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Jet Propulsion Laboratory

California Institute of Technology

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California Institute of Technology

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Curiosity Mars Rover Tracks Sunspots

Curiosity is monitoring sunspots on the side of the sun facing away from Earth, during weeks when sun-monitoring spacecraft can't provide that information.Read more

NASA Missions Have Their Eyes Peeled on Pluto

NASA's New Horizons will have the support of other spacecraft during its historic Pluto flyby, with observations from their outposts across the solar system.Read more

Oceans Slowed Global Temperature Rise

A NASA study shows heat has been trapped in the Pacific and Indian oceans. The finding explains the recent slowdown in global temperature rise.Read more

Distant Black Hole Wave Twists Like Giant Whip

Magnetic waves from a black hole are set in motion as if a whip is being cracked.Read more

Searing Sun Seen in X-rays

A bouquet of colors highlights X-rays streaming off our sun.Read more

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What's Happening Now

news

| June 19, 2015

A recent study finds that an Earth-like process may be responsible for creating depressions resembling lakes in the surface of Saturn's moon Titan.

Radar images from NASA's Cassini spacecraft reveal many lakes on Titan's surface

The Mysterious 'Lakes' on Saturn's Moon Titan

video

| July 10, 2015

Mariner 4 was the first spacecraft to fly by Mars and send home close-up images. Find out how the mission changed the way we explore the Red Planet.

Five Ways Mariner 4 Changed Mars Exploration

images

| February 6, 2014

This view of the twilight sky and Martian horizon taken by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover includes Earth as the brightest point of light in the night sky.

Bright 'Evening Star' Seen from Mars is Earth

news

| July 6, 2015

NASA's Dawn spacecraft is healthy and stable, after experiencing an anomaly in the system that controls its orientation.

This artist's concept shows NASA's Dawn spacecraft heading toward the dwarf planet Ceres.

Dawn Holding in Second Mapping Orbit

VideoS

| July 2, 2015

Road trip! This compilation of images from hazard-avoidance cameras on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity between January 2004.

Rover's-Eye View of Marathon on Mars

images

| July 10, 2015

This single frame from a sequence of images shows sunspots as viewed by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover from June 27 to July 8, 2015; the rover was in position to see the opposite side of the sun from the side facing Earth during this period.

Tracking Sunspots from Mars, Summer 2015 (Animation)

news

| July 6, 2015

NASA's Opportunity rover has resumed driving after Mars emerged from behind the sun. Plans call for the rover to examine sites in Marathon Valley during the upcoming winter.

Road trip! This compilation of images from hazard-avoidance cameras on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity

Opportunity Rover's 7th Mars Winter to Include New Study Area

VideoS

| July 1, 2015

Take a grand tour of the Milky Way this month – with binoculars!

What's Up - July 2015

images

| July 10, 2015

An eruption from the surface of the sun is conspicuous in the lower left portion of this July 6, 2015, image from NASA's Earth-orbiting Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO).

Solar Activity Seen at Sunspot Site Tracked by Mars Rover

Missions

JPL is the leading U.S. center for robotic exploration of the solar system, and has 20 spacecraft and 12 major instruments carrying out planetary, Earth science and space-based astronomy missions.

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CLOSE ENCOUNTERS

Asteroid Watch

Detect, track and characterize potentially hazardous asteroids and comets.

Asteroid Watch

In 1998, The NASA Near-Earth Object Program Office was established at JPL to coordinate NASA-sponsored efforts to detect, track and characterize potentially hazardous asteroids and comets that could approach the Earth. The primary computational activities of this Office involve the continuous (and largely automatic) use of new data to update the orbits of Near-Earth objects so that their future orbital paths can be examined for close Earth approaches.

Tour the Cosmos

3-D Exploration

Interact with the entire solar system as you control space and time.

3-D Exploration

Interact with the entire solar system as you control space and time.

Fly along with NASA Satellites

Eyes on the Earth

Learn how we collect critical data about Earth's atmosphere, land and oceans.

Eyes on the Earth

Learn how we collect critical data about Earth's atmosphere, land and oceans.

Search for another Earth

Earthlike Planets

Explore a 3D simulation of all planets discovered around other stars.

Eyes on Exoplanets

Explore a 3D simulation of all planets that have been discovered around other stars.

10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY

Stardust

Celebrating NASA's first comet sample collection.

Celebrating 10 Years

click here to learn more

THE SEARCH FOR ANOTHER EARTH

PlanetQuest

See how astronomers find exoplanets and characterize them.

PlanetQuest's list of "candidate exoplanets" comes from the Kepler mission. Kepler has made thousands of likely exoplanet discoveries, but in order for each planet to be considered "confirmed", its existence has to be verified using other instruments, a process that takes time.

SEE LIGHT YEARS AWAY

Stars and Galaxies

View a whole new universe of dust and stars hidden from Earth-bound eyes.

Stars and Galaxies

The Universe is continually radiating a wealth of information to Earth, sending signals in wide-spectrum of light. However, not all of these messages reach the ground. Because our planet's atmosphere blocks most radiation coming in from space, humans need to launch telescopes beyond it to get a complete cosmic picture.

Create. Upload. Explore.

Infographics

Design and share your creation utilizing our library of data and imagery.

Infographics

What is an infographic? As we see it, an infographic is artwork for your brain. It is a way of taking numbers, spreadsheets and all types of other highly technical data and combining it with interesting images and turning it into a one-page, easily digestible, fun-to-look-at graphic.

VIEW OUR GALACTIC NEIGHBORHOOD

The Solar System

Discover the planets, their moons and other small bodies that orbit our Sun.

The Solar System

The solar system consists of a central star, the Sun, and all of the smaller celestial bodies that continuously travel around it. The smaller bodies include eight planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, which are themselves orbited by more than 140 moons. In addition, the solar system contains millions of rocky asteroids and billions of icy comets as well as giant clouds of dust and gas.

YOUR PLANET IS CHANGING. WE'RE ON IT.

Earth Right Now

Learn more about the vital signs of our changing planet.

Earth Right Now

Earth system science is the study of how scientific data stemming from various fields of research, such as the atmosphere, oceans, land ice and others, fit together to form the current picture of our changing climate. Climate scientists separate factors that affect climate change into three categories: forcings, feedbacks, and tipping points.

THE SEARCH FOR ANOTHER EARTH

PlanetQuest

See how astronomers find exoplanets and characterize them.

The Search for Exoplanets

FOLLOW YOUR CURIOSITY

Mars Exploration

Discovering the possibilities for past or present life on the Red Planet.

Mars Exploration

Among our discoveries about Mars, one stands out above all others: the possible presence of liquid water on Mars, either in its ancient past or preserved in the subsurface today.

Pulses from the Sun

Image of the Day

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Education and Public Events

July 2015 marks the 50th anniversary of Mariner 4, the first spacecraft to successfully fly by the planet Mars.

July 16 & 17

Discovery at Mars

California's history is written in great droughts. As of December 2014, the ongoing California drought has turned more serious.

August 13 & 14

Drought: Are We In or Out?

With thousands of planets now known around other stars, it's natural to wonder why so many planetary systems are quite different from our own.

September 10 & 11

The Birth of Planets Around the Sun and Other Stars

Prior to Dawn's arrival, the dwarf planet Ceres was the largest unexplored world in the inner solar system.

October 8 & 9

Unveiling an Alien World: Dawn at Ceres

Launched in August of 2011, the Juno spacecraft will reach Jupiter in July of 2016.

November 5 & 6

The Juno Mission to Jupiter

The InSight mission to Mars, the twelfth mission in NASA's Discovery Program, will launch in March of 2016, landing six months later in Elysium Planitia.

December 3 & 4

The InSight Mission: Journey to the Center of Mars