Full Moon, Full Mars
15.12.2022

On December 8 a full Moon and a full Mars were close, both bright and opposite the Sun in planet Earth's sky. In fact Mars was occulted, passing behind the Moon when viewed from some locations across Europe and North America.

Galileo s Europa
20.05.2023

Looping through the Jovian system in the late 1990s, the Galileo spacecraft recorded stunning views of Europa and uncovered evidence that the moon's icy surface likely hides a deep, global ocean. Galileo...

Unusual Rocks in Death Valley
10.04.2002

How did those big rocks end up on that strange terrain? One of the more unusual places here on Earth occurs inside Death Valley, California, USA. There a dried lakebed named Racetrack Playa exists that is almost perfectly flat, with the odd exception of some very large stones, one of which is pictured above.

An Ancient Stream Bank on Mars
2.10.2012

Fresh evidence of an ancient stream has been found on Mars. The robotic rover Curiosity has run across unusual surface features that carry a strong resemblance to stream banks on Earth. Visible in the above image, for example, is a small overhanging rock ledge that was quite possibly created by water erosion beneath.

Potentially Habitable Moons
19.09.2014

For astrobiologists, these may be the four most tantalizing moons in our Solar System. Shown at the same scale, their exploration by interplanetary spacecraft has launched the idea that moons, not just planets, could have environments supporting life.

Craters and Shadows at the Lunar Terminator
22.05.2018

Why does the right part of this image of the Moon stand out? Shadows. The terminator line -- the line between light and dark -- occurs in the featured image so that just over half the Moon's face is illuminated by sunlight.

APOD: 2026 March 31 Б Uranus Largest Moon: Titania
31.03.2026

Titania's tortured terrain is a mix of canyons, cliffs, and craters. NASA's interplanetary robot spacecraft Voyager 2 passed the largest moon of Uranus in 1986 and took the feature picture. That...

Liftoff! Returning to the Moon
2.04.2026

We are one small step closer to returning to the Moon. A new chapter in human exploration began yesterday when NASA's Artemis II launched aboard the Space Launch System (SLS) from Kennedy Space Center. Carrying four astronauts, the Orion spacecraft's planned lunar flyby will be the first in over half a century.

X Ray Moon and X Ray Star
9.09.2000

An x-ray star winks out behind the Moon in these before (left) and after views of a lunar occultation of the galactic x-ray source designated GX5-1. The false color images were made using data from the ROSAT (ROentgen SATellite), orbiting observatory.

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.