nasa

Amazing what a mere collection of water and ice and a few rocks can turn into. Saturn's rings are one of the most incredible sights in the night sky, and in space overall. Though their make up is unremarkable, since the 1970s when the Pioneer and Voyager spacecraft visited the system and gave us our first close-up look. 

What's more amazing is that unlike many other celestial bodies in our universe, that we need to physically reach in order to get a clear picture of, Saturn is close enough that we can get images like those below.

NASA is at it again. This time they are looking toward the Sun and examining regions of it that have not been seen up close up until now. But they're not alone either. NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) have joined forces to potentially change our understanding of the Sun and how it affects Earth. The goal of the 7-year mission is to launch a satellite to orbit the Sun and take pictures of the Sun's poles for the first time in history. 

As Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley hurtle into space on the first commercial aircraft designed and now used for spaceflight to transport astronauts, you have to wonder what it looks like. Not just space, that is incredible enough. But the SpaceX Crew Dragon  is truly an amazing spectacle. From the mind of Elon Musk, this spacecraft is unlike anything we've ever seen. So take a look around at the inner workings of this incredible space craft. Maybe you'll be on board one day.

If you're looking for even more satisfying science gifs, check out these amazing hydraulic press gifs that will have you in your happy place in no time.

NASA's Mars 2020 rover has passed it's first and only driving test - at snail speed. Interested in more space news? Check out this week's top ten space photos.

This article was originally reported on Universe Today.

Though downgraded to dwarf planet status, Pluto has been on the comeback trail of late. Many issues arose with the reclassification in 2006, including that only 424 of the 9000 members of the international organization in charge of making such decisions voted. In addition, immediately after the resolution, hundreds of planetary scientists petitioned against the changed classification. The problem began when the body changed the definition of what constitutes a planet, and due to Pluto lacking several of these features, it was demoted.

A recent mission to Pluto by NASA called New Horizons, recently gave us our closest and clearest look of Pluto and the surrounding planetary bodies in its area and orbit. 

That is not a typo. NASA has been hard at work developing the technology for the next mission to Mars. Part of that are the modules that will be part of the rover. An autonomous helicopter would be able to take pictures never seen before, and reach areas that the rover on the ground, would take far longer to reach, and might not even be accessible.

The Boeing Starliner capsule, which is planning to transport people to and from the International Space Station in the near future, successfully completed an abort mission - although one of it's three parachutes failed to deploy. At the time, few photos or videos were taken of the capsule's short flight. New video footage has just emerged, and we've made some sweet GIFs so you can view it's journey in GIF form. If you want to know more about the Boeing Starliner capsule, read our comprehensive article about it. Otherwise, enjoy the GIFs!

Extra extra read all about it. Europa, one of Jupiter's and the solar system's most iconic celestial bodies, has been examined by NASA scientists, and the results are pretty astounding. Though in recent times Mars and exploration of the "Red Planet" has taken the spotlight and held it in the public eye. But Europa is trying to change all that. 

Queue Strauss's Also Sprach Zarathustra, or for the uninformed, the epic drums and trumpets you see in any scene of significance.NASA's Curiosity Rover on Mars has given us some of the most incredible photos of the planet's surface, with a 2 billion pixel capture that was broken up over multiple images. 

Don't have time to watch or fast-forward through 6 hours of filler coverage? We've grabbed the perfect shots from SpaceX and NASA's joint spacecraft launch of the Crew Dragon. This is the first commercial spacecraft in history to bring astronauts into space, and was designed by the tech giant Elon Musk with his SpaceX commercial space program. With the launch a complete success, and the window narrowing after inclement weather, the successful launch was a massive achievement for commercial space travel, and the potential is massive for scaling this to even greater heights. Next stop, Mars.