Smithsonian Voices

From the Smithsonian Museums

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory and Women of Chilean Astronomy

The Vara C. Rubin Observatory is perched on Chile's Cerro Pachon in the foothills of the Andes Mountains and stands as a doorway to exploring the women of Chilean astronomy.

Artist’s conception of the Perseverance rover sampling rocks on the floor of Jezero crater. The rover also carries the Ingenuity helicopter (not shown) that can fly in advance of the rover and scout out high priority rocks and outcrops for the rover to visit. (NASA)

Is There Life on Mars?

A low-lying topographic depression known as Margaritifer basin. (Sharon A. Wilson, John A. Grant, and Kevin K. Williams (2020), Geologic Map of Morava Valles and Margaritifer basin, Mars, MTM Quadrangles -10022 and -15022, 1:500,000 scale, USGS Scientific Investigations Map, in press.)

Geologic Maps: Where Science Meets Art

The waxing gibbous Moon as we viewed it on December 3, 2011.

The Moon: Before We Knew

The Hope spacecraft of the United Arab Emirates' Emirates Mars Mission during testing.

Launching Hope to Mars