Blog Archive

First photos of comet ISON from Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter achieves imaging of comet ISON from Mars

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/10/02 12:03 CDT

Yesterday, the much-anticipated comet ISON made its closest pass by Mars. Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's HiRISE camera is the first to achieve a positive detection of the somewhat-fainter-than-expected comet in its photos.

Movie of Phobos and Deimos mutual event, Curiosity sol 351

Movie of Phobos and Deimos from Curiosity: super cool and scientifically useful

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/08/16 05:01 CDT | 5 comments

Yesterday, the Curiosity mission released the video whose potential I got so excited about a couple of weeks ago: the view, from Curiosity, of Phobos transiting Deimos in the Martian sky. In this post, Mark Lemmon answers a bunch of my questions about why they photograph Phobos and Deimos from rovers.

Return of the Pale Blue Dot
Join the Wave at Saturn (and Mercury)!

Posted by Mat Kaplan on 2013/07/18 11:27 CDT | 4 comments

You can be part of a planetwide group photo as Cassini and MESSENGER turn their cameras Earthward on July 19.

Comet to whiz past Mars in October 2014

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/02/27 05:36 CST | 22 comments

A recently discovered comet, C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring), is going to be passing very close to Mars on October 19, 2014. Does it pose a risk to spacecraft?

Venerable Deep Impact spacecraft has photographed comet ISON

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/02/05 05:24 CST | 6 comments

Deep Impact has made the first space-based observations of comet ISON.

Jupiter and Io from Pleiades-1B (animation)

Pretty picture: Jupiter photo from an unusual source

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/12/26 01:02 CST | 4 comments

A recently launched Earth-observing satellite is using the stars to practice its pointing, and caught a neat animation of Jupiter.

The Solar System from the Inside Out - and the Outside In

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2011/02/18 02:27 CST

Space probes grant us perspective, the ability to see our place within the vastness of the solar system. But opportunities to see all of the solar system's planets in one observation are rare. In fact, there's only been one opportunity on one mission to see the whole solar system at once, until now.

A Moon Among Stars

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2008/12/31 06:17 CST

A very pretty picture of a moon among stars. Happy 2009, everyone!

An opportunity for Spirit to see Earth and Venus together?

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2005/09/26 08:16 CDT

I received the following question by email last week: "Do you know if the Mars rovers team has any plans to photograph Venus and Earth together in the evening sky from either rover site? They will be closest together around Sept. 29th."