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Small BodiesStories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.
China invites public on-board its robotic missions; and how to download Chang'e data
China plans a busy future in robotic space exploration. Besides the scientific merit, what interests me most about the upcoming Chang'e 4 mission is their intention to get the public involved.
Two epic photos of Earth -- but which one is truer?
Two images of Earth taken from different spacecraft at the same time illustrate differences in
For the first time ever, a Curiosity Mastcam self-portrait from Mars
In a remarkable and wholly unexpected gift to Curiosity fans, the rover has just taken the first-ever color Mastcam self-portrait from Mars.
Worth the wait: First public release of Rosetta science camera images of comet 67P
Finally! It has been a long wait, but so worth it: the Rosetta OSIRIS science camera team has delivered the first pile of data from the rendezvous with comet 67P to ESA's Planetary Science Archive. I have spent a good chunk of the last three days playing with the data, and it's spectacular.
Colors in Planetary Imaging
When looking at an image of, say, a galaxy, have you ever wondered to yourself, “Is this real?” Trevor Rector explains how astronomical images are processed.
Jupiter's Great Red Spot
On the 20th anniversary of Galileo's orbit insertion around Jupiter, amateur image processor Björn Jónsson shares some of the mission's first images of Jupiter's iconic massive storm.
The round worlds in the solar system: An updated graphic
I have a newly updated scale comparison graphic to share: all the round worlds in the solar system smaller than 10,000 kilometers in diameter, now with added Pluto, Charon, and Ceres.
Dawn data from Ceres publicly released: Finally, color global portraits!
A few days ago, Dawn officially released the first big pile of data from the Ceres mission phase. Thanks to the public release, I can show you color global portraits of Ceres.
Spectacular New Horizons photo of Pluto's hazes and mountains: How it was made
Today, New Horizons released a stunning new image of Pluto's backlit mountains and hazes. I explain how the image was taken with its Ralph Multispectral Visible Imaging Camera.
Finding the Surveyor retro-rockets on the Moon
Planetary scientist Phil Stooke may have found the retro-rockets from NASA's Lunar Surveyor missions, sent to the Moon in preparation for Apollo.
Roundup of the September 11, 2015 New Horizons raw image release
Last Friday the Internet received its first post-encounter pile of goodies from the New Horizons flyby of the Pluto system.
A Workhorse at Mars
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) Context Camera (CTX) is almost a silent star at Mars. The latest MRO data release brought the total number of available CTX images to over 70,000, covering well over 90% of the Red Planet at a stunning resolution of 6 meters per pixel.
Dawn Ceres image bonanza: Grab your 3D glasses!
For months, Dawn has been steadily, methodically sharing dozens of images of brand-new sights of a previously unexplored icy world. For the last couple of days I've been making up for lost time, completely buried in the Dawn Ceres images, and I have some maps and 3D anaglyphs to share with you.
Three space fan visualizations of New Horizons' Pluto-Charon flyby
It has been a difficult wait for new New Horizons images, but the wait is almost over; Alan Stern announced at today's Outer Planets Advisory Group meeting that image downlink will resume September 5. In the meantime, a few space fans are making the most of the small amount of data that has been returned to date.
ESA's cool new interactive comet visualization tool based on amateur imaging work with open data
A terrific new visualization tool for comet 67/P Churyumov-Gerasimenko demonstrates the value of sharing mission image data with the public. The browser-based tool lets you spin a simulated 3D view of the comet. It began with a 3D model of the comet created not by ESA, but by a space enthusiast, Mattias Malmer.
New Curiosity Self-Portrait
Amateur image processor Damia Bouic shares new stunning images from Curiosity—including a
New Horizons: Awaiting the data
New Horizons' encounter and data downlinks have been going exactly as planned, but the raw image website has not been updated for many days. What's going on? I found out.
Pluto's progression: Third-to-last Pluto day before encounter
Only two days remain until New Horizons' historic encounter with Pluto....two Pluto days, that is. Pluto and Charon rotate together once every 6.4 days, so as New Horizons has approached the pair over the last week, we've been treated to one stately progression of all of their longitudes.
New Horizons update: Resolving features on Charon and seeing in color
Only about three weeks remain until the flyby — it's getting really close! I almost don't want the anticipation to end. New Horizons is now getting color images and is seeing features on Charon. Deep searches have yielded no new moons.
Pluto and Charon spin among the stars
I've spent a happy couple of days playing with raw data downloaded from the New Horizons website, making animations of the dances of Pluto and Charon.