Articles

Stories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.

Review: Phil Plait's Bad Universe, new series on Discovery

I got an advance copy of the first episode of

Jupiter's swirling storms from Voyager 1

Amateur image mage Björn Jónsson has recently turned his attention back to Voyager 1's close-up images of Jupiter.

A first look at distant hills

Rover fans have been excitedly watching the hills on Opportunity's horizon grow taller and taller as Opportunity rolls toward its destination, Endeavour crater.

Finding a fireball in a Voyager 1 image of the dark side of Jupiter

The August 20, 2010 Jupiter fireball -- and the March 5, 1979 one

Following up on the story I first posted on August 22, the Jupiter impact fireball first noticed by Japanese amateur astronomer Masayuki Tachikawa has been independently confirmed by two other Japanese astronomers.

A space calendar in "the cloud"

I've spent today fiddling around with Google Calendar and have created a wholly new calendar of space events for the blog.

Yet another Jupiter impact!? August 20, seen from Japan

This may be a very common event after all: another optical flash has been observed on Jupiter, again from an observer far east of the Greenwich meridian, though it was not Anthony Wesley (for once).

Three things to watch

It's high summer (in the northern hemisphere anyway) and many of you may be seeking shelter from the heat. If you need to collapse on the couch and watch TV, I have three space-y recommendations for you.

Exposing Io's true colors

Thanks to its active volcanic activity and sulfur-rich surface, Io is one of the most colorful worlds yet seen in the Solar System, save the Earth of course

Review: "The Complete Sky & Telescope: Seven Decade Collection"

Sky & Telescope has just issued a set of 10 DVDs that contain every issue of the magazine published from the premier issue in November 1941 through December 2009, chronicling seven decades of scientific discovery and, of course, the entirety of the Space Age.

The edge of "round": Three half-megameter moons

Part of the definition of a planet is a solar system body's roundness.

Earth and the Moon from much closer to the Sun

MESSENGER: A snapshot of home

MESSENGER is in a unique position in the solar system, orbiting the Sun well within the orbit of Venus. From there, it can gaze outward from the Sun to search for tiny objects that may possibly be traveling in the same region, called vulcanoids.

Decoding a Titan crater

In response to Emily's entry about finally getting her hands on a subscription to the planetary science journal Icarus, I thought I would report on an article from the most recent issue: Geology of the Selk crater region on Titan from Cassini VIMS observations, by Jason Soderblom and 11 other scientists.