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Archive

Archived posts are listed in reverse chronological order.


  • Oct. 27, 2009 | 10:42 PDT | 17:42 UTC
    What "phase angle" means
    I'm going to ask you to indulge me in a geek-fest today. As is probably obvious by now, I love playing with spacecraft image data. I am always looking for excuses to dive into space image archives to unearth images of stuff in space that haven't... More»
  • Oct. 26, 2009 | 10:51 PDT | 17:51 UTC
    Carnival of Space #126, plus more from Jupiter's moon Io
    The 126th Space Carnival is live over at Jason Perry's always-excellent (if rather narrowly focused) Io blog The Gish Bar Times. Actually I had been meaning to highlight a neat series of articles Jason put together commemorating the tenth... More»
  • Oct. 23, 2009 | 09:31 PDT | 16:31 UTC
    Send your name to Venus with Venus Climate Orbiter (PLANET-C), now known as Akatsuki
    The Japanese space agency's science missions have an abundance of names. They start out with a programmatic name, like MUSES-A, PLANET-A, etc. -- which might be like calling NEAR "Discovery-A" and Mars Pathfinder "Discovery-B" and so on. Some, but... More»
  • Oct. 22, 2009 | 15:44 PDT | 22:44 UTC
    Louis Friedman: Augustine Committee Final Report
    by Louis Friedman The Augustine Committee, which is reviewing the U.S. human space flight program, presented its final report (PDF, 7.7 MB) today at a NASA press conference. There were no substantial differences from their preliminary report (see... More»
  • Oct. 22, 2009 | 11:44 PDT | 18:44 UTC
    Last Chance for Bargains at The Planetary Society Store
    We are preparing to have a brand new online store with new and different merchandise; to that end, we are clearing out EVERY LAST BIT of our old store inventory. Prices are super duper low. All posters are only $2 apiece; please consider picking... More»
  • Oct. 21, 2009 | 11:27 PDT | 18:27 UTC
    Spinning spokes in Saturn's rings
    Here's a neat animation captured last month by Cassini and assembled by Mike Malaska: spokes in Saturn's B ring. The spokes are especially prominent just now, so close to equinox.Spinning spokes in Saturn's ringsCassini captured this 22-frame... More»
  • Oct. 20, 2009 | 11:01 PDT | 18:01 UTC
    Window onto an abyss: Cave skylight on the Moon
    This just in: researchers on JAXA's Kaguya lunar orbiter have discovered an open pit on the Moon that is likely a window onto a sublunar world -- a skylight into a subsurface cavern. Junichi Haruyama, Kazuyuki Hioki, Motomaro Shirao, Tomokatsu... More»
  • Oct. 19, 2009 | 12:39 PDT | 19:39 UTC
    Saturn shadows shift with the seasons
    So many goodies on the Cassini raw images website lately! I am especially excited when Cassini takes photos through red, green, and blue filters so that it's possible to create views that look roughly like what you'd see with your own eyes. Here's... More»
  • Oct. 18, 2009 | 14:08 PDT | 21:08 UTC
    Fun for Sunday: Titan and Tethys pas de deux
    Checking in on Cassini's raw images this weekend, there are several nice shots to play with, including the many frames from which I tossed together this cute animation. Saturn's icy moons are so bright and crisp, Titan always appears like a fuzzy... More»
  • Oct. 16, 2009 | 11:43 PDT | 18:43 UTC
    Here comes Rosetta!
    Heads up! ESA's Rosetta comet-chasing mission is going to buzz by Earth again in less than a month. In anticipation of that event, Daniel Scuka has fired up the Rosetta blog again and has provided some information about the upcoming flyby:On... More»