Blog Archive
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/03/12 01:57 CDT | 2 comments
We don't have any spacecraft at Jupiter right now, which is a pity. Until we do, we have to rely upon Earth-based astronomers to monitor the changing face of the largest planet.
Posted by Mike Brown on 2013/03/06 10:41 CST | 3 comments
Ever wonder what it would taste like if you could lick the icy surface of Jupiter’s Europa? The answer may be that it would taste a lot like that last mouthful of water that you accidentally drank when you were swimming at the beach on your last vacation.
Planetary Society Weekly Hangout: Studying Asteroids from Earth with Andy Rivkin
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/02/28 01:25 CST | 5 comments
Emily Lakdawalla's guest this week was Applied Physics Laboratory asteroid astronomer Andy Rivkin. We talked about the menagerie of rocks in the asteroid belt, how many of them travel in pairs and triples, how some of them are surprisingly wet, and how much you can learn about asteroids using Earth-based telescopes.
Posted by Edward Gomez on 2013/02/18 05:14 CST | 4 comments
Mostly the Universe stays unchanged for hundreds, thousands or even millions of years. There are some cases however when some things change really rapidly. Recently I observed one of these rapidly changing, transient phenomena, as asteroid called 2012 DA14. I work for Las Cumbres Observatory and we have been trying to observe this asteroid since 5 February.
Stars, and stars, and stars: pretty pictures from the European Southern Observatory
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/01/21 03:39 CST | 4 comments
My solar system chauvinism is well-established, but I am as much a sucker for beautiful astrophotos as the rest of you. Once in a while I get a media advisory from the European Southern Observatory about a new pretty picture posted on their website, and then I inevitably lose an hour following links to one stunner after another.
Posted by Casey Dreier on 2013/01/09 07:11 CST | 1 comments
It's not just the Planetary Sciences division within NASA that's under harsh budgetary times. The NSF Division of Astronomical Sciences is facing a choice between funding scientists and funding telescopes. A report from the 221st AAS meeting in Long Beach.
Support our Asteroid Hunters
They are Watching the Skies for You!
Our researchers, worldwide, do absolutely critical work.
Asteroid 2012DA14 was a close one.
It missed us. But there are more out there.













