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Small BodiesStories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.
How the Falcon Heavy could revolutionize exploration of the ocean worlds
SpaceX's Falcon Heavy is not just for big payloads, it can also throw light things into space very fast. And that has significant implications for the exploration of distant destinations in our outer solar system—particularly the ocean moons of the giant planets.
Cassini’s Last Dance With Saturn: The Farewell Mosaic
Amateur image processor Ian Regan shares the story of processing Cassini's final images of the ringed planet.
Fall 2017 issue of The Planetary Report now available
The Fall 2017 issue of The Planetary Report is in the mail and available online now to our members!
Cassini: The dying of the light
Cassini is no more. At 10:31 according to its own clock, its thrusters could no longer hold its radio antenna pointed at Earth, and it turned away. A minute later, it vaporized in Saturn’s atmosphere. Its atoms are part of Saturn now.
Voyager 40th anniversary: Revisiting the Voyagers' planetary views
Björn Jónsson argues that even now, 40 years after Voyager 1 and 2 were launched, a lot of the data they returned is still of high interest.
Cassini's 'Grand Finale' Portrait of Saturn
Amateur image processor Ian Regan shares a stunning mosaic of Saturn in all its ringed glory.
Saturn and Titan in the Milky Way
An unusual photo of Saturn by astrophotographer Damian Peach shows the planet and its largest moon nestled among the star-filled lane of the Milky Way.
Trusty Cassini survives first dive between Saturn and its rings
Cheers erupted in the Von Karman auditorium at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory early Thursday morning as a squiggly green line on a graph developed a crisp, tall peak, signifying that the Cassini spacecraft was calling home after surviving its first plunge between Saturn and its ring system.
This weekend, it's the beginning of the end for Cassini
NASA's long-lived Cassini spacecraft is about to buzz Titan for the final time, putting it on course for a spectacular mission finale that concludes in September.
Another smoking gun in the search for life in Enceladus’ ocean
NASA's Cassini spacecraft sniffed out molecular hydrogen spewing from Enceladus' subsurface ocean. The discovery means Saturn's moon has all the basic ingredients needed to support life.
Cassini, with only a half-year to go at Saturn, just keeps dropping awesome images
Our latest roundup of Cassini goodies from Saturn includes Pan, a ravioli-shaped moon that orbits inside the planet's ring system.
Did Voyager 1 capture an image of Enceladus' plumes erupting?
Amateur image processor Ted Stryk revisited Voyager 1 data of Enceladus and came across a surprise.
Saturn's Ring Particles
Artist and astrophotographer Judy Schmidt brings us a view from within the rings of Saturn.
A week in the solar system
A roundup of pretty pictures and news from our robotic ambassadors around the solar system, from November 4 through 8.
Oppositions, conjunctions, seasons, and ring plane crossings of the giant planets
When are the solstices and equinoxes on the giant planets, and when are they best positioned for view from Earth? I ask these questions a lot as I write about Earth photos of giant planets, and I finally decided to gather the answers to those questions in a single post.
Three bright planets: Portraits from the Pyrenees
It's a great time to go outdoors and look at planets. I have three glorious planetary portraits to share today, sent to me by amateur astronomer Jean-Luc Dauvergne.
New work with 35-year-old data: Voyagers at Ganymede and Saturn
The Voyager data set is a gift to Earth that keeps on giving. This week, I've seen three great new images processed from this old data set.
Watch the entire Cassini mission image catalog as a movie
If you were to download the entire catalog of photos taken at Saturn to date by Cassini and then animate them like a flipbook, how long would it take to watch them all pass by? The Wall Street Journal's Visual Correspondent Jon Keegan has your answer: nearly four hours.
Flawed Beauties
More examples of imperfect--but tantalizing--images from deep space.
Riding With Cassini Through 2014
Video: see some of the sights Cassini saw this year.