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Small BodiesStories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.
Grab bag: "Rocky" exoplanet, molten lunar core, Rhea close encounter
The Kepler exoplanet hunting mission has made news today with a report of
Happy 2011, and an end to the 2010 advent calendar
Welcome 2011! I can't wait for what this year has in store. The prize for all of you who have enjoyed opening each door in the Planetary Society's 2010 advent calendar is one of the best views we can get of one of the biggest objects in the asteroid belt, Vesta.
A unique look inside the SOFIA telescope and other cool stuff
Did you know that before Bill Nye was the Planetary Guy or even the Science Guy he was an aerospace engineer, designing components for the Boeing 747?
365 Days of Astronomy Podcast: What's in a Science Meeting?
Today the 365 Days of Astronomy podcast aired my contribution, What's in a Science Meeting?, about what scientists do at big meetings like the Division of Planetary Sciences.
WISE's first brown (green?) dwarf
Look at the center of this star-studded image and you'll find an emerald green dot.
DPS 2010: Pluto and Charon opposition surges, Nix and Hydra masses, Pluto and Eris compositions
An awful lot of the talks in the Pluto session on Tuesday morning, October 5, at the Division of Planetary Sciences meeting spent more time focusing on how bad weather conditions were during the astronomers' attempts to view Pluto as it occulted background stars than they did on any measurements or science that came out from the data.
Seeing Curiosity
I've been itching to get back to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to get a good look at Curiosity, the next Mars rover.
An unusual Hubble photo of Mars
Amateur image magician Ted Stryk dug up this lovely view of Mars, captured on May 9, 2003 by the Hubble Space Telescope. This photo is unusual for its relatively high phase.
Neptune from two slightly different perspectives
Coincidentally, two new images of Neptune were posted today, from two very different sources.
From the Ground and from Space, New Planetary Systems Unveiled
Two nearly simultaneous announcements by scientists that they have detected entire planetary system deep in space have set the astronomical community abuzz.
How to Recognize Titan from Quite a Long Way Away
You know, I could fill this blog almost entirely with the amazing images that Gordan Ugarkovic locates, processes into prettiness, and uploads to his Flickr account.
Progress on WISE's asteroid survey
I wrote some time ago about the expectations for the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)'s contributions to solar system science. A couple of days ago, JPL posted an image and movie documenting the progress to date.
Hubble turns 20
Tomorrow is the 20th anniversary of the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope. It's hard to believe it's been going strong for so many years.
Quaoar: A rock in the Kuiper Belt
The paper I'm writing about today,
In which I dip my toes into an ocean of Hubble data
I am just drowning in data right now, and I couldn't be happier.
WISE's weekly featured image
I'm pleased to point out that the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer mission (WISE) has started an
Lovely album of photos from WISE
Today the Wide-field Survey Explorer (WISE) team released a small album of beautiful astrophotos.
Hubble sees both of Saturn's aurorae
Yesterday, the European wing of the Hubble PR machine released this cool image of Saturn and its aurorae, with an associated video.
WISE has found its first comet, P/2010 B2 (WISE)
Having discovered its first asteroid on January 12, Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) has now officially discovered its first comet, P/2010 B2 (WISE).
New maps of Pluto show pretty amazing amounts of surface change
I just posted my writeup of today's press briefing on a new map of Pluto produced from Hubble images. The main conclusion was that Pluto has shown an astonishing amount of changes across its surface between 1994 and 2002 -- more, in fact, than any other solid surface in the solar system.