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Stories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.
In his own words: Mike Massimino on how he "nearly broke" Hubble
In an enthralling article for Esquire magazine, astronaut Mike Massimino writes about nearly failing to repair the Hubble Space Telescope, and how the people of Earth came to his rescue.
Caution: Spacecraft Under Construction
Join Emily Lakdawalla and Mat Kaplan inside JPL's High Bay 1, where two Earth-revealing missions are being readied for launch.
Hubble captures time-lapse of comet ISON
The Hubble Space Telescope captured a series of images showing Comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) plunging toward the sun.
Lesser-known views of Uranus and Neptune
Despite the fact that Voyager 2 returned relatively few high-resolution images from either Uranus or Neptune, there are many more photos in the archives than regularly make it to public view.
Astronomy Enters a New Era
A live conversation about just a few of the powerful new instruments that will revolutionize our knowledge of the cosmos once again.
An Amazing Evening for Planetary Defense
Bill Nye, Bruce Betts, Mat Kaplan, Meteorite Man Geoffrey Notkin and stars of planetary science at the Planetary Defense Conference public event in Flagstaff.
Planetary Society Weekly Hangout: The Ice Giants, with Heidi Hammel
My guest this was Planetary Society Board vice president Heidi Hammel. We discussed two planets near and dear to our hearts, Neptune and Uranus. What's new on these icy worlds since Voyager 2 passed by, and what are the prospects for their future exploration?
Planetary Society Weekly Hangout: Being WISE about asteroids, comets, and brown dwarfs with Amy Mainzer
This week I'll be talking with NEOWISE principal investigator Amy Mainzer about moving objects that the WISE mission has spotted both inside and outside our solar system.
When will New Horizons have better views of Pluto than Hubble does?
Last week, I posted an explainer on why Hubble's images of galaxies show so much more detail than its images of Pluto. Then I set you all a homework problem: when will New Horizons be able to see Pluto better than Hubble does? Here's the answer.
Why can Hubble get detailed views of distant galaxies but not of Pluto?
How come Hubble's pictures of galaxies billions of light years away are so beautifully detailed, yet the pictures of Pluto, which is so much closer, are just little blobs? I get asked this question, or variations of it, a lot. Here's an explainer.
Planetary Society Weekly Hangout, Thu Feb 14 1200PT/2000UT: Courtney Dressing
Emily Lakdawalla and Courtney Dressing talked about just how common Earth-sized exoplanets may be in our neighborhood. Watch the replay here.
The raw data behind an Earth-like exoplanet
Taking a closer look at KOI 172.02, a super-Earth exoplanet sitting in its solar system's habitable zone.
Report from AAS: Exoplanets (and exo-asteroids, and exo-comets) everywhere
This year's American Astronomical Society meeting featured tons and tons of news on exoplanets. They're everywhere! And not just planets, but also asteroids, comets, and more....
Can you find a new planet?
A change in the Kepler data delivery process provides both scientists and the public to get involved in planet discovery.
Crowdsourcing the Andromeda Galaxy
Scientists would like your help starting at high-resolution images of the Andromeda Galaxy captured by the Hubble Space Telescope.
DPS 2012, Monday: Icy moons and a four-star exoplanet
In the first full day of the annual meeting of the Division of Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society, I listened to scientific sessions on icy worlds and on an exoplanet in a four-star system.
Exploring the XDF: The Hubble eXtreme Deep Field
The newly-released eXtreme Deep Field takes us even further back into the history of our universe than the Ultra Deep Field or UDF.
NITARP seeks educators for NASA astronomy research
NITARP seeks educators interested in teaming up with NASA astronomers to perform genuine astronomical research.
New spots on Uranus
New Hubble photos show that Uranus has both dark and bright spots!
Salacia: As big as Ceres, but much farther away
A newly published paper shows trans-Neptunian object Salacia to be unexpectedly large; it's somewhere around the tenth largest known thing beyond Neptune. It has a companion one-third its size, making it appear similar to Orcus and Vanth.



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