一艘新的宇宙飞船正在飞往太阳，拍摄太阳南北两极的首批照片。 由欧洲航天局与NASA合作的太阳轨道飞行器（Solar Orbiter）将于美国东部时间2020年2月7日下午11:15从卡纳维拉尔角发射升空。该航天器将利用金星和地球的引力使自己脱离黄道平面——这一区域大致与太阳的赤道平行，所有行星都围绕该区域运行。 “在太阳轨道飞行器之前，所有的太阳成像仪器都在黄道平面内或非常接近黄道平面，”华盛顿特区海军研究实验室的空间科学家罗素·霍华德说，他是太阳轨道飞行器十种仪器之一的首席研究员。“现在，我们可以从上面俯瞰太阳了。” 太阳轨道飞行器高度倾斜轨道的一部分的动画。 来源： ESA/ATG med […]
A multitude of swirling clouds in Jupiter’s dynamic North North Temperate Belt is captured in this image from NASA’s Juno spacecraft. Appearing in the scene are several bright-white “pop-up” clouds as well as an anticyclonic storm, known as a white oval. This color-enhanced image was tak
NASA’s next destination in the solar system is the unique, richly organic world Titan. Advancing our search for the building blocks of life, the Dragonfly mission will fly multiple sorties to sample and examine sites around Saturn’s icy moon. Dragonfly is slated to launch in 2026 and arrive in
此图显示了样本采集地点Nightingale，这是OSIRIS-REx在小行星Bennu上的主要样本收集地点。该图像上覆盖了OSIRIS-REx航天器的图形，以说明该地点的规模。 来源：NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona 编者注：Nightingale陨石坑的大小已于2019年12月12日更正为460英尺（140米）宽。 在对小行星Bennu的巨石散布的表面进行一年的探测之后，领导NASA的第一个小行星样本返回任务的团队正式选择了一个样本收集地点。 起源，光谱解析，资源识别，安全，OSIRIS-REX任务小组得出结论，一个被命名为“Nightingale”的地
左边是1979年3月2日由旅行者1号飞船从290万公里(180万英里)外拍摄的木卫二。下一幅是1979年7月9日旅行者2号飞船近距离接触木卫二时拍摄的彩色图像。右边是木卫二的图像，是由伽利略号飞船在20世纪90年代末拍摄的。 来源：NASA/JPL 40年前，旅行者号宇宙飞船拍摄了木卫二的第一张特写照片，木卫二是木星的79颗卫星之一。这些发现的带褐色的裂缝切割了木卫二表面的冰层，这让木卫二看起来像一个布满血管的眼球。自那以后的几十年里，前往外太阳系的任务已经积累了足够多的关于木卫二的额外信息，使它成为美国国家航空航天局(NASA)搜寻生命的高优先目标。 这颗卫星之所以如此诱人，是因为它可能拥有
This view from NASA’s Juno spacecraft captures colorful, intricate patterns in a jet stream region of Jupiter’s northern hemisphere known as “Jet N3.” Jupiter’s cloud tops do not form a simple, flat surface. Data from Juno helped scientists discover that the swirling ba
Like a drop of dew hanging on a leaf, Tethys appears to be stuck to Saturn’s A and F rings from this perspective in this 2014 image from the Cassini mission. For more than a decade, Cassini shared the wonders of Saturn and its family of icy moons—taking us to astounding worlds where methane ri
This image taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft shows sedimentary rock and sand within Danielson Crater, an impact crater about 42 miles or 67 kilometers in diameter, located in the southwest Arabia Terra region of Mars. The rock was formed millions or billions of years ago when loose
In late August 2019, scientists from NASA’s upcoming Mars 2020 mission joined their counterparts from the joint European-Russian ExoMars mission in an expedition to the Australian Outback, one of the most remote, arid regions on the planet. Both teams came to hone their research techniques bef
Sixteen years ago, NASA launched its Spitzer Space Telescope into orbit around the Sun. Since the observatory launched on Aug. 25, 2003, it has been lifting the veil on the wonders of the cosmos, from our own solar system to faraway galaxies, using infrared light. Spitzer’s primary mission las
