Exploration of Celestial Bodies

This cluster features detailed images of moons and asteroids showcasing craters, terrain features, and shadows, set against a dark backdrop.

The Crown of Tethys
The Crown of Tethys
142 assets in this story
6145-44564607
This global color mosaic of Triton, taken in 1989 by NASA's Voyager 2 shows Triton, the largest satellite of Neptune. Triton has the coldest surface known anywhere in the solar system; it is so cold that most of Triton's nitrogen is condensed as frost.
6145-44833766
The Lunar South Pole
6145-44627207
Dark-stained Iapetus
6145-44778472
This impact crater in the high northern latitudes of Mercury was recently named for the Bangladeshi painter Zainul Abedin (1914-1976). Abedin exhibits a complex crater structure with a smooth floor, wall terraces, and a central peak complex.
6145-44846856
This image obtained by NASA's Stardust spacecraft shows a side of the nucleus of comet Tempel 1 that has never been seen before; three terraces of different elevations are visible, with dark, banded scarps, or slopes, separating them.
6145-44632975
Pop-Up Moon (non-stereo version)
4389-2542
Triton, Neptune's Largest Moon
6145-44497994
After passing Mercury the first time and making a trip around the Sun, NASA's Mariner 10 again flew by Mercury on Sept. 21, 1974. This encounter brought the spacecraft in front of Mercury in the southern hemisphere.
6145-44854739
NASA's Cassini spacecraft imaged the surface of Saturn's moon Helene as the it flew by the moon on Jan. 31, 2011. Helene is a 'Trojan' moon of Dione, named for the Trojan asteroids that orbit 60 degrees ahead of and behind Jupiter as it circles the Sun.
6145-45252846
This Cassini image shows predominantly the impact-scarred leading hemisphere of Saturn's icy moon Rhea (1,528 kilometers, or 949 miles across). The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera on Dec. 12, 2004, at a distance of 2 million kilometers (1.2 million miles) from Rhea and at a Sun-Rhea-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 30 degrees. The image scale is about 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) per pixel. The image has been magnified by a factor of two and contrast enhanced to aid visibility. http //photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA06564
6145-44682740
Bright lines creep across the face of Dione. The lines are systems of geologically fresh-looking canyons with bright, icy walls
6145-44627208
Iapetus by Saturn Shine
6145-44505857
Callisto Basin
6145-44546640
NASA's Galileo imaging system captured this picture of the limb of the asteroid 243 Ida about 46 seconds after its closest approach on August 28, 1993, from a range of only 2480 kilometers.
4239R-20480488
December 31, 2004 - Dark-stained Iapetus. This near-true color view from Cassini reveals the colorful and intriguing surface of Saturn's moon Iapetus in unrivaled clarity. The use of color on Iapetus is particularly helpful for discriminating between shadows (which appear black) and the intrinsically dark terrain (which appears brownish). This image shows the northern part of the dark Cassini Regio and the transition zone to a brighter surface at high northern latitudes. Within the transition
6145-44804985
Appearing like the swirls of marble, the wispy terrain of Saturn's moon Dione is captured by NASA's Cassini spacecraft in a dramatic display of light and dark. These wispy features are a system of braided canyons with bright walls.
6145-58967408
Claire de Limb
4389-1074
Stressed Surface of Dione, From Cassini Probe
6145-44633254
Zooming In On Enceladus (Mosaic)
6145-44555778
MGS Approach Image - Elysium Region
6145-44679919
Hyperion's Icy Surface
6145-45062520
Only a sharp and careful eye can make out the subtle variations in Titan's clouds when viewed in visible light by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. This infrared image clearly reveals a band around the Titan's north pole.
6145-44546900
This montage of 14 images (the time order is right to left, bottom to top) shows asterpod Ida as it appeared in the field of view of NASA's Galileo's camera on August 28, 1993.
6145-44570978
The Saturnian Moon Enceladus
6145-45116546
This view shows Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko as seen by the OSIRIS wide-angle camera on ESA's Rosetta spacecraft on September 29, 2016, when Rosetta was at an altitude of 14 miles (23 kilometers).
4128-28575114
Normal mammogram
4389-1953
Small Kuiper Belt Object
6145-44807656
Enceladus Polar Maps - February 2010
6176-66903932
Mosaic image of asteroid Bennu
6145-44699382
Background Planet
6145-44867617
The Terminator is Here - in Color!
6145-58962272
This anaglyph shows a 3-D model of the protoplanet Vesta, using scientists' best guess to date of what the surface of the protoplanet might look like. It was created as part of an exercise for NASA's Dawn mission. 3D glasses are necessary.
6145-45092613
This anaglyph of Ceres is part of a sequence of images taken by NASA's Dawn spacecraft April 24 to 26, 2015, from a distance of 8,500 miles (13,500 kilometers). 3-D glasses are needed to view this image.
6145-45014375
This frame from an animation illustrates the benefits of observing asteroids in infrared light. It begins by showing two artistic interpretations of asteroids up close.
6188-63385927
planet planet Copyright: xZoonar.com/angetax 5594317
6145-44953498
At the Mountains of Madness
6145-44546636
This montage of 11 images taken by NASA's Galileo spacecraft as it flew by the asteroid Gaspra on Oct. 1991, shows Gaspra growing progressively larger in the field of view of Galileo's solid-state imaging camera as the spacecraft approached the asteroid.
6145-44846855
These two images show the different views of comet Tempel 1 seen by NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft (left) and NASA's Stardust spacecraft (right).
6145-44785968
Outlining MESSENGER's New Imaging Coverage
6145-44897660
One Small Collection of Images, Many Giant Strides Forward for MESSENGER
6145-44745937
Departure Mosaics from the Second Mercury Flyby
6145-45257652
The 230-foot (70-meter) DSS-14 antenna at Goldstone, Ca. obtained these radar images of asteroid 2015 TB145 on Oct. 31, 2015.