.

While NASA's Cassini spacecraft was pointed to study Saturn's F ring, it happened to catch a globular star cluster passing through the camera's field of view.

In this Voyager Update from the night of the Neptune encounter (25 August 1989), now Voyager Project Manager, Suzy Dodd speaks with such guests as Jay Holberg and Bill Kurth concerning the Voyager ...

Go, Atlas. Go, Centaur. Go, InSight! NASA's InSight mission launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base for Mars on May 5, 2018—the first interplanetary launch from the West Coast. 

Have burning questions about asteroids? Our experts have answers! (Spoiler Alert: none of them will hit Earth.) Our solar system is littered with asteroids and comets and sometimes they get a littl...

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

This animation re-creates the final descent of ESA's Huygens probe as it landed on Titan on Jan. 14, 2005, after it was dropped off by NASA's Cassini spacecraft.

The geocentric phase, libration, position angle of the axis, and apparent diameter of the Moon throughout the year 2020.

NASA JPL Software Engineer Melissa Soriano describes the third potential target for Scientist for a Day contestants: Pluto's moon Charon.

The Cassini spacecraft arrived at Saturn in June 2004 and is now halfway through its mission. A new photo essay showcases some stunning images returned by the mission.

The moon Prometheus slowly collides with the diffuse inner edge of Saturn's F ring in this movie sequence of Cassini images.

Giovanni Cassini, the astronomer, discovers a moon near Saturn. Half is dark as coal. The other half, bright as snow. Three centuries later, Cassini, the spacecraft, flies by for a close look.

Teams are working to prepare missions to bring the samples collected by the Mars Perseverance rover back to Earth. 

This movie, made from data obtained by NASA's Cassini spacecraft, shows Saturn's southern aurora shimmering over approximately 20 hours as the planet rotates.