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Archive

Archived posts are listed in reverse chronological order.


  • Jun. 21, 2007 | 14:06 PDT | 21:06 UTC
    Tantalizing views of the worlds to be visited by Dawn
    Yesterday the Space Telescope Science Institute released some new images of Vesta and Ceres, the two asteroids dwarf planets that are the targets for the soon-to-be-launched Dawn spacecraft. Ceres is the largest of the worlds of the Main Asteroid... More»
  • Jun. 21, 2007 | 12:44 PDT | 19:44 UTC
    Check out the eighth Carnival of Space
    This week the Carnival of Space is over at Fraser Cain's Universe Today. Check it out!... More»
  • Jun. 20, 2007 | 16:25 PDT | 23:25 UTC
    Fine-tuning Cassini's orbit
    I found several items of interest in the latest "Cassini Significant Events" report. These reports are issued weekly by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and constitute a blow-by-blow description of Cassini's activities, as well as the plans for future... More»
  • Jun. 20, 2007 | 09:11 PDT | 16:11 UTC
    Mars Science Laboratory is going to be HUGE
    Yesterday I deposited the baby with her grandmother and went to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for a press junket to the opening of their new Mars Yard. (I did ask if I could bring Anahita along but I guess it's too complicated to get kids under 12... More»
  • Jun. 19, 2007 | 06:59 PDT | 13:59 UTC
    Spirit gets brushed off
    There was great news last night from Mars Exploration Rover mission operations: Spirit seems to have enjoyed another "cleaning event." Cleaning events are what's kept the rovers alive for so much longer than their design lifetime. The rovers have... More»
  • Jun. 18, 2007 | 17:53 PDT | Jun. 19 00:53 UTC
    Cassini catches Rhea, and more, against Saturn
    I was browsing through the Cassini raw images website today and came across the images necessary to create this neat view of icy, gray Rhea transiting Saturn's yellow globe, captured by Cassini on Friday:Click to enlarge >Rhea against Saturn Credit:... More»
  • Jun. 15, 2007 | 07:18 PDT | 14:18 UTC
    MESSENGER returned 614 images from Venus
    Yesterday the Applied Physics Laboratory released the first few images from MESSENGER's second flyby of Venus; in all, 614 images were captured during the flyby. Here's one frame-filling global view:Click to enlarge >Venus in MESSENGER's forward... More»
  • Jun. 15, 2007 | 07:05 PDT | 14:05 UTC
    Nightmare averted on Dawn
    A couple of days ago, rumors started circulating that a worker had fallen on one of Dawn's solar panels, damaging it. Those rumors were unfounded, a gross exaggeration of an actual incident. A worker's tool did make accidental contact with the... More»
  • Jun. 14, 2007 | 16:05 PDT | 23:05 UTC
    Dione and Tethys: New members in the club of active bodies?
    The European Space Agency issued a press release yesterday stating that Saturn's moons Tethys and Dione are "flinging great streams of particles in to space….The discovery suggests the possibility of some sort of geological activity, perhaps even... More»
  • Jun. 13, 2007 | 14:01 PDT | 21:01 UTC
    Funny little Atlas
    UPDATE: I was behind on my exploration of Atlas' relationship to Saturn's rings -- the entry is corrected below. (Thanks to Luke Dones for the correction.) Cassini just swung by Saturn on the closest approach of Rev 46 on its way to its 33rd close... More»