Blogs
Blog Archive
Europe Will Select Its Next Major Science Mission in November
Posted by Van Kane on 2013/09/25 01:22 CDT | 2 comments
The European Space Agency will announce two major science missions this November, one of which is likely to be devoted to solar system exploration.
Posted by Sarah Hörst on 2013/08/26 03:14 CDT | 11 comments
By now I hope that everyone has seen some of the spectacular images of the Saturn system (and especially Titan!) from the Cassini-Huygens mission. However, the measurements that often make my heart race are taken by instruments that reveal Titan in ways that our eyes cannot see.
Pretty picture: spectacular Saturn and Titan
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/08/15 08:04 CDT | 3 comments
A lovely view of the ringed planet and its hazy moon seen from nearly behind them just a few days ago.
Jani Radebaugh, Titan Explorer
Posted by Bill Dunford on 2013/07/23 03:47 CDT | 4 comments
Robotic space exploration is human exploration. Meet one of the people behind the machines.
Posted by Ralph Lorenz on 2013/07/17 01:13 CDT
The fictional world Tatooine, scene of action in the Star Wars movies, is named after a town in Tunisia, where parts of the movies were filmed. The desert backdrops against which the movies were filmed are real terrestrial landscapes, which prove to be perhaps unexpectedly dynamic.
New names for Pluto's little moons Kerberos and Styx; and a new moon for Neptune
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/07/15 01:37 CDT | 4 comments
Pluto's moons, formerly known as "P4" and "P5," are now named Kerberos and Styx; I thought I'd help place them into context with a little help from Cassini. Also, Neptune now has a 14th known moon.
Scale comparisons of the solar system's major moons
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/07/10 06:05 CDT | 12 comments
A few presentation slides with pretty pictures, sized to scale, of the large moons of the solar system.
The Space Computer and the Beautiful Worlds
Posted by Bill Dunford on 2013/06/30 11:31 CDT | 2 comments
An "Up Goer 5" tribute to the Cassini mission.
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/05/15 05:02 CDT | 6 comments
I've been out of town for a couple of days and am overwhelmed with work and an overflowing email box. So what do I do about that? I ignore what I'm supposed to be doing and play with Cassini raw image data, of course. Here is a "mutual event" of Mimas (the bigger moon) and Pandora (the outer shepherd of the F ring).
Posted by Sarah Hörst on 2013/05/15 11:55 CDT | 12 comments
A tale from the scientific trenches: laboratory work to simulate Titan's rich atmosphere.
Planetary Society Weekly Hangout: Reports from the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/03/28 02:00 CDT | 5 comments
On Thursday at noon PDT / 1900 UTC I'll report on some of my favorite findings from LPSC, and answer your questions about the latest planetary science.
LPSC 2013: License to Chill (or, the solar system's icy moons)
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/03/27 11:52 CDT
Reports from the March 19 session at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference covering eight icy moons in the outer solar system: Ganymede, Europa, Dione, Rhea, Mimas, Tethys, Enceladus, and Miranda.
Enceladus: A problem of contrast
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/01/30 07:00 CST | 6 comments
Time for my quarterly foray into the Cassini archival science data! The very first image I downloaded from the January 1, 2013 data release presented an interesting challenge to my image processing skill. I'll show you the pretty picture of Enceladus and then explain how I processed it.
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/12/19 10:06 CST | 3 comments
Join us for our weekly Google+ Hangout Thursday at noon PT / 2000 UT. This week, I'm excited to have as a guest Sarah Hörst. Sarah is a postdoc at the University of Colorado whose current line of research involves experimental work on the complex atmospheric chemistry of Titan. She is also applying to be an astronaut!
Watching the slow shift of seasons on Titan
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/11/06 02:45 CST | 1 comments
A sharp-eyed amateur noticed two images of Titan taken 20 months apart from nearly exactly the same perspective, and they illustrate how the shifting of Saturn's seasons has brought change to Titan's atmosphere.
A huge color global view of Dione
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/10/23 02:33 CDT
From the Cassini data archives comes a huge (5000 pixels square!) color image of Saturn's icy moon Dione, worth investigating from both near and far.
DPS 2012, Day 5: How to make asteroids crunchy on the outside and soft in the middle
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/10/19 07:53 CDT | 2 comments
A summary of just one talk from the Division for Planetary Sciences meeting, by Lindy Elkins-Tanton, which provided a neat explanation for how asteroids can be melted and layered on the inside yet have a primitive-looking exterior.
DPS 2012, Tuesday: Titan's surface
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/10/17 10:22 CDT | 4 comments
Tuesday morning at the Division of Planetary Sciences meeting featured talks on the surface composition and landforms on Titan, including lakes and "hot cross buns."
DPS 2012, Monday: Icy moons and a four-star exoplanet
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/10/15 11:31 CDT | 1 comments
In the first full day of the annual meeting of the Division of Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society, I listened to scientific sessions on icy worlds and on an exoplanet in a four-star system.
Happy Cassini PDS Release Day!
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/10/08 01:00 CDT | 2 comments
It's a quarterly feast day for me: the day that the Cassini mission delivers three months' worth of data to NASA's Planetary Data System. Here's a few images processed from the October 1, 2012 data release.
JOIN THE
PLANETARY SOCIETY
Our Curiosity Knows No Bounds!
Become a member of The Planetary Society and together we will create the future of space exploration.
Connect With Us
Facebook! Twitter! Google+ and more…
Continue the conversation with our online community!
