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Islands in the Darkness

Islands in the Darkness
Photojournal: PIA15402
Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA
Published: February 27, 2012

This image from NASA's Dawn spacecraft shows a part of Vesta's northern hemisphere, which is mostly in darkness. Since Dawn's arrival at asteroid Vesta the sun has not illuminated Vesta's most northerly latitudes.

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This map-projected view of Ceres was created from images taken by NASA's Dawn spacecraft during its initial approach to the dwarf planet, prior to being captured into orbit in March 2015.
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Dawn's First Color Map of Ceres
Dawn's First Color Map of Ceres
Multiple upper stratospheric haze layers are evident in this ultraviolet view from Cassini looking toward Titan's south pole. The alternating bright and dark bands may be due to differing haze conc...
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Stratospheric haze layers on Titan
Titan's Waves?
Artist's concept of the Dawn spacecraft gathering spectral data from Vesta.
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Dawn Spacecraft Gathering Spectral Data from Vesta (Artist's Concept)
Dawn Spacecraft Gathering Spectral Data from Vesta (Artist's Concept)
This image, taken by NASA's Dawn spacecraft, shows the surface of dwarf planet Ceres at mid-latitudes from an altitude of 915 miles (1,470 kilometers). The image was taken on Sept. 21, 2015, and ha...
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Dawn HAMO Image 45
Dawn HAMO Image 45
This detailed view of Saturn's mid-B ring shows intriguing structure, the cause of which has yet to be explained by ring scientists. The image shows a radial location located between approximately ...
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a closeup of Saturn's B ring
Mysterious B Ring
+ View Labeled Version This image collage features Saturn and the moons Titan, Enceladus, Dione, Rhea and Helene, which will be studied in the extended mission. Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Ins...
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Image collage featuring Saturn and the moons Titan, Enceladus, Dione, Rhea and Helene
Saturn Moon Collage
This set of enhanced-color maps made from data obtained by NASA's Cassini spacecraft show Saturn's moons Mimas, Enceladus, Tethys, Dione and Rhea. The global maps show the colorful splotches and ba...
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This set of enhanced-color maps made from data obtained by NASA's Cassini spacecraft show Saturn's moons Mimas, Enceladus, Tethys, Dione and Rhea.
Enhanced-Color Maps of Saturn Inner Moons
The sun emitted a mid-level solar flare, peaking at 8:13 p.m. EDT on Oct. 1, 2015. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the sun constantly, captured an image of the event. 
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The sun with solar flares
NASA's SDO Sees Sun Emit Mid-Level Flare Oct. 1
Gazing off toward the horizon is thought-provoking no matter what body's horizon it is.
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Rhea
Rhea's Horizon
This mosaic of NAC images shows the impact crater Hokusai, located on Mercury at a latitude of 58°N. 
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The Hokusai Crater on the planet Mercury
The Impressive Rays of Hokusai
This montage of images, made from data obtained by Cassini's visual and infrared mapping spectrometer, shows the location on Saturn where the NASA spacecraft entered Saturn's atmosphere on Sept. 15...
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Color enhanced image of Saturn clouds
Impact Site: Infrared Image
A great vortex, ringed by bright clouds, rolls through the southern skies of Saturn in this Cassini spacecraft view. The image was taken using a spectral filter sensitive to wavelengths of infrare...
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Saturn
Stormy Spot
This artist's concept illustrates how charged water particles flow into the Saturnian atmosphere from the planet's rings, causing a reduction in atmospheric brightness. The observations were made w...
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This artist's concept illustrates how charged water particles flow into the Saturnian atmosphere from the planet's rings, causing a reduction in atmospheric brightness.
Saturn's Ring 'Rain'
This image from NASA's Dawn spacecraft shows the rim of Occator crater, just east of the area containing the brightest spots on Ceres. The crater rim has collapsed, leaving structures geologists re...
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Dawn LAMO Image 87
Dawn LAMO Image 87
Dwarfed by Storms November 19, 2004 Full-Res: PIA06524 Tiny Mimas is dwarfed by a huge white storm and dark waves on the edge of a...
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Dwarfed by Storms
Dwarfed by Storms
A bright streak of cloud graces the northern skies of Titan. This is the second time the Cassini spacecraft's imaging cameras have spotted clouds at 60 degrees north latitude on Titan -- the prev...
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Titan
Alien Weather
Saturn's moon Tethys shows off its tortured surface in this Cassini spacecraft image. On the top left of the image there is huge Odysseus Crater. See The Great Basin for a closer view. On the bott...
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Saturn's moon Tethys
Scarred Moon
NASA's Cassini spacecraft looks toward the night side of Saturn's largest moon and sees sunlight scattering through the periphery of Titan's atmosphere and forming a ring of color.
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Photo of the night side of Titan
A Ring of Color
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Artist's rendering of the Nov. 11 Enceladus flyby
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This image depicts the dwarf planet Ceres, as seen from the Dawn spacecraft. It was taken 147,000 miles (237,000 kilometers) from Ceres on January 25, 2015, is part of a series of views representin...
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Ceres Sharper Than Ever (Zoomed Out View)
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The Cassini spacecraft looks toward high northern latitudes on Saturn and the wild cloud forms that swirl there. The view was taken from about 23 degrees above the ringplane and looks toward the u...
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Saturn
Over Your Head
A close inspection of this image reveals that there is more of Saturn's moon Tethys here than is apparent at first glance. A slim crescent is all that is visible of the moon's sunlit side, but the ...
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This view shows principally the Saturn-facing hemisphere of Tethys; north is up.
Tethys in the Dark
+ View False Color Version Ligeia Mare, shown here in a false-color image from NASA's Cassini mission, is the second largest known body of liquid on Saturn's moon Titan. It is filled with liquid ...
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Ligeia Mare on Titan
Vast Ligeia Mare (black and white mosaic)
Saturn's rings cut across an eerie scene that is ruled by Titan's luminous crescent and globe-encircling haze, broken by the small moon Enceladus, whose icy jets are dimly visible at its south pole...
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Saturn's ring, Titan and Enceladus
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Comet Tempel 1 just 67 seconds after it obliterated Deep Impact's impactor spacecraft.
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Comet nucleus illuminated by a bright flash of white light.
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