Release of Probe

An artist's concept of NASA's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) spacecraft firing its maneuvering thrusters in order to maintain a safe altitude as it orbits the moon.

These images of Titan's south polar region were acquired during Cassini's first distant encounter with the smog-enshrouded moon on July 2, 2004. The spacecraft approached Titan at a distance of abo...

This view from NASA's Dawn spacecraft shows a portion of Mondamin Crater, an impact feature 78 miles (126 kilometers) in diameter, in the southern hemisphere of Ceres.

In this infrared view, Saturn's cratered moon Tethys shows a faint, dark band across its equatorial region. Tethys is 1,071 kilometers (665 miles) across. North is up in this view, which shows t...

Although the Huygens probe has now pierced the murky skies of Titan and landed on its surface, much of the moon remains for the Cassini spacecraft to explore. Titan continues to present exciting pu...

Saturn's north pole hexagon, seen here in an image from the Cassini spacecraft, has been around for awhile. It was seen in Voyager images in the early 1980s, in ground-based telescopic images in th...

This image, taken by NASA's Dawn spacecraft on June 25, 2015, shows a portion of the northern hemisphere of dwarf planet Ceres from an altitude of 2,700 miles (4,400 kilometers).

Students and staffers gather outside the Science Center of Iowa in Des Moines. They smile and wave in anticipation of their deep-space portrait session with NASA's Cassini spacecraft during the Jul...

This view of high southern latitudes on Saturn shows very linear clouds at top, usually indicative of stable prevailing winds, and two turbulent, swirling features farther south. It is possible tha...

This image, taken by NASA's Dawn spacecraft on June 6, 2015, features a tall mountain on Ceres that is 4 miles (6 kilometers) high -- among the tallest features seen on Ceres to date.

The Cassini spacecraft studies the dynamics of Saturn's blustery cloud bands as spring approaches in the northern hemisphere. Janus casts its shadow onto Saturn at right, just above the curving s...

These raw, unprocessed images of Saturn's moon Dione were taken on Dec. 12, 2011, by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. Although Cassini obtained more detailed images on previous flybys of Dione, this was ...

This view from NASA's captured by NASA's Dawn spacecraft on Dec. 21,2015, shows the central complex of mountain peaks within Dantu Crater on Ceres. A patch of bright material is visible near lower ...

On Dec. 13, 1972, scientist-astronaut Harrison H. Schmitt is photographed standing next to a huge, split lunar boulder during the third Apollo 17 extravehicular activity (EVA) at the Taurus-Littrow...

This animation shows the Cassini spacecraft approaching Titan. The strips of data on the globe represent areas observed with the Cassini radar instrument. The pink swatch is the area observed by ...

This image, taken by NASA's Dawn spacecraft, shows the surface of dwarf planet Ceres from an altitude of 915 miles (1,470 kilometers). The image was taken on September 9, 2015, and has a resolution...

South Polar Features August 25, 2004 Full-Res: PIA06462 Wavy bands of clouds near Saturn's south pole dominate this ultraviolet image...

This image was taken during Cassini's third close approach to Titan on Feb. 15, 2005. The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera, through a filter sensitive to wavelengths...

Dione hangs in front of Saturn and its icy rings in this view, captured during Cassini's final close flyby of the icy moon.

The scene shows a complex of craters in mid-southern latitudes on Ceres, just west of the peaks known as Niman Rupes. NASA's Dawn spacecraft took this image on June 15, 2016.

Several distinct craters on Saturn's moon Hyperion can be seen here, as well as a protruding feature, perhaps a mountain, near the center. Hyperion is 266 kilometers (165 miles) across. The image...

This image of Titan's surface shows the entire scene obtained by the Cassini radar instrument on Sept. 7, 2006. It includes clear examples of the longitudinal dunes, as well as one of only three p...

Using visible light, astronomers for the first time this century have detected clouds in the northern hemisphere of Uranus. 

Saturn's restless clouds offer endless complexity, such as this small-scale repeating pattern upon which is superimposed a larger-scale wavelike modulation of the boundary between a bright zone and...

This is a color map of the composition of a portion of Saturn's moon Hyperion's surface about 75 kilometers (45 miles) on a side. In this map, blue shows the maximum exposure of frozen water, red ...