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DPS 2015: Pluto's small moons Styx, Nix, Kerberos, and Hydra [UPDATED]
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2015/11/10 02:18 CST | 7 comments
For my first post on results from the Division for Planetary Sciences meeting, I'm going to tell you about Pluto's small moons: Styx, Nix, Kerberos, and Hydra, their bright colors and wacky rotation states.
A Roundup of Dust Devil Research
Posted by Ralph Lorenz on 2015/11/02 07:23 CST
Planetary scientist Ralph Lorenz briefs us on the current state of our knowledge on dust devils on Earth and Mars.
Favorite Astro Plots #2: Condensation of the solar system
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2015/10/14 01:34 CDT | 2 comments
Behold: the story of how our solar system began, in one chart. This is the second installment in a series of planetary scientists' favorite plots. Today's #FaveAstroPlot was suggested by spectroscopist Michael Bramble.
Favorite Astro Plots #1: Asteroid orbital parameters
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2015/10/01 03:42 CDT | 3 comments
This is the first in a series of posts in which scientists share favorite planetary science plots. For my #FaveAstroPlot, I explain what you can see when you look at how asteroid orbit eccentricity and inclination vary with distance from the Sun.
NASA's Mars Announcement: Present-day transient flows of briny water on steep slopes
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2015/09/28 02:26 CDT | 25 comments
NASA held a press briefing today to publicize a cool incremental result in the story of present-day liquid water on Mars. How big a deal is this story? Was all the pre-announcement hype justified? Is this just NASA discovering water on Mars for the zillionth time? What does this mean for things many space fans care about: life on Mars or future human exploration?
Mega Hemorrhaging Total Lunar Eclipse Sept 27-28, 2015
Posted by Bruce Betts on 2015/09/24 08:25 CDT | 1 comments
There will be a spectacular total lunar eclipse on the night of Sept. 27-28, 2015, a newly dubbed Mega Hemorrhaging Eclipse. Here is info on what lunar eclipses are and how to observe the eclipse.
A Free, Online Course Exploring the Science of Phobos and Deimos
Posted by Casey Dreier on 2015/09/19 04:23 CDT | 3 comments
Impress your friends and wow your colleagues by learning all about Mars's moons.
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2015/09/11 11:04 CDT | 5 comments
When Rosetta approached comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko last summer, both its shape and its activity were surprising. It looked like two comets welded together at a skinny neck. A new paper explains how the neck may be steepening itself.
Posted by Dave Doody on 2015/07/28 09:04 CDT | 1 comments
The Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) has begun sending us fresh, whole-hemisphere images of our own fragile planet. Some sources say that the spacecraft is "orbiting" the L1 point. Dave Doody thinks this warrants some scrutiny.
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2015/07/24 07:12 CDT | 17 comments
I don't think anyone was prepared for the beauty -- or the instant scientific discoveries -- in this "lookback" image of Pluto, captured by New Horizons shortly after it flew by.
What in the world(s) are tholins?
Posted by Sarah Hörst on 2015/07/22 07:00 CDT | 10 comments
The question “why is Pluto red” has been answered with a word that most people have never heard of and perhaps even fewer people can actually define—“tholins”.
Dawn at Ceres: A haze in Occator crater?
Posted by Andrew Rivkin on 2015/07/21 05:54 CDT | 17 comments
While Pluto deservedly stole the headlines last week, Chris Russell’s Dawn update at the Exploration Science Forum at NASA Ames reminded us that the other dwarf planets are also sharing their secrets with eager scientists.
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2015/07/15 04:42 CDT | 33 comments
Today's press briefing at the Applied Physics Laboratory in California was preceded by hours of New Horizons team members cryptically dropping hints on Twitter at astonishing details in the seven images downlinked since the flyby. The images are, in fact, astonishing, as well as beautiful, surprising, and puzzling.
Pluto minus one day: Very first New Horizons Pluto encounter science results
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2015/07/13 12:16 CDT | 15 comments
At a press briefing this morning, New Horizons principal investigator Alan Stern divulged some extremely preliminary first science results from the New Horizons Pluto encounter. Science results include Pluto's diameter and information on its surface composition and atmospheric escape.
5 Steps to Preventing Asteroid Impact
Posted by Bruce Betts on 2015/06/30 12:33 CDT | 3 comments
For Asteroid Day, Bruce Betts reviews 5 steps needed to prevent asteroid impact, as well as how The Planetary Society is involved in those.
Transient hot spots on Venus: Best evidence yet for active volcanism
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2015/06/18 06:42 CDT | 3 comments
In a paper released in Geophysical Research Letters today, Eugene Shalygin and coauthors have announced the best evidence yet for current, active volcanism on Venus. The evidence comes from the Venus Monitoring Camera, which saw transient hot spots in four locations along a system of rifts near Venus' equator. They saw the hot spots in two distinct episodes in 2008 and 2009.
OSIRIS-REx – Seeking Answers to the Sweet Mystery of Life
Posted by Jason Dworkin on 2015/05/07 12:21 CDT | 2 comments
The nature of the origin of life is a topic that has engaged people since ancient times. The samples to be collected by OSIRIS-REx, returned to the Earth in 2023 and archived for decades beyond that, may indeed hide the secrets to the origin of life.
The Cosmic Microwave Oven Background
Posted by David Wilson on 2015/04/17 03:03 CDT | 2 comments
Over the past couple of decades the Parkes Radio Telescope in Australia has been picking up two types of mysterious signals, each lasting just a few milliseconds. The source of one of these signals may have finally been found—and an unexpected source at that.
Planetary Defense Conference: Steps to Prevent Asteroid Impact
Posted by Bruce Betts on 2015/04/13 07:23 CDT | 2 comments
From Italy, Bruce Betts gives background and information at the start of the Planetary Defense Conference, which addresses the asteroid threat. Bruce summarizes steps to prevent asteroid impact.
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2015/04/08 01:27 CDT | 10 comments
What is the solar system moon with the densest atmosphere? Most space fans know that the answer is Titan. A few of you might know that Triton's is the next densest. But what's the third? Fourth? Do any other moons even have atmospheres? In fact, they do; and one such atmosphere has just been discovered.
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