A Visual Guide to the Universe

Surveying NASA's space exploration strategy; although human spaceflight gets the lion's share of publicity, the greatest scientific discoveries in space are the work of planetary probes and space observatories; why this approach pays off.

Exploring the sun in great detail through the multispectral instruments of the Solar Dynamics Observatory; seeing debris from magnetic storms explode into space and then crash back into the sun; learning how these outbursts affect Earth.

Discovering that Mars is a water world whose surface dries up and may once support life; four robotic rovers land on Mars, including the Curiosity rover, which is crawling across the planet searching for clues connected to microbial life forms.

Studying fossil remains of the early solar system, preserved in the rocky debris of the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter; focusing on Vesta, one of the largest asteroids; viewing it close up; how pieces of Vesta fall to Earth as meteorites.

Examining Saturn through the eyes of the Cassini probe, which orbits the ringed planet since 2004; it takes pictures of Saturn's cloud tops, moons and the enigmatic ring system; examining competing theories for the origin of this circular band.

Focusing on the two enigmatic ice worlds of Jupiter's moon Europa and Saturn's moon Enceladus; both may harbor liquid water beneath their icy crusts; weighing the chances that life exists in these underground oceans, despite the extreme cold.