solar system

NASA's New Horizons spacecraft successfully captured images and data as it flew past an object nicknamed Ultima Thule early Tuesday morning, scientists confirmed. But they won't get their first close-up glimpse of the edge of the solar system until Wednesday afternoon.

By Scott Dance

Jan 1, 2019

Three and a half years after exploring Pluto, the New Horizons mission will reach another new frontier in the first hours of 2019. The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory-led mission will fly past a Kuiper Belt object known as Ultima Thule, a pristine remnant of the early universe.

By Scott Dance

Dec 24, 2018

A new analysis by University of Maryland, Baltimore County scientists reveals that the moon's Orientale basin is more than just a big hole.

By Scott Dance

Dec 9, 2016

NASA's Juno mission will give scientists their first close-up look of Jupiter's auroras and the clouds of energetic particles swirling around it.

By Scott Dance

Jul 8, 2016

NASA's New Horizons is headed for 2014 MU69, a small and mysterious object at the edge of the solar system, in a proposed extended mission to follow its successful Pluto fly-by.

By Scott Dance

May 6, 2016

Humankind took one step further into space when New Horizons made its closest visit to Pluto, the last major body in the solar system to be explored.

By Scott Dance

Jul 14, 2015

With Tuesday's Pluto flyby, the United States will have visited every planet and dwarf planet in our solar system, a remarkable accomplishment that no other nation can match.

As NASA's New Horizons mission nears an encounter with Pluto, scientists are getting one never-before-seen look of the dwarf planet after another.

By Scott Dance

Jul 3, 2015

NASA's Messenger mission to Mercury will crash in March, but Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab scientists are collecting valuable detailed data as the spacecraft nears the planet's surface.