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Stories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.
The Orbital Dance of Epimetheus and Janus
Saturn is surrounded by a crowded family of rings and moons, and two of those moons -- Epimetheus and Janus -- orbit Saturn so close together that it seems as though their different orbital speeds should make them crash into each other.
Where is New Horizons now?
It's in space, of course, and has a very, very long way to go to Pluto (nearly 50 billion kilometers). But it's finally more than 1 Astronomical Unit from the Sun.
New Horizons update
I received a lot of email over the weekend about New Horizons. Many of them were expressing concern about how little news there has been since launch. Have no fear.
OK, back to New Horizons!
So the Stardust press conference is still going on on NASA TV, but I am now turning to the Internet to monitor the status of New Horizons' third attempted launch day.
New Horizons post-launch press conference
I am updating this as I take notes from the press conference.
After the launch
We just got back from the real post-launch party, following two non-post-launch parties on the last two evenings. This was more like it.
How New Horizons' launch date affects its arrival date
I was looking at that table of launch times for New Horizons and realized that the table included another valuable column of data that I hadn't noticed before: it tells you what year New Horizons will arrive, for each of the possible launch dates.
New Horizons launch scrubbed for today.
Well, it was a nail-biting morning and too bad that New Horizons didn't go but these things happen pretty frequently.
Philosophical after the first day's launch attempt
Oh well, the Sun sets on an earthbound New Horizons at least one more time. The first day's launch attempt was a strange experience in retrospect.
Less than 24 hours to New Horizons' Launch
New Horizons just experienced what we hope will be its last ever sunset on Earth. There will be three more sunsets to come.
Looking Forward to New Horizons' Launch (15 January 2006)
Another quick post from the Cape. Yesterday was our final pre-launch meeting of the Science Team.
Looking Forward to New Horizons' Launch (13 January 2006)
We're at the Cape! More properly, we're at Cocoa Beach just down the coast, having flown in from Denver today.
New Horizons progress report
There's a new
Looking Forward to New Horizons' Launch (12 January 2006)
This is probably my last missive before Jane and I leave for the Cape on Friday in preparation for the launch.
What will happen just after New Horizons' launch
Over the weekend, New Horizons principal investigator Alan Stern posted a new
Great news for New Horizons
I'll just make this an
Looking Forward to New Horizons' Launch (9 January 2006)
I'm at home on a Sunday morning, five days before leaving for the Cape (assuming the current launch schedule, with the first launch opportunity on January 17th, continues to hold).
Looking Forward to New Horizons' Launch (2 January 2006)
I've been sifting through the data I obtained last week on the lightcurve of binary Kuiper Belt object 1998 SM165 during my three nights on the Lowell Observatory 72
Pretty Cassini pictures from near the ring plane
It's been a while since I posted some Cassini pictures here just because they were pretty.
Analyzing the first published Huygens results
I am working my way steadily through the seven Huygens papers that were released by Nature magazine Wednesday on their