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Learn about planets outside our solar system through Exoplanets and Alien Solar Systems by Tahir Yaqoob, Ph.D., a book in our online store book collection.

Space Missions

The spinning vortex of <a href="https://www.windows2universe.org/saturn/saturn.html">Saturn</a>'s north polar storm resembles a giant deep red rose surrounded by green foliage in this false-color <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/multimedia/pia14944.html">image</a> from NASA's <a href="https://www.windows2universe.org/missions/cassini.html">Cassini spacecraft</a>. The eye is 2,000 kilometers across with cloud speeds as fast as 150 meters per second.
It is not known how long this newly discovered north-polar <a href="https://www.windows2universe.org/earth/Atmosphere/hurricane/hurricane.html">hurricane</a> has been active.
The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 419,000 kilometers from Saturn.<p><small><em>NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI</em></small></p>

According to <a href="http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-277">NASA scientists</a>, the Voyager 1 spacecraft entered interstellar space in August 2012, becoming the first spacecraft to leave the <a href="/our_solar_system/solar_system.html&edu=elem">solar system</a>. The space probe is about 19 billion km from the <a href="/sun/sun.html&edu=elem">Sun</a>. <a href="/space_missions/voyager.html&edu=elem">Voyager 1 and 2</a> were launched in 1977 on a <a href="/space_missions/voyager.html&edu=elem">mission</a> that flew them both by <a href="/jupiter/jupiter.html&edu=elem">Jupiter</a> and <a href="/saturn/saturn.html&edu=elem">Saturn</a>, with Voyager 2 continuing to <a href="/uranus/uranus.html&edu=elem">Uranus</a> and <a href="/neptune/neptune.html&edu=elem">Neptune</a>. Voyager 2 is the longest continuously operated spacecraft. It is about 15 billion km away from the <a href="/sun/sun.html&edu=elem">Sun</a>.<p><small><em>Image courtesy of NASA</em></small></p>

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Explore Space Missions

Space Exploration

For as long as there have been people on Earth, we have looked up at the sky and wondered ...Read more

Human Spaceflight

It was not long after the first space satellites were launched that we succeeded in getting ...Read more

Satellites and Robotic Spacecraft

Satellites and robot spacecraft are important to space exploration. They let us explore space ...Read more

Space Missions Links

These are links to other great web sites about Space Missions. But beware: you don't want ...Read more

Tours

Take off on an Exploratour! Click on one of the many tours listed below to follow a guided ...Read more

Historical Events

3/3 F5 "Candlestick Park" tornado hits Jackson, Mississippi in 1966

3/9 Earthquake with magnitude 8.6 hits Andreanof, Alaska in 1957

3/13 William Herschel discovered Uranus on this date in 1781 Details

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Did you know?

Did you know that most of the matter in the universe is in the plasma state?

Did you know that different cultures imagined different constellations, based on their own cultural context?

Earth and Space Science Concept of the Day

Do you know what this word or phrase means?

Subduction zone

xSubduction zone : Subduction is the process of the oceanic lithosphere colliding with and descending beneath the continental lithosphere.

Click on the word to find out!

Research Highlights

Scientists Find Signs of “Snowball Earth” Amidst Early Animal Evolution

Near the Earth’s equator is where you could find some of the warmest places on Earth. But it wasn’t always like that. It used to be cold at the equator, so cold that ice formed on land and in the ocean....Read more

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Windows to the Universe, a project of the National Earth Science Teachers Association, is sponsored in part is sponsored in part through grants from federal agencies (NASA and NOAA), and partnerships with affiliated organizations, including the American Geophysical Union, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Earth System Information Partnership, the American Meteorological Society, the National Center for Science Education, and TERC. The American Geophysical Union and the American Geosciences Institute are Windows to the Universe Founding Partners. NESTA welcomes new Institutional Affiliates in support of our ongoing programs, as well as collaborations on new projects. Contact NESTA for more information.

The source of this material is Windows to the Universe, at http://windows2universe.org/ from the National Earth Science Teachers Association (NESTA). The Website was developed in part with the support of UCAR and NCAR, where it resided from 2000 - 2010. © 2012 National Earth Science Teachers Association. Windows to the Universe® is a registered trademark of NESTA. All Rights Reserved. See our copyright and licenses page for information about how you can use our materials.Site policies and disclaimer.