News Release Archive: Solar System

2009

• 10/9/2009 STScI-2009-26 1. Hubble Observes LCROSS Impact Event NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has made a series of observations immediately preceding and following the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) Centaur... (More)
• 9/9/2009 STScI-2009-25 2. Hubble Opens New Eyes on the Universe NASA's Hubble Space Telescope is back in business, ready to uncover new worlds, peer ever deeper into space, and even map the invisible backbone of the universe. (More)
• 7/24/2009 STScI-2009-23 3. Hubble Captures Rare Jupiter Collision NASA scientists have interrupted the checkout and calibration of the Hubble Space Telescope to aim the recently refurbished observatory at a new expanding spot on the giant planet Jupiter. (More)
• 3/17/2009 STScI-2009-12 4. Quadruple Saturn Moon Transit Snapped by Hubble Saturn's comparatively paper-thin rings are tilted edge on to Earth every 15 years. Because the orbits of Saturn's major satellites are in the ring plane, too, this alignment... (More)

2008

• 12/18/2008 STScI-2008-42 5. Hubble Catches Jupiter's Largest Moon Going to the 'Dark Side' NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has caught Jupiter's moon Ganymede playing a game of "peek-a-boo." In this crisp Hubble image, Ganymede... (More)
• 7/17/2008 STScI-2008-27 6. Three Red Spots Mix it Up on Jupiter This sequence of Hubble Space Telescope images offers an unprecedented view of a planetary game of Pac-Man among three red spots clustered together in Jupiter's atmosphere. (More)
• 5/22/2008 STScI-2008-23 7. New Red Spot Appears on Jupiter In what's beginning to look like a case of planetary measles, a third red spot has appeared alongside its cousins — the Great Red Spot and Red Spot Jr. — in the turbulent... (More)
• 1/23/2008 STScI-2008-06 8. Internal Heat Drives Jupiter's Giant Storm Eruption Detailed analysis of two continent-sized storms that erupted in Jupiter's atmosphere in March 2007 shows that Jupiter's internal heat plays a significant role in generating... (More)

2007

• 12/18/2007 STScI-2007-45 9. Mars: Closest Approach 2007 NASA's Hubble Space Telescope took this close-up of the red planet Mars when it was just 55 million miles – 88 million kilometers – away. This color image was assembled from a series of exposures... (More)
• 11/15/2007 STScI-2007-40 10. Hubble Zooms In on Heart of Mystery Comet NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has probed the bright core of Comet 17P/Holmes, which, to the delight of sky watchers, mysteriously brightened by nearly a millionfold... (More)
• 8/23/2007 STScI-2007-32 11. Going, Going, Gone: Hubble Captures Uranus's Rings on Edge This series of images from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope shows how the ring system around the distant planet Uranus appears at ever more oblique (shallower)... (More)
• 6/28/2007 STScI-2007-25 12. Hubble Catches Jupiter Changing Its Stripes Massive Jupiter is undergoing dramatic atmospheric changes that have never been seen before with the keen "eye" of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. (More)
• 6/20/2007 STScI-2007-27 13. Hubble Images of Asteroids Help Astronomers Prepare for Spacecraft Visit These Hubble Space Telescope images of Vesta and Ceres show two of the most massive asteroids in the asteroid belt, a region between Mars and Jupiter. (More)
• 6/14/2007 STScI-2007-24 14. Astronomers Measure Mass of Largest Dwarf Planet NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has teamed up with the W.M. Keck Observatory to precisely measure the mass of Eris, the largest member of a new class of dwarf planets... (More)
• 3/20/2007 STScI-2007-13 15. Saturn Stars in Three Hubble Movies Photogenic Saturn has now become a movie star. Astronomers have woven NASA Hubble Space Telescope images of Saturn, its rings, and several of its moons into three movies. (More)
• 3/1/2007 STScI-2007-11 16. Hubble Monitors Jupiter in Support of the New Horizons Flyby NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has recently taken images of Jupiter in support of the New Horizons Mission. The images were taken with Hubble's... (More)

2006

• 9/28/2006 STScI-2006-47 17. Hubble Discovers Dark Cloud in the Atmosphere of Uranus Just as we near the end of the hurricane season in the Atlantic Ocean, winds whirl and clouds churn 2 billion miles away in the atmosphere of Uranus, forming... (More)
• 8/31/2006 STScI-2006-42 18. Hubble Captures a Rare Eclipse on Uranus This NASA Hubble Space Telescope image is a never-before-seen astronomical alignment of a moon traversing the face of Uranus, and its accompanying shadow. (More)
• 6/22/2006 STScI-2006-29 19. Pluto's Two Small Moons Officially Named Nix and Hydra A pair of small moons that NASA's Hubble Space Telescope discovered orbiting Pluto now have official names: Nix and Hydra. Photographed... (More)
• 5/4/2006 STScI-2006-19 20. Hubble Snaps Baby Pictures of Jupiter's "Red Spot Jr." NASA's Hubble Space Telescope is giving astronomers their most detailed view yet of a second red spot emerging on Jupiter. For the first time in history, astronomers... (More)
• 4/27/2006 STScI-2006-18 21. Hubble Provides Spectacular Detail of a Comet's Breakup Hubble Space Telescope is providing astronomers with extraordinary views of Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3. The fragile comet is rapidly disintegrating as it approaches... (More)
• 4/11/2006 STScI-2006-16 22. Hubble Finds 'Tenth Planet' is Slightly Larger than Pluto NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has resolved the "tenth planet," nicknamed "Xena," for the first time and has found... (More)
• 3/10/2006 STScI-2006-15 23. Hubble's Latest Look at Pluto's Moons Supports a Common Birth The latest NASA Hubble Space Telescope images of Pluto's two newly discovered satellites reveal that the new moons have the same color as Charon. (More)
• 2/22/2006 STScI-2006-09 24. Hubble Confirms New Moons of Pluto Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have confirmed the presence of two new moons around the distant planet Pluto. The moons were first discovered... (More)

2005

• 12/22/2005 STScI-2005-33 25. NASA's Hubble Discovers New Rings and Moons Around Uranus Even though the Voyager 2 spacecraft paid a close-up visit to Uranus in 1986, the distant planet continues revealing surprises... (More)
• 11/3/2005 STScI-2005-34 26. Mars Kicks Up the Dust as it Makes Closest Approach to Earth NASA's Hubble Space Telescope snapped this picture of Mars on October 28, within a day of its closest approach... (More)
• 10/31/2005 STScI-2005-19 27. NASA's Hubble Reveals Possible New Moons Around Pluto NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has spotted two possible new moons orbiting Pluto, the ninth planet in our solar system. If confirmed, the candidate moons could provide... (More)
• 10/19/2005 STScI-2005-29 28. NASA's Hubble Looks for Possible Moon Resources NASA has enlisted the Hubble Space Telescope's unique "vision" capabilities for making a new class of science observations of the Moon that support future human exploration. (More)
• 9/7/2005 STScI-2005-27 29. Largest Asteroid May Be 'Mini Planet' with Water Ice Observations of Ceres, the largest known asteroid, have revealed that the object may be a "mini planet," sharing many characteristics of the rocky, terrestrial... (More)
• 9/1/2005 STScI-2005-22 30. Hubble Makes Movie of Neptune's Dynamic Atmosphere NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captures the distant blue-green world, Neptune, and its satellites in this portrait. Astronomers used Hubble’s assortment of filters to pinpoint... (More)
• 7/4/2005 STScI-2005-17 31. Hubble Captures Deep Impact's Collision with Comet NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured the dramatic effects of the collision early July 4 between an 820-pound projectile released by the Deep Impact spacecraft... (More)
• 6/27/2005 STScI-2005-16 32. Hubble Captures Outburst from Comet Targeted By Deep Impact In a dress rehearsal for the rendezvous between NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft and comet 9P/Tempel 1, the Hubble Space Telescope captured dramatic... (More)
• 6/2/2005 STScI-2005-18 33. NASA's Space Eyes Focus on Deep Impact Target On July 4, NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft will attempt an extraordinarily daring encounter with the far-flung comet Tempel 1 hurtling through space at tens of thousands... (More)
• 2/16/2005 STScI-2005-06 34. Saturn's Auroras Defy Scientists' Expectations The dancing light of the auroras on Saturn behaves in ways different from how scientists have thought possible for the last 25 years. New research by a team of astronomers... (More)

2004

• 11/11/2004 STScI-2004-31 35. Hubble Tracks Asteroid's Sky Trek While analyzing NASA Hubble Space Telescope images of the Sagittarius dwarf irregular galaxy (SagDIG), an international team of astronomers led by Simone Marchi, Yazan Momany... (More)
• 11/4/2004 STScI-2004-30 36. Hubble Spots Rare Triple Eclipse on Jupiter At first glance, Jupiter looks like it has a mild case of the measles. Five spots – one colored white, one blue, and three black – are scattered... (More)
• 6/17/2004 STScI-2004-52 37. A Really Neat Close-up of Comet NEAT from Kitt Peak Observatory This image of comet C/2001 Q4 (NEAT) was taken at the WIYN 0.9-meter telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tucson... (More)
• 5/26/2004 STScI-2004-18 38. Saturn Seen from Far and Near As Saturn grows closer through the eyes of the Cassini spacecraft, which is hurtling toward a rendezvous with the ringed world on June 30 (July 1, Universal Time), both Cassini... (More)
• 4/14/2004 STScI-2004-14 39. Hubble Observes Planetoid Sedna, Mystery Deepens Astronomers poring over 35 NASA Hubble Space Telescope images of the solar system's farthest known object, unofficially named Sedna, are surprised... (More)
• 1/22/2004 STScI-2004-05 40. The Colorful Lives of the Outer Planets Atmospheric features on Uranus and Neptune are revealed in images taken with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph and the Advanced Camera for Surveys... (More)

2003

• 9/25/2003 STScI-2003-29 41. Hubble Uncovers Smallest Moons Yet Seen Around Uranus Astronomers have discovered two of the smallest moons yet found around Uranus. The new moons, uncovered by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope... (More)
• 9/9/2003 STScI-2003-23 42. The Slant on Saturn's Rings This is a series of images of Saturn, as seen at many different wavelengths, when the planet's rings were at their maximum tilt of 27 degrees toward Earth. Saturn experiences seasonal... (More)
• 9/6/2003 STScI-2003-25 43. Farthest, Faintest Solar System Objects Found Beyond Neptune Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have discovered three of the faintest and smallest objects ever detected beyond Neptune. (More)
• 9/5/2003 STScI-2003-26 44. Hubble Assists Rosetta Comet Mission Results from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope played a major role in preparing ESA's ambitious Rosetta mission for its new target, comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (67P/C-G). (More)
• 8/27/2003 STScI-2003-22 45. Mars: Closest Encounter These two images, taken 11 hours apart with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, reveal two nearly opposite sides of Mars. Hubble snapped these photos as the red planet was making its closest approach... (More)
• 5/15/2003 STScI-2003-17 46. Brighter Neptune Suggests a Planetary Change of Seasons Springtime is blooming on Neptune! This might sound like an oxymoron because Neptune is the farthest and coldest of the major planets. But observations... (More)

2002

• 10/7/2002 STScI-2002-17 47. Hubble Spots an Icy World Far Beyond Pluto NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has measured the largest object discovered in the solar system since the discovery of Pluto 72 years ago. Approximately... (More)
• 4/17/2002 STScI-2002-04 48. Hubble Hunts Down Binary Objects at the Fringe of Our Solar System The Hubble Space Telescope is hot on the trail of a puzzling new class of solar system object that might be called a Pluto "mini-me."... (More)

2001

• 10/11/2001 STScI-2001-31 49. Scientists Track "Perfect Storm" on Mars A pair of eagle-eyed NASA spacecraft — the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) and Hubble Space Telescope — are giving amazed astronomers a ringside seat to the biggest... (More)
• 7/5/2001 STScI-2001-24 50. Hubble Captures Best View of Mars Ever Obtained From Earth Frosty white water ice clouds and swirling orange dust storms above a vivid rusty landscape reveal Mars as a dynamic planet in this sharpest... (More)