Three Planets in Dawn Skies
8.12.2006

Three children of the Sun rise in the east in this peaceful dawn skyview recorded December 7th near Bolu, Turkey. Inner planet Mercury, fresh from its second transit of the 21st century, stands highest in the bright sky at the top right. Gas giant Jupiter lies below the cloud bank near picture center.

A Dark and Stormy Night
30.10.2003

It was a dark and stormy night. But on August 29th the red planet Mars, near it's closest approach to Earth in almost 60,000 years, shone brightly in the sky against a background of stars in the constellation Aquarius.

Martian Chiaroscuro
28.08.2020

Deep shadows create dramatic contrasts between light and dark in this high-resolution close-up of the martian surface. Recorded on January 24, 2014 by the HiRISE camera on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, the scene spans about 1.5 kilometers.

Mars, Pleiades, and Andromeda over Stone Lions
12.10.2020

Three very different -- and very famous -- objects were all captured in a single frame last month. On the upper left is the bright blue Pleiades, perhaps the most famous cluster of stars on the night sky. The Pleiades (M45) is about 450 light years away and easily found a few degrees from Orion.

APOD: 2024 June 5 Б Shadow of a Martian Robot
4.06.2024

What if you saw your shadow on Mars and it wasn't human? Then you might be the Perseverance rover exploring Mars. Perseverance has been examining the Red Planet since 2021, finding evidence of its complex history of volcanism and ancient flowing water, and sending breathtaking images across the inner Solar System.

Ski Mars
1.04.1999

These brightly reflecting fields of snow or frost are on the slopes of a crater rim in the northern hemisphere of Mars. They are 500 meters or so long and have lasted through about eight months of the Red Planet's spring and summer weather.

Hills Ridges and Tracks on Mars
25.01.2020

Sometimes, even rovers on Mars stop to admire the scenery. Just late last November the Curiosity rover on Mars paused to photograph its impressive surroundings. One thing to admire, straight ahead, was Central Butte, an unusual flat hill studied by Curiosity just a few days before this image was taken.

Mars Panorama from Curiosity
5.03.2020

The Mars Rover named Curiosity recorded high-resolution, 360 degree views of its location on Mars late last year. The panoramic scene was stitched from over 1,000 images from Curiosity's Mast camera or Mastcam.

The Red Planet Mars
29.07.2020

Mars looks pretty sharp in this backyard telescope image captured on July 23 from Hoegaarden, Belgium, planet Earth. The Red Planet's bright south polar cap is bathed in sunlight at the top of the inverted view, while the dark feature known as Syrtis Major extends toward the right (eastern) edge.

Perseverance: Seven Minutes to Mars
15.02.2021

How hard is it to land safely on Mars? So hard that many more attempts have failed than succeeded. The next attempt will be on Thursday. The main problem is that the Martian atmosphere is too thick to ignore -- or it will melt your spacecraft.