The High-Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) onboard the ESA spacecraft Mars Express obtained images of a region at the end of Mamers Valles, a long, winding valley. The focus is on a circular depression that contains a crater.

The data was obtained on 5 August 2006 with a ground resolution of approximately 14 m/pixel. The images are centred at approximately 39° north and 17° east on the planet.

New observations from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter indicate that the crust and upper mantle of Mars are stiffer and colder than previously thought.

The findings suggest any liquid water that might exist below the planet's surface, and any possible organisms living in that water, would be located deeper than scientists had suspected.

ESA's Venus Express has detected the molecule hydroxyl on another planet for the first time. This detection gives scientists an important new tool to unlock the workings of Venus's dense atmosphere.

Hydroxyl, an important but difficult-to-detect molecule, is made up of a hydrogen and oxygen atom each. It has been found in the upper reaches of the Venusian atmosphere, some 100 km above the surface, by Venus Express's Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer, VIRTIS.

Mawrth Vallis is located to the south of Acidalia Planitia and to the east of Tiu Valles. One of the oldest channels on Mars, Mawrth Vallis cuts through the ancient cratered terrain of western Arabia Terra and is part of the Chryse Planitia basin.

Mawrth Vallis holds special interest to scientist studying Mars. In 2005 the OMEGA spectrometer on board the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter discovered phyllosilicates in Mawrth Vallis.

Even in the clearest, bluest sky on Earth, there is still water vapour in our atmosphere. If you could condense all the water vapour out of the atmosphere above you, it would form a layer of water two centimetres deep.

On Mars today, there is also water vapour in the atmosphere but it would create a layer just 10 micrometres thick.

The following new images taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft are now available:

• Slope Streaks in the Olympus Mons Aureole
  Slope streaks are features commonly found throughout the equatorial regions of Mars, particularly in areas where there is a great amount of dust accumulation.


• Wrinkle Ridge in Hesperia Planum
  This observation shows a wrinkle ridge in Hesperia Planum.


• Light-Toned Rocks Exposed inside Crater
  This observation shows a portion of an approximately 30 kilometer diameter impact crater located to the south of Valles Marineris.


• Meridiani Region Layers and Phyllosilicates
  This observation was taken in Miyamoto Crater in southwest Meridiani, an area near the equator of Mars.


• Catastrophic Flood Channel of Ares Valles
  This image, captured on 27 March 2008, reveals unprecedented detail of an enigmatic feature on the Martian surface.


• Well Preserved Impact Crater of Alba Patera
  This image shows a central swath of a well preserved crater on the volcano Alba Patera.

Curved features on Jupiter's moon Europa may indicate that its poles have wandered by almost 90°, report scientists from the Carnegie Institution, Lunar and Planetary Institute, and University of California, Santa Cruz in the 15 May issue of Nature.

Such an extreme shift suggests the existence of an internal liquid ocean beneath the icy crust, which could help build the case for Europa as possible habitat for extraterrestrial life.

The most recent supernova in our galaxy has been discovered by tracking the rapid expansion of its remains.

This result, using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory's Very Large Array, will help improve our understanding of how often supernovae explode in the Milky Way galaxy.

NASA's Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope, or GLAST, is receiving finishing touches at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, near the beaches of eastern central Florida for its launch. The spacecraft is set for launch aboard a Delta II rocket no earlier than June 3. The launch window runs from 15:45 to 17:40 UTC.

Housed at the Astrotech Facility located near the Kennedy Space Center, Fla., GLAST is getting a lot of attention from engineers and scientists, from sun shades to thermal blankets, to final inspection.

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander is preparing to end its long journey and begin a three-month mission to taste and sniff fistfuls of Martian soil and buried ice. The lander is scheduled to touch down on the Red Planet May 25.

Phoenix will enter the top of the Martian atmosphere at almost 21,000 km/h (almost 13,000 mph). In seven minutes, the spacecraft must complete a challenging sequence of events to slow to about 8 km/h (5 mph) before its three legs reach the ground. Confirmation of the landing could come as early as 23:53 UTC.

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander continues on course for its May 25 arrival at Mars.

After targeting its certified landing site with a trajectory, or flight path, correction maneuver on April 10, the spacecraft's performance has been stable enough for the mission's operators to forgo the scheduled opportunity for an additional trajectory correction maneuver on May 10 and focus on the next such opportunity, on May 17.

When NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander descends to the surface of the Red Planet on May 25, few will be watching as closely as the men and women who have spent years planning, analyzing and conducting tests to prepare for the dramatic and nerve-wracking event known as EDL - Entry, Descent and Landing.

For after all their hard work, they know that landing on Mars is not a walk in the park. Less than 50 percent of all previous lander missions have made it safely to the surface.

The following new images taken by the Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS) on the Cassini spacecraft are now available:

• Saturn's Watch Spiral (Released 5 May 2008)
  Spiral density waves in Saturn's A ring reveal the gravitational signatures of distant moons as they subtly tug on the countless particles orbiting in the ring plane.
  


• Ancient Plains of Rhea (Released 6 May 2008)
  Densely cratered plains cover the ancient surface of Saturn's moon Rhea.
  


• Dark Boundary (Released 7 May 2008)
  Saturn's semitransparent rings arc smoothly around the gas giant, abruptly disappearing where they pass through the planet's shadow.
  


• Moons that Pass in the Night (Released 8 May 2008)
  Two of Saturn's ring moons draw close momentarily, before the inner of the pair moves off alone.
  


• South on Rhea (Released 9 May 2008)
  The Cassini spacecraft surveys the south polar region of icy Rhea.

The following new images taken by the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) on the Mars Odyssey spacecraft are now available:

• Herschel Dunes (Released 5 May 2008)
  Individual dunes comprise this dune field located on the floor of Herschel Crater.
  


• Dunes (Released 6 May 2008)
  A field of sand dunes in located on the floor of this unnamed crater in Noachis Terra.
  


• Dunes (Released 7 May 2008)
  Sand dunes are located on the floor of this unnamed crater in Terra Cimmeria.
  


• Landslides (Released 8 May 2008)
  This group of landslide deposits is located in an unnamed crater in Noachis Terra.
  


• Landslide (Released 9 May 2008)
  This landslide deposit is located on the northern side of Sharonov Crater, which has been modified by the flows within Kasei and Lobo Valles.

New research on the Antennae Galaxies using the Advanced Camera for Surveys onboard the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows that this benchmark pair of interacting galaxies is in fact much closer than previously thought - 45 million light-years instead of 65 million light-years.

The Antennae Galaxies are among the closest known merging galaxies. The two galaxies, also known as NGC 4038 and NGC 4039, began interacting a few hundred million years ago, creating one of the most impressive sights in the night sky. They are considered by scientists as the archetypal merging galaxy system and are used as a standard against which to validate theories about galaxy evolution.