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Small BodiesStories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.
New views of Lunokhod 1 and Luna 17 from Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
It is always thrilling to see relics of human exploration out there on other worlds. Today, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera team posted some new photos of two defunct spacecraft: the Luna 17 lander and the Lunokhod 1 rover. I've posted images of the two craft before, but the ones released today are much better.
Mars Above, Mars Below
With Mars at opposition once again, astronomers around the world will soon be looking up for our best telescopic views of the Red Planet. But next weekend, I and a group of scientists will be turning our gaze downward for views of that alien planet.
Big Bend designated International Dark Sky Park
The International Dark Sky Association designated Big Bend as an International Dark Sky Park, confirming its status as an incredible place to stargaze.
Comparing Chang'e 2 and Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter maps of the Moon
How does the LRO lunar map compare with the new Chinese product from Chang'e 2?
Six days in the crater (day one)
This is the first in a series of posts based on field notes and memories supplemented by background reading material from the Meteor Crater Field Camp that was held from October 17-23, 2010.
GRAIL MoonKAM's first (released) video of the Moon
Here's the first release from MoonKAM, tiny cameras included on both GRAIL spacecraft whose only purpose is public outreach. Classrooms can sign up for opportunities to propose sites to image.
Parallel planetary processes create semantic headaches
I ran into a semantic problem today: what to call the science of studying liquids on Titan?
Evaporites on Titan
Evaporites form on planetary surfaces when dissolved chemical solids precipitate out of saturated solution as their liquid solvent evaporates and, until recently, were known to exist only on Earth and Mars. This article from the IAG Planetary Geomorphology Working Group describes the third planetary instance of evaporite, discovered on Saturn's moon Titan.
Steno's principles and planetary geology
The Google Doodle for January 11, 2012 celebrates Nicholas Steno, one of the founding fathers of modern geology, on the occasion of his 374th birthday. This article describes Steno's set of rules that guide geologists in reading rocks to tell the story of how a place came to be and how the rules are currently used in geology.
The state of Earth observation, January 2012
As of November 2011, the Earth Observing Handbook counts 109 active missions to study the Earth as a planet, with 112 more approved and planned for the future. Jason Davis provides an overview of key current and upcoming earth-observing missions.
Anahita's first eclipse
Emily wakes up her 5-year-old daughter to experience her first lunar eclipse.
The 70-meter dishes of the Deep Space Network
I was inspired by my recent trip to Goldstone to put together this poster showing all three of the great 70-meter dishes of the Deep Space Network. There's one at each of the three complexes, at Goldstone, at Robledo (near Madrid, Spain), and at Tidbinbilla (near Canberra, Australia).
Earth science's next big thing
Meet the next big thing in NASA's mission to study planet Earth: NPP, the NPOESS Preparatory Project satellite.
Video: Soaring over Earth
This amazing video has already been posted by basically every other space blogger but I can't resist featuring it too, especially because I just realized that it was not made by NASA but instead by a member of the public digging into public NASA archives of image data -- yay for amateurs!
Scale solar system presentation slide, a provisional version for you to review
I'm preparing a talk for the Pacific Astronomy and Telescope Show here in Pasadena on Sunday afternoon at 1:45. I have spent the morning putting together a slide that I have long wanted to have for presentations.
New Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter photos show Apollo sites in sharpest detail yet
On September 6, NASA released new high-resolution photos from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) showing the Apollo 12, 14 and 17 landing sites from vantage points as close as 21 kilometers.
Pretty picture: Earth and Moon from JunoCam
It's always awe-inspiring to see our great world as just a tiny spot within vast space. The latest spacecraft to get such a view of Earth and the Moon is the Jupiter-bound Juno.
NASA thinks Earth is a planet, too
Although much of the publicity NASA receives focuses on planetary exploration, Earth observing satellites like Aqua keep tabs on our home planet's weather and climate.
Origins 2011 conference, part 1
The Origins 2011 conference, which took place last week in Montpellier, France, was dedicated to the origins of life and its occurrence in the universe. At this meeting, scientists from very different disciplines came together to share their ideas.
Citizen Science projects for Planetary Science: Get Involved! Do Science!
Citizen Science projects let volunteers easily contribute to active science programs. They're useful when there is so much data it overwhelms computing algorithms (if they exist) or the scientific research team attempting to process it.