Skip Navigation

Resources

A Shared Bombardment History

A Shared Bombardment History
Photojournal: PIA16841
Source: NASA/GSFC/ASU/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA
Published: March 25, 2013

Studying meteorites from the asteroid Vesta helps scientists understand the event known as the 'lunar cataclysm,' when a repositioning of the gas giant planets destabilized a portion of the asteroid belt and triggered a solar-system-wide bombardment.

Related

The extreme contrast in this view of the unlit side of Saturn's rings is intentional. Contrast-enhanced views like this are used to look for spokes (the transient, ghostly lanes of dust seen in NAS...
More
An extreme contrast view of the unlit side of Saturn's rings.
On the Lookout for Spokes
This view, made using images taken by NASA's Dawn spacecraft, features a tall conical mountain on Ceres. Elevations span a range of about 5 miles (8 kilometers) from the lowest places in this regio...
More
Topographic View of Ceres Mountain
Topographic View of Ceres Mountain
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter caught this image of Phoenix hanging from its parachute as it descended to the Martian surface in 2008.
More
Image of crater with a small spacecraft and parachute in foreground.
Phoenix Lander Descending to Mars
This unprocessed image was captured by NASA's Cassini spacecraft during its Nov. 21, 2009 flyby of Saturn's moon Enceladus. It shows the moon's south polar region, where jets of water vapor and oth...
More
Enceladus
Enceladus Flyby E-8 (Image 1)
NASA's New Horizons spacecraft observations of Kuiper Belt object Quaoar ("Kwa-war"), which - at 690 miles or 1,100 kilometers in diameter - is roughly half the size of Pluto.
More
NASA's New Horizons spacecraft observations of Kuiper Belt object Quaoar ("Kwa-war"), which - at 690 miles or 1,100 kilometers in diameter - is roughly half the size of Pluto.
Quaoar
This image shows the location of an area known as Sotra Facula on Saturn’s moon Titan. The black and white swaths show data obtained by the radar instrument on NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. The swaths...
More
This image shows the location of an area known as Sotra Facula on Saturn’s moon Titan.
Global View of Sotra Facula, Titan
A fine spray of small, icy particles emanating from the warm, geologically unique province surrounding the south pole of Saturn's moon Enceladus was observed in a Cassini narrow-angle camera image ...
More
Two views of Enceladus: left shows 'natural' color; right shows a color-coded version
Spray Above Enceladus
The Voyager spacecraft was 8.6 million kilometers (5.3 million miles) from Neptune when it took this 61 second exposure through the clear filter with the narrow angle camera on August 19, 1989. 
More
The Voyager spacecraft was 8.6 million kilometers (5.3 million miles) from Neptune when it took this 61 second exposure through the clear filter with the narrow angle camera on August 19, 1989.
Neptune: Ring Arcs
In this unique mosaic image combining high-resolution data from the imaging science subsystem and composite infrared spectrometer aboard NASA's Cassini spacecraft, pockets of heat appear along one ...
More
In this unique mosaic image combining high-resolution data from the imaging science subsystem and composite infrared spectrometer aboard NASA's Cassini spacecraft, pockets of heat appear along one of the mysterious fractures in the south polar region of Saturn's moon Enceladus.
Enceladus' Warm Baghdad Sulcus
Moon and its Flock September 30, 2004 Full-Res: PIA06488 In its own way, the shepherd moon Prometheus (102 kilometers, 63 miles acros...
More
Moon and its Flock
Moon and its Flock
Some of the most breathtaking views of Earth taken from space are those that capture our planet’s limb.
More
Images of Earth's limb at sunset and the Moon as seen through Earth's limb
Moon Over Earth
The soft, bright-and-dark bands displayed by Saturn in this view from NASA's Cassini spacecraft are the signature of methane in the planet's atmosphere.
More
Black and white image of Saturn.
Methane Saturn
Jagged looking shadows stretch away from vertical structures of ring material created by the moon Daphnis in this image taken as Saturn approaches its August 2009 equinox. Daphnis (8 kilometers, o...
More
Saturn's rings
Sawtooth Shadows
This artist's impression of Saturn's moon Titan shows the change in observed atmospheric effects before, during and after equinox in 2009. The Titan globes also provide an impression of the detache...
More
Artist's impression of Titan showing changes during and after equinox in 2009
Titan's Changing Seasons
Titan's high haze layers are amazing. Cassini captured this detailed view of the relatively faint haze in Titan's upper atmosphere as it receded from its close encounter on March 31, 2005. Similar...
More
Titan's High Hazes
Titan's High Hazes
This image taken on August 17, 2016 from NASA's Dawn spacecraft shows a complex set of fractures found in the southwestern region of the floor of Occator Crater on Ceres.
More
Spiderweb-like Fractures in Occator Crater
Spiderweb-like Fractures in Occator Crater
Specially designed Cassini orbits place Earth and Cassini on opposite sides of Saturn's rings, a geometry known as occultation. Cassini conducted the first radio occultation observation of Saturn's...
More
A simulated image of Saturn's rings
Waves and Small Particles in Ring A
Both of Saturn's F-ring shepherd moons are seen in this Cassini spacecraft view, which also features narrow ringlets in the Encke gap at left. Prometheus (102 kilometers, or 63 miles across) is ca...
More
Saturn's F-ring, Prometheus and Pandora
Ring Herders
Saturn's shadow passes over its rings as the Cassini spacecraft looks on in this artist's concept. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech + High Resolution (.jpg, 699 KB) + Highest Resolution (.tif, 24.3 MB)
More
Saturn's shadow passes over its rings as the Cassini spacecraft looks on in this artist's concept.
Cassini at Saturn View 3
This view from NASA's Dawn spacecraft shows terrain on Ceres centered at approximately 34 degrees south latitude, 266 degrees east longitude -- between the large basins named Urvara and Yalode.
More
Dawn LAMO Image 159
Dawn LAMO Image 159
Two Views of Titan's Haze October 28, 2004 Full-Res: PIA06987 These images show two views of Titan's planet-wide stratospheric haze just ...
More
Two Views of Titan's Haze
Two Views of Titan's Haze
This close pairing of Janus and Epimetheus shows the two moons at "high phase," meaning that only a thin sliver of sunlit terrain is visible on each moon. Portions of each are also lit feebly by re...
More
Janus and Epimetheus
Dim Duo
Galileo Galilei's observations that Venus appeared in phases -- similar to those of Earth's Moon -- in our sky was evidence that Venus orbited the sun and contributed to the downfall of the centuri...
More
Galileo Galilei's observations that Venus appeared in phases -- similar to those of Earth's Moon -- in our sky was evidence that Venus orbited the sun and contributed to the downfall of the centuries-old belief that the sun and planets revolved around Earth.
Galileo's Phases of Venus and Other Planets
A full "supermoon" rises near the Lincoln Memorial in 2011.
More
Moon rising behind Washington DC memorial building.
2011 Supermoon Over Lincoln Memorial
Final Assembly at the Cape
More
Final Assembly at the Cape
Final Assembly at the Cape

You Might Also Like