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Stories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.
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,
Sweet dreams, Spirit
Spirit had been communicating on a once-per-week schedule in recent weeks. During the designated time for the rover to communicate with NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter passing overhead on March 30, Odyssey heard nothing from the rover.
Mars Exploration Rovers Update: Spirit Begins Hibernation Probably, Opportunity Roves On to Endeavour Crater
March seems to have come in like a lamb and gone out like a lion on the Red Planet this year as the Mars Exploration Rovers trudged deeper into their fourth winter. While Opportunity finished up work at Concepcin Crater and shifted into gear back on the road to Endeavour Crater, Spirit finished up winter preparations and carried out a limited winter agenda before shifting, it appears, into hibernation mode.
Downloading the "First Voyage into the PDS" class
Here's how to watch the class on how to access Voyager data through the Planetary Data System, which I conducted to a small audience this morning.
Dawn Journal: It's Just a Phase
Our interplanetary adventurer still has a great deal of ion thrusting to complete before it can begin its orbital exploration of Vesta next year.
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.
Happy, happy day: We may see the right MastCam on MSL after all
I heard some absolutely terrific news about the MSL mission yesterday.
Hayabusa update: Traverse to night-side approach successful
Hayabusa's mission team has successfully shifted the little spacecraft's approach trajectory from the day side to the night side of Earth, a critical maneuver for the survival of the sample return capsule.
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.
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).
Hayabusa update: Last modifications to Earth return trajectory
An update on Hayabusa posted to the JAXA website by project manager Junichiro Kawaguchi.
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.
Akatsuki arrives at Tanegashima Space Center
The Akatsuki spacecraft (also known as PLANET-C or Venus Climate Orbiter) arrived this evening, Japanese time, at the Tanegashima Space Center.
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.



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