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Small BodiesStories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.
Carnival of Space #176 and Lou's View
Travel to Kentucky for the 176th Carnival of Space -- bet you didn't know Kentucky had space industry!
Deep Impact's encounter with Hartley 2 is beginning; flyby in 17 hours
According to the mission timeline, the Deep Impact high-resolution observations of Hartley 2 are beginning in just a few minutes, at 20:50 according to the clock on the spacecraft.
Deep Impact movies of outbursts from Hartley 2
Since comet Hartley 2 -- the target of Deep Impact's November 4 flyby -- is near its perihelion, it's no surprise that it's an active comet with lots of outbursts.
Rover news; Earth-size exoplanets; Future of Russian space
Just a linky post here.
Three days until Deep Impact's encounter with Hartley 2
The week is finally here: Deep Impact flies past Hartley 2, the smallest comet yet to be visited by a spacecraft, on Thursday, November 4 at 13:50 UTC.
Arecibo images show Hartley 2 is elongated
Comet Hartley 2, the target for Deep Impact's close flyby (now just six days away!) made its closest approach to Earth on October 20, at a distance of 17.7 million kilometers.
Pretty picture: Three moons of Saturn
The Cassini Raw Images Website always offers rewards to the browser. This evening I found the raw images necessary to create this color composite, showing the hazy orange moon Titan, the mid-sized icy moon Dione, and the tiny rock Prometheus all at the same time.
In which I report on w00tstock and wonder how to get nerds more excited about real space exploration
(I promise that this post will get around to the subject of space exploration in a couple of paragraphs.)
What's up in the solar system in November 2010
The major event of the month will be, of course, Deep Impact's flyby of small comet Hartley 2, which happens at 13:50 UTC on November 4. But there's some other things to take note of.
An update to the Cassini Tour Page
Where's the Cassini Saturn orbiter going to be in the next week -- or hundred weeks? It's all already planned out.
Holy cow, is it really the 175th Carnival of Space already?
175th Carnival of Space!? That means the Carnival of Space has been going on for nearly 4 years. Or just about 2 Mars years. Pretty amazing.
A couple of tidbits from today's Deep Impact preview briefing
Today was the press briefing that previewed the upcoming Deep Impact flyby of Hartley 2.
DPS 2010: Pluto and Charon opposition surges, Nix and Hydra masses, Pluto and Eris compositions
An awful lot of the talks in the Pluto session on Tuesday morning, October 5, at the Division of Planetary Sciences meeting spent more time focusing on how bad weather conditions were during the astronomers' attempts to view Pluto as it occulted background stars than they did on any measurements or science that came out from the data.
Tyler Nordgren's awesome "Planetary Park" posters
Tyler Nordgren's awesome "Planetary Park" posters
Curiosity Cam: Watch Men and Women in White build a Mars rover live!
Curiosity Cam: Watch Men and Women in White build a Mars rover live!
DPS 2010: Triton's craters, a friendly dispute
DPS 2010: Triton's craters, a friendly dispute
Hey Federal employees! Send your CFC funds to the Planetary Society
Hey Federal employees! Send your CFC funds to the Planetary Society
LCROSS finds lots of water in accessible places at the Moon's south pole -- but we'll have to tread carefully
LCROSS finds lots of water in accessible places at the Moon's south pole -- but we'll have to tread carefully
A Rhea flyby and a cloudy Titan with Tethys in color
A Rhea flyby and a cloudy Titan with Tethys in color
Every-other-line truncation of Cassini images
Every-other-line truncation of Cassini images