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Sand Waves in the Desert
or “Pet Peeves and Deciphering Climate Change in the Solar System”
Posted by Lori Fenton on 2014/02/21 03:19 CST | 1 comments
I have a pet peeve: the words dune and ripple are often used interchangeably, although they are quite distinct from one another. So what’s the difference between aeolian dunes and ripples? And why should anybody care?
Predicting Pluto's moons and moondust
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2014/02/19 01:39 CST | 2 comments
Why didn't we discover Pluto's moons until more than a decade after Hubble launched? Mark Showalter helps me answer this question.
Intro Astronomy Class 2: How We Explore Space
Easy Things to See in the Night Sky, and the Electromagnetic Spectrum
Posted by Bruce Betts on 2014/02/18 05:50 CST
Learn easy things to look for in the night sky, and about the electromagnetic spectrum from gamma rays to radio waves in the video of class 2 of Bruce Betts' Introduction to Planetary Science and Astronomy class.
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2014/02/18 09:33 CST | 10 comments
I've been fascinated by Mercury's hollows ever since MESSENGER discovered them. Two recent papers look at where they are found to try to figure out how they form.
Intro Astronomy Class 1: Tour of the Solar System
Posted by Bruce Betts on 2014/02/11 05:53 CST | 1 comments
Take a tour of the Solar System in the video of class 1 of Bruce Betts' Introduction to Planetary Science and Astronomy class.
The New Cosmos Has a New Trailer
Posted by Casey Dreier on 2014/01/30 01:14 CST | 4 comments
Fox just released a new trailer for Cosmos: A Space-Time Odyssey, which will debut March 9th and feature Neil deGrasse Tyson as host.
How to get a satellite to geostationary orbit
Posted by Jason Davis on 2014/01/17 09:24 CST | 8 comments
Mike Loucks helps provide a beginner's walk-through of the orbital mechanics behind geosynchronous and geostationary satellites.
Polar vortices across the solar system
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2014/01/09 11:49 CST | 2 comments
Earth's polar vortex has been in the American news all week. But we're not the only planet that has one; basically every world that has an atmosphere has a polar vortex. Here are lots of pretty pictures and animations of polar vortices.
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Diviner maps geologic context of Chang'e 3 landing site
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2014/01/08 01:53 CST | 1 comments
The LRO Diviner Lunar Radiometer has been mapping the entire Moon on a nearly continuous basis since July, 2009. The Diviner team has produced maps of the thermal behavior and and a range of derived quantities at Chang’e 3 landing site that are described in this post.
Planetary Radio: NEOWISE PI Amy Mainzer
NEOWISE has reawakened to discover more asteroids and comets. The mission leader thanks the amateur astronomers who follow up.
Posted by Mat Kaplan on 2014/01/01 12:56 CST | 1 comments
NEOWISE has reawakened to discover many more asteroids and comets. The mission leader thanks the amateur astronomers who follow up on these discoveries.
Habitability, Taphonomy, and Curiosity's Hunt for Organic Carbon
Posted by John Grotzinger on 2013/12/21 08:47 CST | 4 comments
Lots of people ask questions about how the Curiosity mission, and future missions, will forge ahead to begin with looking for evidence of past life on Mars. There is nothing simple or straightforward about looking for life.
A Tale of Two Posters: Sediment on Mars and Searching Jupiter's Rings
Posted by Mark Hilverda on 2013/12/12 07:39 CST
A close look at two international planetary science poster presentations from the 2013 AGU Fall Meeting featuring sediment experiments to better understand Martian geomorphology and Juno's plans for exploring Jupiter's ring system.
Watch this with your kids: Asteroid Fact versus Fiction
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/12/12 04:52 CST
A cute video from the OSIRIS-REx mission in the style of "AsapSCIENCE" uses a whiteboard and stop-motion animation to separate asteroid fact from fiction.
Posted by Leigh Fletcher on 2013/12/12 12:01 CST | 12 comments
2013 has been a rather exciting year for Europa scientists. Today's exciting news: the Hubble Space Telescope discovery of water vapor plumes from the south pole of this icy moon.
Enceladus huffs and puffs: plumes vary with orbital longitude
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/12/11 07:22 CST | 2 comments
In which I finally get around to writing about a paper published last August: Enceladus' plumes sometimes spout more and sometimes spout less, depending on where Enceladus is in its orbit. This discovery was enabled by Cassini's longevity at Saturn, and we'll be able to follow up on it, as long as Cassini is allowed to complete its mission.
Curiosity results at AGU: Gale crater rocks are old, but have been exposed recently
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/12/09 08:31 CST | 4 comments
In a Martian first, the Curiosity science team has measured the age of a Martian rock, in two totally different ways. They presented the result at the 2013 meeting of the American Geophysical Union.
Comet ISON Wrap Up
A Tail of Cat-Possums and the Undead
Posted by Bruce Betts on 2013/12/05 05:49 CST
Comet ISON captivated our world, and many of our world’s robotic emissaries for many months. But, alas, poor ISON is dead -- again. Here I wrap up our enthusiastic coverage of this multi-morphing zombie comet that tried to survive and re-survive as it came within one solar diameter of the Sun.
Mars' chemical history: Phyllosian, Theiikian, Siderikian, oh my
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/12/05 01:08 CST | 4 comments
I'm returning to the deep dive into the literature that began with articles about lunar basins and then explored the geologic time scales of Earth, Moon, and Mars. Now it's time to catch up to the last decade of Mars research and learn what "phyllosian", "theiikian", and "siderikian" eras are.
Posted by Emily LakdawallaBruce Betts on 2013/12/05 10:00 CST | 10 comments
Comet ISON reached perihelion at 18:25 UT (10:25 PT) on November 28. It's an event that's was watched around the world, accompanied by tons of commentary and streams of photos. We will update this blog entry periodically with links to all the resources that we hear of for following the comet's progress.
Multiple views of comet ISON from solar-observing spacecraft
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/12/02 07:50 CST | 6 comments
When comet ISON passed through perihelion last week, solar observing spacecraft had a ringside view. Here are several animations of ISON's perilous passage from the SOHO and two STEREO spacecraft.
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