The giant star Zeta Ophiuchi, a young, large and hot star located around 370 light-years away, is having a 'shocking' effect on the surrounding dust clouds in this infrared image from NASA's Spitzer S...

NASA's Cassini spacecraft has delivered a glorious view of Saturn, taken while the spacecraft was in Saturn's shadow. The cameras were turned toward Saturn and the sun so that the planet and rings are...

This is a view of the third (left) and fourth (right) trenches made by the 1.6-inch-wide (4-centimeter-wide) scoop on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity in October 2012 and shows some of the details regardin...

NASA's Curiosity rover used its Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) to capture a set of 55 high-resolution images, which were stitched together to create a full-color self-portrait.

This graphic shows results of the first analysis of Martian soil by the CheMin experiment on NASA's Curiosity rover. The image reveals the presence of crystalline feldspar, pyroxenes and olivine mixed...

The mission's science team assessed the bright particles in this scooped pit to be native Martian material rather than spacecraft debris as seen in this image from NASA's Mars rover Curiosity as it co...

Smooth surfaces of windblown sand and dust of the 'Rocknest' area signal an appropriate place for NASA's Curiosity to collect and use the mission's first few scoopfuls of soil.

This image shows where NASA's Curiosity rover aimed two different instruments to study a rock known as 'Jake Matijevic.' The red dots are where ChemCam zapped the rock with its laser.

This image from NASA's Curiosity shows a scoop full of sand and dust lifted by the rover's first use of the scoop on its robotic arm. In the foreground, near bottom of this image, the bright object vi...

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity cut a wheel scuff mark into a wind-formed ripple at the 'Rocknest' site to give researchers a better opportunity to examine the particle-size distribution of the material f...

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity held its MAHLI camera about 10.5 inches (27 centimeters) away from the top of a rock called 'Bathurst Inlet' for a set of eight images combined into this merged-focus view ...

NASA's Curiosity rover found evidence for an ancient, flowing stream on Mars at a few sites, including the rock outcrop pictured here, which the science team has named 'Hottah' after Hottah Lake in Ca...

This image shows the robotic arm of NASA's Mars rover Curiosity with the first rock touched by an instrument on the arm. The rover placed the APXS instrument onto the rock to assess what chemical elem...

This view of Curiosity's deck shows a plaque bearing several signatures of US officials, including that of President Obama and Vice President Biden. The image was taken by the rover's Mars Hand Lens I...

The Cassini spacecraft takes an angled view toward Saturn, showing the southern reaches of the planet with the rings on a dramatic diagonal. The moon Enceladus appears as a small, bright speck in the ...

This map shows the route driven by NASA's Mars rover Curiosity through the 43rd Martian day, or sol, of the rover's mission on Mars (Sept. 19, 2012). The route starts where the rover touched down, a s...

This view of the lower front and underbelly areas of NASA's Mars rover Curiosity combines nine images taken by the rover's MAHLI camera during the 34th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars...

On Sol 32 (Sept. 7, 2012) the Curiosity rover used a camera located on its arm to obtain this self portrait. The MAHLI cover was in the closed position in order to inspect the the dust cover.

The left eye of the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity took this image of the camera on the rover's arm, the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), during the 30th Martian day, or sol, of th...

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity drove about 70 feet (about 21 meters) on the mission's 21st Martian day, or sol (Aug. 30, 2012) and then took images with its Navigation Camera that are combined into this ...