A NASA probe has begun beaming back stunning new images from its successful second flyby of Mercury, the planet closest to the sun. NASA's MESSENGER probe captured never-before-seen views of the Mercury during its encounter on Monday. picked by AutumnLotus 1 year ago

The planet-seeking Kepler spacecraft has beamed home its first images of a patch of the sky where NASA hopes to find Earth-like planets circling distant, alien stars. picked by AutumnLotus 8 months ago

A whole new side of Mercury has been revealed in pictures taken by NASA's MESSENGER probe, which flew by the tiny planet two weeks ago in the first mission to Mercury in more than three decades. The photos, released today, include one of a feature the scientists informally call "the spider," which appears to be an impact crater surrounded by more than 50 cracks in the surface radiating f... read full post picked by AutumnLotus 2 years ago

The first spacecraft to visit Mercury in more than three decades will get its first close-up look at its target on Monday, when it flies within 200 kilometers of the planet's Sun-baked surface.
Pictures, movies, and other goodies are here. picked by 2manyusernames 2 years ago

Craters come in all shapes and sizes, some more bizarre than others. Recent photos of Mercury have revealed two new categories of crater that scientists are puzzling over how to explain. When NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft flew by the planet Jan. 14 it snapped pictures of several craters with strange dark halos and one crater with a spectacularly shiny bottom. picked by AutumnLotus 2 years ago

The planet Mercury we were led to believe in, a cold, dark and dead place, is the furthest thing from the truth. NASA's Messenger orbiter is sending thrilling details of a vibrantly active globe filled with magnetic tornadoes, gigantic volcanoes and something called a plasma funnel that I cannot wait to find out more about. picked by equinox 7 months ago

As spacecraft began to launch on journeys to more distant planets, never to return, their mission controllers often commanded them to take departing views of Earth and the Moon. Mariner 10 and Voyager 1 both took such snapshots, as did Mars Odyssey, Venus Express, and many others. picked by AutumnLotus 2 years ago

The US space agency's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft has returned its first images since reaching the Moon on 23 June.

The probe's two cameras returned images of a region in the lunar highlands south of Mare Nubium (Sea of Clouds). picked by AutumnLotus 5 months ago

The solar system's smallest planet has been shrinking at an unexpected rate, researchers announced on Thursday.

When NASA's Mariner 10 probe flew by Mercury in 1974 and 1975, it returned images of strange cliffs called 'scarps' that cut across all sorts of geological formations. That suggested that the planet's surface has contracted over time. picked by AutumnLotus 1 year ago

The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory is sending a spacecraft closer to the sun than any probe has ever gone – and what it finds could revolutionize what we know about our star and the solar wind that influences everything in our solar system. picked by AutumnLotus 2 years ago

Using the Sun Earth Connection Coronal and Heliospheric Investigation (SECCHI) instruments on board NASA's Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) spacecraft, a consortium of scientists has seen, for the first time, large waves of solar material sweeping past Earth. picked by AutumnLotus 2 years ago

NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) spacecraft has made the first observations of very fast hydrogen atoms coming from the moon, following decades of speculation and searching for their existence. picked by AutumnLotus 5 months ago

The Saturn probe Cassini has snapped a new set of haunting photographs of the ringed gas giant as it circles the planet from some 846,000 miles out. picked by AutumnLotus 7 months ago

MESSENGER's two flybys of Mercury in 2008 have greatly increased the portion of the planet's surface that has been imaged by spacecraft, from approximately 45% coverage obtained by Mariner 10 to about 90% coverage following the second flyby.

This significant increase in imaging coverage is enabling global studies of Mercury's surface for the first time. picked by AutumnLotus 7 months ago

A Russian Soyuz spacecraft has returned to Earth, but came down more than 400km (250 miles) away from its planned touchdown point, say Russian officials. picked by topofall 2 years ago

Nasa is to launch a spacecraft on a nine-month journey to Mars, where it will dig below the surface for clues to the existence of past or present life. picked by pjanaway 2 years ago

Science fiction may soon become science fact. Astronomers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory have recently concluded that the upcoming planet-finding mission, SIM PlanetQuest, would be able to detect an Earth-like planet around the star 40 Eridani, a planet familiar to "Star Trek" fans as "Vulcan." picked by AutumnLotus 3 years ago

In 1977, NASA launched the Voyager spacecraft with a gold record containing sounds and images that portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth. A look back at those images makes me think we would do it differently today. You can view and hear more of the contents here. picked by BrownTrout 3 years ago

Researchers from Japan’s ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories have developed new brain analysis technology that can reconstruct the images inside a person’s mind and display them on a computer monitor, it was announced on December 11. picked by muppet 12 months ago

Newly reprocessed images of the Moon's far side taken by Soviet spacecraft more than 40 years ago may have confirmed that the Moon's biggest impact scar was glimpsed far earlier than previously thought. picked by AutumnLotus 3 years ago