Blogs

LightSail 2 Solar Sail over Baja California

The September Equinox 2019 Issue of The Planetary Report Is Out!

Emily Lakdawalla • September 03, 2019

A new issue of The Planetary Report brings you our pride in the success of LightSail 2 and our gratitude to our members for making it happen. Plus Venus science from Akatsuki and Venus Express, and the status of planetary defense.

The Great Chelyabinsk Bolide of February 15, 2013

The State of Planetary Defense

The Planetary Report • September Solstice 2019

Vishnu Reddy delivers a sober but hopeful report on our understanding of near-Earth objects, their dangers, and our readiness.

Our asteroid hunters are trying to save the world. Here’s what they’ve been up to

Jason Davis • April 17, 2017

Here are some recent reports from our NEO Shoemaker Grant program asteroid observers, who are quite literally trying to save the world.

Asteroids and comets visited by spacecraft as of August 2014, in color, excepting Vesta

Proposals to Explore the Solar System’s Smallest Worlds

Van Kane • July 27, 2015 •

Van Kane rounds up some of the latest NASA Discovery mission proposals aiming to explore our solar system's smallest bodies.

Five steps to prevent asteroid impacts

Bruce Betts • June 30, 2015 •

For Asteroid Day, Bruce Betts reviews 5 steps needed to prevent asteroid impacts, as well as how The Planetary Society is involved in those.

Robert Holmes at the Astronomical Research Institute (ARI) in Westfield, Illinois

Shoemaker NEO Grant Winners Announced: Saving the World

Bruce Betts • April 15, 2015

The six winners of the 2015 Shoemaker NEO Grants will use the grants to upgrade their observatories to improve their abilities to study potentially dangerous asteroids.

Planetary Defense Conference: Steps to Prevent Asteroid Impact

Bruce Betts • April 13, 2015 •

From Italy, Bruce Betts gives background and information at the start of the Planetary Defense Conference, which addresses the asteroid threat. Bruce summarizes steps to prevent asteroid impact.

Donald Pray at Sugarloaf Mountain Observatory in Massachusetts, USA

Hunting Binary Asteroids

Bruce Betts • November 07, 2014

Thanks to The Planetary Society’s Shoemaker NEO Grant program, a new telescope has been brought to bear focusing on searching for and understanding the properties of binary asteroid systems.

Asteroid Workshop Streamed Public Lectures This Week

Bruce Betts • May 05, 2014 •

There is an asteroid threat and space debris workshop in Scotland this week that Planetary Society support helped lead to, and that will include two public lectures you can tune into live.

View from the southwestern tower of Arecibo Observatory

Arecibo Observatory operational after repairs to fix earthquake damage

Alessondra Springmann • April 09, 2014 •

Early in the morning on January 13, 2014, a 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck beneath the Atlantic Ocean north of Puerto Rico, damaging Arecibo Observatory, the world’s largest single-dish radio telescope. The telescope is now operational after repairs and scientists have resumed observations. However, the future of Arecibo Observatory remains unclear due to funding uncertainties in the federal budget.

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