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The Planetary Society Blog
Archive
Archived posts are listed in reverse chronological order.
Nov. 22, 2010 | 10:03 PST | 18:03 UTC
Jupiter's outbreak is spreading
Jupiter, always a pretty sight in the sky, is now worth visiting every day; the "outbreak" that heralds the return of Jupiter's formerly red, now faded south equatorial belt is expanding and multiplying. I'm no astronomer myself, so I look over... More»
Nov. 19, 2010 | 15:38 PST | 23:38 UTC
Reviews of Ten Space-themed Books for Kids
As I did last year, I'm hereby posting reviews and comments on every recent space book for kids that's crossed my desk in the last several months. The first three reviews were published in the September/October issue of The Planetary Report.
You... More»
Nov. 18, 2010 | 16:31 PST | Nov. 19 00:31 UTC
Miscellany
The saddest item of business to note in this linky post is that noted astronomer Brian Marsden, retired director of the Minor Planet Center and a good friend to many (though, I'm sorry to say, I never met him in person), passed away yesterday at the... More»
Nov. 18, 2010 | 12:52 PST | 20:52 UTC
Deep Impact at Hartley 2: Two weeks after the flyby
Today the Deep Impact/EPOXI science team held a press briefing that followed up on their very successful flyby of two weeks ago, a status report on what they can say so far about the science that's coming out of the encounter. There's still years... More»
Nov. 18, 2010 | 09:52 PST | 17:52 UTC
Asteroids and comets to scale, including Hartley 2
Just in time for today's Deep Impact press briefing, which you can watch on NASA TV in a few minutes: I've updated my montage of all the asteroids and comets that have been visited and photographed to include Hartley 2. This required no major... More»
Nov. 17, 2010 | 15:36 PST | 23:36 UTC
A little more information on the Hayabusa samples from Itokawa
Since I posted an update Monday about JAXA confirming extraterrestrial samples in the Hayabusa sample return capsule, JAXA has posted an English-language version of their press release, which contains a bit more information. The text of the release... More»
Nov. 17, 2010 | 15:34 PST | 23:34 UTC
A message from Bill Nye
While giving a talk at the University of Southern California last night, Planetary Society Executive Director Bill Nye fainted briefly, but returned to his feet and finished delivering his presentation. (Here's a nice report from the USC Daily... More»
Nov. 17, 2010 | 09:39 PST | 17:39 UTC
365 Days of Astronomy Podcast: What's in a Science Meeting?
Today the 365 Days of Astronomy podcast aired my contribution, What's in a Science Meeting?, about what scientists do at big meetings like the Division of Planetary Sciences. If you want to learn more about what was presented at DPS, here's some of... More»
Nov. 16, 2010 | 14:39 PST | 22:39 UTC
I can't wait for MAHLI to land on Mars
EDIT: Thanks to Ken Edgett for setting me straight on my interpretation of the sand.
JPL has just released some test images from the camera that has just been installed on the end of the Curiosity rover's robotic arm. MAHLI, the Mars Hand Lens... More»
Nov. 15, 2010 | 20:03 PST | Nov. 16 04:03 UTC
JAXA announcement: Itokawa sample return successful!
It's official: in a press release today, JAXA announced that some 1,500 dust grains scraped from the interior of Hayabusa's clean-looking sample return capsule are not of terrestrial origin so must be from Itokawa. Here is my interpretation of what... More»
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