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Small BodiesStories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.
Three days to Lutetia for Rosetta!
On July 10, 2010, at 15:44:56 UTC, the Rosetta spacecraft will fly within 3,162 kilometers of the largest asteroid yet visited by a spacecraft.
Sharpest-ever images of Daphnis
As promised last week, Cassini has delivered its best photos yet of the tiny moon Daphnis, the ringmoon that is responsible for carving out the skinny Keeler gap at the outer edge of Saturn's A ring.
A look inside the Hayabusa sample capsule
A very brief item posted on the Hayabusa website included two pictures of the interior of its sample return capsule, one of which shows a particle.
Saturn's hexagon is not unique
It turns out that Saturn's not the only place that displays geometrical shapes in its atmosphere. Earth does too.
Elephant Skin on the Moon
There's a name for that funny hummocky texture to the lunar landscape:
One month, one journal, so many missed space stories!
Or: Emily reads you the table of contents of Icarus.
Sunrise on Mars
Here is a photo crafted from data that are nearly as old as I am, showing a beautiful sunrise on Mars.
Likely candidate for an un-collapsed lava tube
In February, the Chandrayaan-1 science team had a meeting in Ahmedabad, India, to share their results with each other.
Two moons making waves in the rings
Just a pretty picture post, a dramatic Cassini shot on the outer edge of the A ring captured earlier this month.
Lutetia in Rosetta's sights
It's unimpressive now, but in a few weeks the pinpoint of light at the center of this photo of a starry sky will loom very large to Rosetta's cameras.
Jupiter's faded belt: It's happened before, and it'll happen again
When I wrote a post about Jupiter's missing South Equatorial Belt in May, I had three main questions: how long did it take for the belt to go away, has this happened before, and how can a planet as big as Jupiter change its appearance so quickly?
Is this SMART-1's impact site?
Speaking of spacecraft crashing...
Hayabusa's return: a review
Hayabusa's return: round up some of the amazing photos, movies, and artworks that were posted and shared and Tweeted and re-Tweeted over the previous dozen hours or so.
Titan's rivers are square
There's a new
Big hunks of carbonate rock on Mars at last
Carbonate rocks should be all over Mars. But it's been hard to find carbonates—surprisingly so.
Full Triple-J Laser Interview
Hey, remember when I was randomly interviewed by the Australian radio station triple j a few weeks ago as part of their feature on the 50th anniversary of the laser?
Six days left for Hayabusa: A recap of the mission
The Hayabusa spacecraft is about to die. On Sunday, June 13, at 14:00 UTC, Hayabusa will burn up in Earth's atmosphere, bringing its dramatic seven-year mission to an end.
The June 3 Jupiter Impact: 22 hours later
Time to take stock of what happened a day ago. The worldwide, round-the-clock nature of planetary science is both exhilarating and challenging!
Confirmation of the Jupiter impact from Christopher Go
The impact flash on Jupiter observed earlier today by Anthony Wesley has been confirmed by Philippines-based amateur astronomer Christopher Go.
A NEW! Impact on Jupiter
On the same day as a team of astronomers released new Hubble Space Telescope images of last year's Jupiter impact, the original discoverer of the 2009 impact scar, Anthony Wesley, reported on an amateur astronomy forum that he had observed a new impact on Jupiter.