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Small BodiesStories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.
Calypso coolness
Cassini got pretty close to Calypso yesterday, on the way in to Mimas. Calypso is one of the smaller moonlets of Saturn.
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.
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.
New maps of Pluto show pretty amazing amounts of surface change
I just posted my writeup of today's press briefing on a new map of Pluto produced from Hubble images. The main conclusion was that Pluto has shown an astonishing amount of changes across its surface between 1994 and 2002 -- more, in fact, than any other solid surface in the solar system.
Way-cool Martian flyovers by Doug Ellison
Doug Ellison has been playing with Martian digital terrain models recently, to great effect.
Spectacular Hubble view of the aftermath of an asteroid collision
Hubble has caught an astonishing view of something that's never before been observed, the aftermath of a collision between two asteroids in the main belt.
Mars Express animation of Phobos' shadow transiting Mars
For the first time ever, Mars Express' Visual Monitoring Camera has imaged the shadow of Mars' moon Phobos crossing the surface of Mars.
A pretty picture of Concepcion crater
It looks like the rover team thinks Concepcion is pretty enough (in both aesthetic and a scientific senses) to be worthy of the full-color Pancam panorama treatment; color frames started arriving on Earth over the weekend.
Awesome New Mars Flyovers
Check out these awesome flyovers of Mars, generated by Doug Ellison of UnmannedSpaceflight!
Cassini Aegaeon and Prometheus awesomeness
There were many, many treats waiting on the Cassini raw images website this morning. Yesterday, Cassini traversed the G ring, taking photos all the way.
WISE bags its first near-Earth object, 2010 AB78
The Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) just took its lens cap off on December 29, and posted its
Mars and a moonbow
Moonbows represent the same phenomenon as rainbows, it's just that the light from the Sun has reflected off of the Moon first before it's separated into its colors by the myriad tiny water droplets in the cloud.
Figuring out the shape of Mars (and other places)
An amateur named Bernhard Braun (
Buttoning up the Mars Orbiter Camera science investigation
The science team for Mars Orbiter Camera, or
Highlights from the January 1, 2010 Cassini imaging data release
The January 1, 2010 Cassini imaging data release includes everything acquired by Cassini from January 1 to March 30, 2009 in all its high-quality glory.
Odyssey's going to start listening for Phoenix
It's been the second most popular question I get from readers:
Asteroid 2867 Steins
This description of asteroid 2867 Steins is based upon an article published in the January 8, 2010 issue of Science by H. Uwe Keller and numerous coauthors and on a related press release.
Spirit's still "extricating"
It's been two months, now, that extrication efforts have been going on. It's discouraging that the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit isn't out of the trap.
400 Years of the Galilean Satellites
It was 400 years ago today that Galileo discovered smaller planets attending the planet Jupiter.