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Small BodiesStories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.
Strong geomagnetic storm today
This morning I received a bulletin warning of a
Pretty picture: Fly through the aurora
Space Station astronaut Soichi Noguchi is an awesome photographer. This image is going straight into the
Pretty picture: An unexplained chain of elliptical craters on the Moon
Here's the first cool pic I've managed to produce from the recently-released Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera data set.
My arduous journey to the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera images
It's been two weeks since Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter mission released a flood of data to the Planetary Data System, but I haven't posted any pictures dug out of the camera data yet. This post will explain why.
HiWish fulfilled (or, be careful what you HiWish for)
Yesterday the Jet Propulsion Laboratory issued a press release announcing the first eight image releases that resulted from HiWish suggestions.
Quaoar: A rock in the Kuiper Belt
The paper I'm writing about today,
Mimas' cold region: another new mystery for Cassini to explore
This new map of Saturn's moon Mimas -- representing data captured by the CIRS thermal infrared spectrometer during Cassini's February 13, 2010 flyby -- is just baffling.
Opportunity's at the twin craters
Just a little update here to post a Navcam panorama from Opportunity showing that the rover successfully arrived yesterday at the doublet crater she's been aiming for since she left Concepcion a couple of weeks ago.
Opportunity at Concepción from orbit
I saw this image at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference so am happy they released it: a view of Opportunity sitting on the north rim of the little, fresh Concepción crater, taken on sol 2153 (February 13, 2010).
What planet is THIS?
Check out this watery world! It's clearly a computer simulation of something, but of what? Can you guess?
Where neon falls like rain
As if Titan's methane rain weren't weird enough, Jupiter's now thought to have helium-neon rain.
A new view of Callisto
Here's a lovely amateur-produced color image of Jupiter's moon Callisto, or, as its artist Daniel Macháček calls it,
LROC spots Russian "monument" to International Women's Day
There was a piece of the Lunar-Reconnaissance-Orbiter-spots-the-Lunokhods story that I was intrigued by but just didn't have the time this week to investigate properly.
A trio of pretty Cassini pics
It's been a little while since I posted any Cassini pictures just because they were pretty, so here's a few recent ones, produced by amateurs from the images available on the Cassini raw images website.
Updates on Shoemaker NEO Grant Recipients (18 March 2010)
Our past Shoemaker NEO grant recipients have once again shown themselves to be a hardworking and enterprising group.
And now for Luna 17 and Lunokhod 1
I am delighted to report that within a day of the first view of Luna 21 and Lunokhod 2 since the end of that mission in 1973, the sister mission, Luna 17 and Lunokhod 1, has also been found.
Propose for a Shoemaker Near Earth Object Grant
Are you a serious amateur astronomer who enjoys the challenge of following up on the discoveries of faint near-Earth objects?
Lunokhod found on the Moon -- and on Earth, too
Yesterday I posted a bit of a Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter camera image showing the tracks of the Russian Lunokhod 2 rover. Today, I can post for you an image showing the rover's final resting place
Titan: Callisto with weather
It's the second time I've posted with this provocative title. This time, it's in response to a new paper published last week in Science.
The far side of Phobos
Now here is an unusual image of Phobos, Mars' moon.