Mars Express closed in on the intriguing martian moon Phobos at 6:49 CEST on 23 July, flying past at 3 km/s, only 93 km from the moon. The ESA spacecraft’s fly-bys of the moon have returned its most detailed full-disc images ever, also in 3-D, using the High Resolution Stereo Camera on board.
A distinctive hard-surface feature called “Snow Queen” beneath NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander visibly changed sometime between mid-June and mid-July, close-up images from the Robotic Arm Camera show.
NASA’s THEMIS project combines IT with satellite technology and cutting-edge research to give scientists new insights into what causes the undulating lines of glowing color known as the northern lights.
Go outside on a dark, moonless night. Look up. Is it December or January? Check out Betegeuse, glowing dully red at Orion’s shoulder, and Rigel, a laser blue at his knee. A month later, yellow Capella rides high in Auriga. Is it July? Find Vega, a sapphire in Lyra, or Antares, the orange-red heart of Scorpius.
Recent findings raise hopes that Thursday’s Phoenix Mars Mission press conference could reveal big news, insiders say.
That’s no sunspot. It’s the International Space Station (ISS) caught by chance passing in front of the Sun. Sunspots, individually, have a dark central umbra, a lighter surrounding penumbra, and no solar panels.
Earthlings might be scrambling to find liquid hydrocarbons buried in our planet, but Saturn’s moon Titan has plenty to spare. Scientists say that a dark, smooth surface feature spotted on the moon last year is definitely a liquid surface lake filled primarily with ethane.