Blog Archive

VIDEO: Watch Jim Bell's Public Lecture at Caltech

Posted by Mat Kaplan on 2013/03/06 06:00 CST | 1 comments

The Planetary Society President wows his audience with this presentation that is chock full of beautiful space images.

Meteor showers on Titan: an example of why Twitter is awesome for scientists and the public

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/03/06 12:48 CST | 5 comments

I use a variety of social networking tools to perform my job, but there's one that's more important and valuable to me than all the rest combined: Twitter. Yesterday afternoon there was a discussion on Twitter that exemplifies its value and fun: are there visible meteors on Titan?

Sea Salt

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.

False-color Matijevic Hill Vista (Opportunity 2013-01-24)

Mars Exploration Rovers Update: Opportunity Begins Wrapping Science on Matijevic Hill

Posted by A.J.S. Rayl on 2013/03/06 01:03 CST | 1 comments

As February turned to March, Opportunity was conducting some of its final science investigations on Matijevic Hill, the MER team was making preparations for the robot field geologist's trek south for the next winter, and the Mars Exploration Rovers mission was checking off another month of exploration.

Ask Rep. Adam Schiff About Planetary Science

Posted by Casey Dreier on 2013/03/05 06:53 CST

Rep. Adam Schiff is holding an online town hall on Wednesday, March 6th at 2:30pm PST. If you live in his district, it is a great time to ask about the status of Planetary Science funding on Twitter or his Facebook page.

Artist's concept of comet Siding Spring passing Mars

Will comet Siding Spring make a meteor shower on Mars?

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/03/05 04:34 CST | 7 comments

JPL's Solar System Dynamics group shows that there is still a possibility that C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring) could hit Mars. But the uncertainty in its position at that time is large -- the closest approach could happen an hour earlier, or an hour later -- so we're a long way from knowing yet whether it will or (more likely) won't impact.