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Small BodiesStories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.
Moon Monday: Prometheus
Happy Monday! Here's a picture of Prometheus. You may think it's a picture of Saturn. Look hard, toward the bottom, and you'll see Prometheus, doing its part to keep the F ring in line.
Moon Monday: Deimos
Digging into the Viking archives to produce a new old composite of Mars' smaller moon.
Pretty Pictures of the Cosmos: Hidden in Plain Sight
Award-winning astrophotographer Adam Block shares of his latest work.
Diving into Juno JIRAM data archives
The Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper (JIRAM) instrument can obtain images in two infrared bands. JIRAM can see the nightside of Jupiter (including the winter pole) and takes spectacular animations.
A new storm on Saturn!
On March 29, vigilant astronomer Maciel Bassani Sparrenberger discovered that a new bright spot had broken out in Saturn's high northern latitudes.
Moon Monday: Galileo's Galileans
This week it seems fitting to feature a portrait of the Galilean moons by Galileo.
#MoonMon: Io's pretty plumes
On this Moon Monday, I'm featuring an animation processed by Gordan Ugarkovic, showing Jupiter's volcanic moon Io with its prominent plumes.
Moon Monday: Looking back at the Moon from Apollo 17
For this Moon Monday, Emily digs up a classic from the end of the Apollo program.
Moon Monday: Tethys from Voyager
To start the week, Voyager 2's best image of Tethys.
Opportunity's sol 5000 self-portrait
Last week the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity celebrated its 5000th sol on Mars, and it celebrated by taking the first complete Mars Exploration Rover self-portrait.
The Mars Exploration Rovers Update: Mission Completes 14 Years of Exploring, Opportunity Roves into Year 15!
In January, Opportunity quietly completed 14 years of surface operations on Mars—the longest-lived robot on another planet.
Some big moons in the Kuiper belt
In a new preprint, Mike Brown and Bryan Butler show evidence that two Kuiper belt moons are even bigger than we used to think. They are Eris' moon Dysnomia, and Orcus' moon Vanth.
A new look at Venus with Akatsuki
Amateur image processor Damia Bouic shares a plethora of stunning new images of Venus captured by a Japanese spacecraft.
Curiosity update, sols 1814-1926: Vera Rubin Ridge Walkabout
Curiosity is climbing across the top of Vera Rubin Ridge, spying varicolored rocks. It's getting closer to being ready to drill again, and has performed a wet chemistry experiment for the first time.
Pretty Pictures of the Cosmos: Snapshots of Chaos
Award-winning astrophotographer Adam Block brings us stunning images of beautifully chaotic scenes across the universe.
#DPS17: The Moon's Giordano Bruno crater through many eyes
Today's story from the Division for Planetary Sciences meeting looks at one youthful rayed crater on the Moon from many different spacecraft.
#DPS17: Wobbling the Moon and art by James Tuttle Keane
James Tuttle Keane is increasingly famous (among planetary scientists anyway) for his remarkable illustrated notes from conferences. Here's his work from the Division for Planetary Sciences meeting, illustrating both his own and others' research.
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.
A new year's worth of Mars Orbiter Mission data
India's Mars Orbiter Mission has now completed three years in orbit at Mars, and ISRO celebrated the anniversary by releasing the mission's second-year data to the public. Emily Lakdawalla spent a week downloading and processing data for your enjoyment.
Earth flyby tests OSIRIS-REx's cameras
As expected, OSIRIS-REx's Earth flyby on September 22 was a success. The mission is slowly releasing beautiful images of our home worlds taken by its many cameras following the flyby.