Blog Archive
Why is only half of Mars magnetized?
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2008/10/24 09:21 CDT
An article in the September 26 issue of Science neatly explains why only the southern half of Mars is strongly magnetized.
Europlanet : CoRoT - Preliminary Results
Posted by Doug Ellison on 2007/08/20 03:48 CDT
ESA's planet-hunting satellite COROT bagged its first exoplanet in observations of the star COROT-Exo-1.
Europa on Earth: The Sulfur Springs of Borup Fiord Pass, Ellesmere Island
Posted by Stephen Grasby on 2006/07/19 04:00 CDT
From June 21 to July 6, 2006, a four-person team traveled to Borup Fiord Pass to perform geological field studies to compare with satellite images.
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2005/12/24 08:30 CST
There was a big news splash about two articles that appeared in Nature about Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity's landing site. The articles suggest two theories for the formation of the layered sulfur-rich deposits at Meridiani Planum that do not involve standing liquid water.
Analyzing the first published Huygens results
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2005/12/02 03:26 CST
I am working my way steadily through the seven Huygens papers that were released by Nature magazine Wednesday on their "Advance online publication" website.
An update on the Huygens Doppler Wind Experiment
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2005/11/08 03:28 CST
While I was at the Division of Planetary Sciences meeting in Cambridge in September I had a chance to chat with David Atkinson, who's a member of the Doppler Wind Experiment team on Huygens. They and the other instrument teams have been plugging away at analyzing their data.
An official pronouncement may be coming about the "what is a planet?" debate
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2005/09/21 02:28 CDT
Since the discovery of 2003 UB313, larger than Pluto, there's been a lively debate going on in many places about what makes a planet. There's now an article in Nature talking about a proposal that would address the controversy
Deep Impact Data Surprises Scientists
Posted by A.J.S. Rayl on 2005/07/12 11:00 CDT
When Deep Impact crashed into the nucleus of Tempel 1 at 23,000 miles per hour on July 4, it sent a huge, bright cloud of stuff upward and outward from the comet, providing a spectacular image that is already assured a place in the space history books, and may well be seared into the brains of all those who watched the event.
News: Deep Impact Delivers the Science; Years of Work Ahead for Science Team
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2005/07/04 02:21 CDT
"Our cratering experiment went very very well," reported impact scientist Peter Schultz in what may have been the understatement of the weekend. A first look at early science results from the mission suggest that while some events unfolded according to scientists' predictions, Tempel 1 provided many enticing surprises as well.
Deep Impact On Course for Comet Crash; Mission Is Already Producing Science Returns
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2005/07/01 04:42 CDT
NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft is set for its date with Comet Tempel 1. "We are going to hit a bullet with another bullet while watching from a third bullet," said Charles Elachi, the head of JPL.
News: Dark Spot Near the South Pole: A Candidate Lake on Titan?
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2005/06/28 11:00 CDT
The Cassini imaging team has released an image containing a feature unlike any other that they have seen on Titan. The very dark color, curvaceous outline, and sharp edge of the feature have led them to the conclusion that it could well be the long-theorized but never-before-seen body of liquid hydrocarbons on the surface of Titan.
News: Radio Astronomers Rescue Science Results for Huygens' Doppler Wind Experiment
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2005/02/09 10:00 CST
Earth's radio astronomers have saved the day for one of the Huygens instrument teams. Today, the Doppler Wind Experiment (DWE) team announced their first science results, despite losing nearly all of their expected data.
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2004/09/29 12:00 CDT
This morning, asteroid 4179 Toutatis was so close to Earth that simultaneous observations from two telescopes in the same country could show parallax that is obvious even to the least experienced observer. The two telescopes belong to The European Southern Observatory and are located at La Silla and Paranal in Chile











