Solar System

The diamond ring effect is seen as the moon eclipses the sun over Fort Worth on April 8.

These 15 Photos Show How the 2024 Total Solar Eclipse Captivated the Nation

From Texas to Maine, millions of Americans looked up and were spellbound by the spectacular phenomenon

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Why We Love Eclipses

Two perspectives on the astronomical phenomenon that has fascinated humans for as long as we’ve been watching the skies

The darker areas across Titan's equatorial regions represent its dunes, as taken by the Cassini rover.

Titan's Massive Dunes May Be a Comet and Moon Graveyard From the Early Solar System

A new modeling study suggests the dark dunes on Saturn's largest moon are made of tiny particles created by crashing comets and moonlets billions of years ago

Mars' orbit has an impact on Earth's oceans and climate in cycles of 2.4 million years, new research finds.

Mars Has an Unexpected Influence on Earth's Oceans and Climate, Repeating Every 2.4 Million Years, Study Finds

The gravitational interactions between Mars and Earth as they orbit the sun may have periodically promoted a warmer climate and changes in ocean circulation on our home planet

Roughly every 71 years, the bright periodic comet 12P/Pons-Brooks passes by the sun and Earth. At its brightest, it can be seen with the naked eye in fairly dark skies.

You Can See a Rare, Bright Comet This Month. Will It Be Visible During the Solar Eclipse?

Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks is a frigid, volcanic ice ball that won’t pass near Earth again until 2095

Europa’s icy surface hides an ocean of liquid water underneath, making it a prime target in the search for extraterrestrial life.

See the Messages NASA Will Send to Space on Its Upcoming Mission to Europa

A metal plate affixed to the Europa Clipper is engraved with a poem, tributes to scientists and waveforms representing the word "water" in 103 languages, among other drawings

An artist's rendition of the Europa Clipper mission, set to launch to Europa in October. The mission could provide new insights about the life-supporting potential of the moon, which hosts a massive saltwater ocean beneath its icy surface.

Jupiter's Moon Europa May Have Less Oxygen Than Previously Thought

The new findings could have implications for whether Europa's vast ocean contains the conditions necessary to support life

Data from the retired Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), a joint venture between NASA and the German Space Agency, led scientists to their discovery.

Scientists Detect Water on the Surface of Asteroids for the First Time Ever

Using data from a retired NASA mission, researchers identified unique signs of water molecules on two space rocks, unlocking new insight into how water may have arrived on Earth

Phobos passes across the sun's surface on February 8, as captured by NASA's Perseverance rover.

What Does a Solar Eclipse on Mars Look Like? New, Breathtaking Images, Caught by NASA's Perseverance Rover, Give Us an Idea

The robot recently observed each of the Red Planet’s moons passing across the sun in the Martian sky

NASA’s Mariner 10 spacecraft captured this view of Venus. The world has blistering surface temperatures, crushing atmospheric pressure and clouds of corrosive acid.

The Six Most Amazing Discoveries We’ve Made by Exploring Venus

Our sister planet’s cloudy exterior gave it an aura of mystery—until humanity developed the technology to probe past the veil

Researchers pose with a fragment of asteroid 2024 BX1 they found in Germany. The rock is a very rare type of meteorite called an aubrite.

A 'Very Rare' Kind of Space Rock Fell in Germany—and Scientists Recovered the Pieces

Analyses revealed the asteroid was an “aubrite,” a classification that applies to only 80 of 70,000 previously found meteorite fragments

Io, Jupiter's third-largest moon, photographed by NASA's Juno spacecraft.

See Detailed New Images of Io From Another NASA Flyby of the Solar System's Most Volcanic World

The stunning views show lava flows and volcanic plumes, as scientists seek to learn what causes such volatile conditions on the moon of Jupiter

A photo of Ingenuity taken by the Perseverance rover in April 2023. The helicopter arrived on Mars attached to Perseverance in February 2021.

NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Has Taken Its Final Flight

Originally designed for up to five flights on Mars, Ingenuity performed 72 over three years, until one of its rotor blades was damaged during landing on January 18

A view of Jupiter's moon Io captured by NASA's Juno spacecraft on December 30, 2023.

NASA Captures Stunning Images of Jupiter's Moon Io on Closest Flyby in 20 Years

The Juno spacecraft's instruments will help scientists better understand volcanic activity on the volatile moon's surface

A photo of Saturn taken by the Hubble Telescope last October. Small dark marks called ring spokes are visible on the planet's left side, just inside the widest black band of space between rings.

What Are These Mysterious Dark 'Spokes' on Saturn's Rings?

A Hubble image highlights the seasonal features, which scientists think could be caused by interactions between the planet's magnetic field and solar wind

Uranus with its rings and moons, showcasing storms and a polar ice cap on the planet. The new Webb image was produced by combining longer and shorter exposures.

See the James Webb Telescope's Stunning New Image of Uranus With Its Rings and Moons Clearer Than Ever

The gleaming ice giant could soon become a top priority for exploration

Saturn's moon Enceladus, represented in a composite of several images taken by NASA's Voyager 2 probe

Life-Sparking Gas Strengthens Evidence That Enceladus, a Moon of Saturn, Could Be Habitable

Evidence of hydrogen cyanide in data from the Cassini spacecraft adds to a growing list of molecules that could, in theory, support life on the icy moon

For the inner four planets in this solar system, each planet orbits the sun three times for every two orbits of the planet immediately to its outside. For the fourth, fifth and sixth planets, they orbit four times for every three orbits of its outer neighbor.

Astronomers Discover Rare Solar System Where Planets Orbit in Mathematical Harmony

The "resonant" planets could provide insight about how such systems form and evolve—and why our own solar system is not synced up

Half a century on, Kohoutek may be due a little more respect. Though it disappointed the media and the public, it proved to be a bonanza for serious scientists.

The 'Comet of the Century' Failed to Impress, but It Wasn't Such a Disaster After All

Highly anticipated before its arrival in late 1973, Kohoutek became an interplanetary punchline. But astronomers may have gotten the last laugh

The OSIRIS-REx sample return capsule (foreground) landed in the Utah desert on September 24, carrying samples collected from the near-Earth asteroid Bennu (background). 

How NASA Captured Asteroid Dust to Find the Origins of Life

The sample of the space rock Bennu that OSIRIS-REx collected could unlock an ancient existential mystery

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