Mating of LVA

These apparent brightness and topography images from NASA's Dawn spacecraft are located in asteroid Vesta's Bellicia quadrangle, in Vesta's northern hemisphere.

Cassini scientists are using images like these to try to decipher whether slushy ice volcanoes are erupting today on Saturn’s moon Titan. At top, data from the visual and infrared spectrometer abo...

A single jet feature appears to leap from the F ring of Saturn in this image from the Cassini spacecraft.

Saturn's small, irregularly-shaped moon Epimetheus orbits against the backdrop of the planet's rings, which are nearly edge-on in this view. Some of the moon's larger geological features can be see...

Saturn's moon Pan, orbiting in the Encke Gap, casts a slender shadow onto the A ring. For a closeup view of the "flying saucer" shape of Pan (28 kilometers, or 17 miles across), see Saturn's Sauce...

NASA's Dawn spacecraft being assembled.

This is one of the first images returned from Cassini during the eight Titan flyby. The image, W00010533.jpg, was taken on Sept. 6, 2005 and received on Earth Sept. 8, 2005. The camera was pointi...

This global digital map of Saturn's moon Mimas was created using data taken by the Cassini spacecraft, with gaps in coverage filled in by NASA's Voyager spacecraft data. The map is an equidistant p...

Titan Mosaic: October 2004 December 16, 2004 Full-Res: PIA06158 This mosaic of 28 images shows the regional coverage taken during Cassi...

Rhea drifts in front of Saturn. The battered, icy moon is seen here near the western limb of the planet's northern hemisphere. This image was taken eight hours after The Rays of Rhea. The view loo...

As it departed its encounter with Saturn's moon Dione, Cassini sailed above an unreal landscape blasted by impacts. The rising Sun throws craters into sharp contrast and reveals steep crater walls...

This image, taken by NASA's Dawn spacecraft, shows Azacca Crater (31 miles, 50 kilometers wide) at top left, with its prominent set of north-south trending fractures. Dawn took this image on Oct. 1...

The small moon Mimas passes in front of the larger moon Rhea, which is partly obscured by Saturn's rings, in this movie from NASA's Cassini spacecraft.

This image from NASA's Dawn spacecraft shows the texture of the surface in a part of asteroid Vesta's southern hemisphere. This region is just north of the main Rheasilvia structure.

As Cassini approached Titan on Aug. 21, 2005, it captured this natural color view of the moon's orange, global smog. Titan's hazy atmosphere was frustrating to NASA Voyager scientists during the fi...

This mosaic of NAC images shows the impact crater Hokusai, located on Mercury at a latitude of 58°N. 

The strands of Saturn's F ring disappear into the darkness of the planet's shadow. Background stars make trails across the sky during the long exposure. This view looks toward the unlit side of th...

Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) technicians in a blue crane at the top of the white upper equipment module (UEM) level the UEM prior to separation from its dolly. The module will be prepared for st...

From the Dark Side December 10, 2004 Full-Res: PIA06529 As Cassini swung around to the dark side of the planet during its first close ...

This image from NASA's Dawn spacecraft shows heavily cratered terrain in asteroid Vesta's equatorial region. The craters have a wide range of sizes and many different forms, which include fresh, de...

Two large craters lie along the boundary between day and night on Saturn's moon Rhea. The bright spots in the middle of each crater may be prominent central peaks. Rhea is 1,528 kilometers (949 mi...

The Cassini spacecraft looks down onto middle northern latitudes on Rhea. The large Tirawa basin is seen on the terminator at right. Lit terrain seen here is primarily on the trailing side of Rhea...

The Cassini spacecraft captures a far-off view of Saturn's irregularly shaped, icy moon Janus. North on Janus (179 kilometers, or 111 miles across at its widest point) is toward the top of the ima...

Three of Saturn's diverse family of moons are captured in this view. Smoggy Titan (5,150 kilometers, or 3,200 miles across) hovers above the thin line of the rings. Much smaller Epimetheus (116 ki...

This frame from a video captured by NASA's Dawn spacecraft shows a flyover of the intriguing crater named Occator on dwarf planet Ceres. Occator is home to Ceres' brightest area.