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Blog Archive
Pretty pictures of the Cosmos: Perception
Posted by Adam Block on 2014/07/25 12:04 CDT
Astrophotographer Adam Block shares two recent images of star clusters, along with a pair of depth perception-defying galaxies.
Curiosity update, sols 671-696: Out of the landing ellipse, into ripples and pointy rocks
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2014/07/24 05:55 CDT | 2 comments
For the last four weeks, the name of the game for Curiosity has been driving. But these weeks of driving have been more challenging than they used to be.
LightSail-A Has a Blown Radio Amplifier. Now What?
Posted by Jason Davis on 2014/07/23 03:02 CDT
LightSail-A's blown radio amplifier doesn't affect the 2016 SpaceX Falcon Heavy mission, but it adds an unwelcome obstacle to the 2015 test mission's ever-shortening timetable.
Women Working on Mars: Curiosity Women's Day
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2014/07/22 10:57 CDT | 2 comments
Just after completing the primary mission of 669 sols on Mars, Curiosity's managers planned a special day -- June 26, 2014 -- in which mostly women were assigned to the more than 100 different operational roles.
Chang'e 3 update: Both rover and lander still alive at the end of their eighth lunar day
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2014/07/21 07:26 CDT | 5 comments
Despite the fact that it hasn't moved for 6 months, the plucky Yutu rover on the Moon is still alive. Its signal is periodically detected by amateur radio astronomers, most recently on July 19. A story posted today by the Chinese state news agency offers a new hypothesis to explain the failure of the rover's mobility systems.
Posted by Bill Dunford on 2014/07/21 08:03 CDT | 3 comments
A single day's observations take us from orbital overviews all the way down to ground truth.
Mars and Europa: Contrasts in Mission Planning
Posted by Van Kane on 2014/07/19 02:08 CDT | 23 comments
Several announcements for proposed missions to Mars and on the planning for a NASA return to Europa that highlight the contrasts in planning missions for these two high priority destinations.
New Horizons to take new photos of Pluto and Charon, beginning optical navigation campaign
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2014/07/18 05:06 CDT | 5 comments
Technically, Pluto science observations don't begin for New Horizons until 2015, but the spacecraft will take a series of photos of Pluto and Charon from July 20 to 27 as it begins the first of four optical navigation campaigns.
Capitol Hill Responds to the Lure of Europa
The Planetary Society held a massively successful event to increase awareness of Europa
Posted by Casey Dreier on 2014/07/18 01:54 CDT | 2 comments
A standing-room only crowd learned the lure of Europa, the moon of Jupiter with more liquid water than the Earth, at a special Planetary Society event on capitol hill.
Posted by Stuart Atkinson on 2014/07/18 12:02 CDT | 16 comments
A European space enthusiast, children's author, and volunteer astronomy outreach worker asks for more images from Rosetta.
45 Years after Apollo 11, NASA Prepares for Another Big Splashdown
Posted by Jason Davis on 2014/07/17 04:02 CDT | 2 comments
A new version of Apollo 11's splashdown will play out when the first astronauts aboard NASA’s Orion spacecraft return to Earth.
How Arecibo Observatory Transmits to the ISEE-3 Spacecraft
Posted by Alessondra Springmann on 2014/07/16 03:51 CDT | 1 comment
Talking to spacecraft is a normal occurrence at Arecibo Observatory, but sometimes the nuts and bolts are a little unconventional.
I've been asteroided! (274860) Emilylakdawalla
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2014/07/16 07:22 CDT | 13 comments
What a great piece of news to receive upon returning home from vacation! There is now a small piece of the solar system named for me: asteroid 274860 has been formally named "Emilylakdawalla" by the International Astronomical Union. Here is everything I've been able to learn about my namesake asteroid.
Quick Rosetta update: Churyumov-Gerasimenko is a contact binary!
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2014/07/15 08:42 CDT | 17 comments
I could not wait to post these amazing new images of comet Churymov-Gerasimenko from Rosetta. The nucleus of the comet is clearly a contact binary -- two smaller (and unequally sized object) in close contact.
Posted by Mark Robinson on 2014/07/11 12:01 CDT | 1 comment
High resolution images from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera detail the 1973 path of the Soviet rover Lunokhod 2.
LightSail update: Launch dates
Posted by Jason Davis on 2014/07/09 09:00 CDT | 2 comments
I’m excited to report some big news on The Planetary Society’s LightSail project: actual launch dates on actual launch vehicles!
Posted by Peter Rosén on 2014/07/08 02:15 CDT | 3 comments
In 1979, the Voyager 1 probe took a stunning series of images on its final approach to Jupiter. Thirty-five years later, almost to the day, a group of seven Swedish amateur astronomers set out to replicate this odyssey, but with images taken with their own ground-based telescopes.
The Habitable Zone of Inhabited Planets
Posted by Jaime Green on 2014/07/07 03:14 CDT | 10 comments
A team of Colombian researchers are arguing for a new refinement to the idea of the habitable zone that takes the presence of life itself into account.
On the masses and motions of mini-moons: Pandora's not a "shepherd," but Prometheus still is
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2014/07/04 12:04 CDT | 4 comments
As Cassini celebrates 10 years at Saturn, we're beginning to see its long-term observations of Saturnian moons bear fruit. A surprising new result: While Prometheus exerts control over the F ring and Atlas, Pandora -- long thought to be a shepherd of the F ring -- does not.
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