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Small BodiesStories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.
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.
Radar in Earth and Planetary Science: An Intro
Heather Hunter explains how radar works and what it's used for on Earth and beyond.
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.
Explorer of Enceladus and Titan
For the third time in less than a decade, scientists have proposed a multiple-flyby mission to explore the habitability of Saturn’s ocean moons Titan and Enceladus.
Amazing photos of tiny moons as Cassini orbits among the rings
Behold: Daphnis, the tiny, 8-kilometer moon that orbits within a ring gap, gently tugging on the edges of the gap to create delicate scallops.
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.
Serene Saturn (or the “Glutton for Punishment” mosaic)
A week ago Saturday I decided -- against my better judgment -- to tackle this monster of a mosaic. I call it the
Cassini's camera views of Titan's polar lakes in summer, processed into pseudocolor
Titan's north polar lakes are well-lit by summer sun in these recent Cassini images. Image processing enthusiast Ian Regan shares his recipe for processing the longer-wavelength Titan images into visually pleasing
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.
The what-o-sphere? An explainer
Why do we need to slice up atmospheres into classifications like the troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, and thermosphere?
Atmospheric Waves Awareness: An Explainer
There are two types of atmospheric waves that are critically important on Earth and other planets: gravity waves and planetary waves.
Fog Detection from the Surface of Titan: New Findings From Old Data
Huygens may have landed on Titan over a decade ago, but a group of researchers from York University were able to make a new and unexpected discovery with this older dataset.
LPSC 2016: Icy Satellite Science
This year’s Lunar and Planetary Science Conference devoted two oral presentation sessions to questions related to icy satellites in our solar system. Jessica Noviello reports back from the conference.