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Small BodiesStories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.
A Chat on NASA, NEOs, and the Cost of Coffee on the Moon
We wanted to share a few highlights from Lou Friedman's and Bill Nye's UStream chat on The New NASA Plan.
Pretty picture: Mini-RF exposes lunar geology
There are all kinds of neat things to see in this recently released image from the Mini-RF synthetic aperture radar instrument aboard Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Hello, snowman! (Cassini observes Iapetus)
I visited the Cassini raw images site today and was pleased to see another couple of sets of images have been captured on Iapetus.
NSRC: Engaging the Interested Public
I gave a presentation this morning to the Next-generation Suborbital Researchers Conference (NSRC) on
Lovely album of photos from WISE
Today the Wide-field Survey Explorer (WISE) team released a small album of beautiful astrophotos.
Carnival of Space #141
Wander on over to StarryCritters for the 141st Carnival of Space!
Cassini tour page updated for the Solstice Mission
My enormously long page describing the details of Cassini's tour -- each and every Cassini orbit of Saturn -- is now updated to include the entire Solstice Mission, which doubles its length.
Cassini eyes the eyeball
On Saturday, Cassini flew within 9,500 kilometers of Mimas, the innermost of the medium-sized icy moons of Saturn.
Inside the U.N.'s Near Earth Object Working Group
This week Bruce Betts is attending a U.N. meeting in Austria, in particular the parts focused on international considerations of the near-Earth object threat.
Revolutionary NASA Solar Explorer Roars to Space
Planetary Society volunteer Ken Kremer reports for us from the Kennedy Space Center, where he is covering the launch of Space Shuttle Endeavour, set to launch this weekend.
Calypso coolness
Cassini got pretty close to Calypso yesterday, on the way in to Mimas. Calypso is one of the smaller moonlets of Saturn.
Planetary Society Researcher Max Rocca Discovers Largest Impact Crater in South America
It was January of 2004 when the elegant curve of the Vichada first caught the attention of geologist Max Rocca of Buenos Aires. Could the course of the river have been shaped by the circular outlines of an impact crater? Rocca decided to find out.
Twenty years since Voyager's last view
On Sunday comes the twentieth anniversary of an iconic image from the Voyager mission: the
Hubble sees both of Saturn's aurorae
Yesterday, the European wing of the Hubble PR machine released this cool image of Saturn and its aurorae, with an associated video.
Find pics and track the rovers in Google Mars
I think a goodly proportion of you readers have already figured this out for yourselves since it was launched last March, but I didn't download and install it until last weekend, so this is new to me: Google Mars is awesome.
Dawn Journal: Thruster Two's Time to Shine
Dawn is outfitted with three ion thrusters, assigned the heartwarming names thruster #1, thruster #2, and thruster #3.
A Space Carnival (#140) and some new names for Enceladus
This week the Carnival of Space is over at one of my favorite new blogs, Lights in the Dark. Actually it's not so new -- evidently this week marks its first anniversary!
Pretty picture: Opportunity around Concepcion
Here's a neat picture from Opportunity, a panorama composed of its wide-angle, mast-mounted Navcam cameras, showing the crater Concepcion.
Endeavour Launch Ignites Night Sky
Planetary Society volunteer Ken Kremer is reporting for us from the Kennedy Space Center, where he is covering the launch of Space Shuttle Endeavour, set to launch this weekend.
WISE has found its first comet, P/2010 B2 (WISE)
Having discovered its first asteroid on January 12, Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) has now officially discovered its first comet, P/2010 B2 (WISE).