Car Orbiting Earth
13.02.2018

Last week, a car orbited the Earth. The car, created by humans and robots on the Earth, was launched by the SpaceX Company to demonstrate the ability of its Falcon Heavy Rocket to place spacecraft out in the Solar System.

MESSENGER at Mercury
31.03.2011

On March 17, the MESSENGER spacecraft became the first to orbit Mercury, the solar system's innermost planet. This is its first processed color image since entering Mercury orbit. Larger, denser, and with almost twice the surface gravity of Earth's moon, Mercury still looks moon-like at first glance.

Leonids from Orbit
29.11.2000

Here is what a meteor shower looks like from orbit. During the peak of the 1997 Leonid Meteor Shower, the MSX satellite imaged from above 29 meteors over a 48 minute period entering the Earth's atmosphere. From above, meteors create short bright streaks.

Comet Hyakutake's Orbit
14.03.1996

Where did Comet Hyakutake come from? The orbits of the Earth and this brightening comet are shown in the above diagram. The blue disk is bounded by the circular orbit of the Earth about the central Sun. The comet's path outlines the green shape.

Compton Returns
7.03.2001

On 2000 June 4, the 17-ton Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory returned to Earth after 9 years in orbit -- ending its remarkable voyage of discovery. The massive, bus-sized spacecraft carried an unprecedented array of gamma-ray detectors which explored the bizarre, high-energy universe of solar flares, black holes, pulsars, supernovae, active galaxies, and gamma-ray bursts.

A Space Shuttle Climbs to Orbit
13.07.2006

You are going into space. New small cameras allow anyone with a web browser to virtually ride along with the space shuttle, at times from numerous angles, as it launches into Earth orbit. Small...

APOD: 2004 August 27- The Sedna Scenario
27.08.2004

The discovery of Sedna (aka 2003 VB12), the most distant known object orbiting the Sun, presents a mystery. Pluto's orbit averages about 40 AU in radius, where an AU (Astronomical Unit) is the Earth-Sun distance.

Eros At Sunset
24.08.2000

Gleaming in the rays of the setting sun, boulders litter the rugged surface of asteroid 433 Eros. The brightest boulder, at the edge of the large, shadowy crater near this picture's bottom center, is about 30 meters (100 feet) across.

Cold Comet Halley
3.10.2003

While this may not be the most esthetic image of Comet Halley that you have ever seen, it is likely the most unique. The tiny cluster of pixels circled is the famous comet along...

Astro 1 In Orbit
20.02.1999

In December of 1990, the Space Shuttle Columbia carried an array of astronomical telescopes high above the Earth's obscuring atmosphere to observe the Universe at ultraviolet and x-ray wavelengths. The telescopes, known...