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The Planetary Society Blog
Archive
Archived posts are listed in reverse chronological order.
Dec. 30, 2011 | 15:06 PST | 23:06 UTC
What is space exploration worth?
In the hours after Curiosity launched last month, there were more than a few people questioning the worth of spending two and a half billion dollars to launch a spacecraft to Mars. This is absolutely a fair question to ask. It's important to place... More»
Dec. 29, 2011 | 16:57 PST | Dec. 30 00:57 UTC
What's up in the solar system in January 2012, and the rest of the year
There will be no planetary launches in 2012, but there is still plenty of deep-space activity to look forward to over the coming year. I count 24 spacecraft currently exploring or en route to points across the solar system. The year will start with... More»
Dec. 28, 2011 | 16:21 PST | Dec. 29 00:21 UTC
Ringing in the New Year with two new arrivals to the Moon
The twin GRAIL spacecraft are nearly at the end of their three-month cruises to the Moon. On New Year's Eve at 21:21 UTC, GRAIL-A will enter orbit, and GRAIL-B will follow on New Year's Day at 22:05. Each will fire its main engine for about 40... More»
Dec. 27, 2011 | 09:34 PST | 17:34 UTC
Lovely Lovejoy pictures
Catching up from a few days' vacation over Christmas, here's a quick post with just a few of the amazing photos of Comet Lovejoy that have been taken from the southern hemisphere over the last few days. Comet Lovejoy is the first Kreutz sungrazer... More»
Dec. 22, 2011 | 11:22 PST | 19:22 UTC
Project for Awesome Video On Behalf of the Planetary Society
By Mat Kaplan
I was poking around YouTube a few days ago when I found this very entertaining little tribute video by WhirledSol. We've gotten a big kick out of it here at Society HQ, and I bet you will, too. He does a terrific job of capturing why... More»
Dec. 22, 2011 | 10:52 PST | 18:52 UTC
Pretty pictures from Cassini's recent Dione flyby
Cassini flew close by Dione on December 12 and, as usual, the close pass provided opportunities for lots of dramatic photos, not just of Dione, but of other moons wandering by in the background. I've been playing with them a little and thought it... More»
Dec. 22, 2011 | 06:52 PST | 14:52 UTC
Guest Post: Jason Davis: A recap of Comet Lovejoy
It's been an historic experience watching C/2011 W3, otherwise known as Comet Lovejoy, plunge through the Sun's multi-million degree corona. The comet defied expectations by not only surviving its encounter, but also by quickly re-growing a tail and... More»
Dec. 21, 2011 | 11:10 PST | 19:10 UTC
More radar images of icy moons from Cassini: Iapetus, Enceladus, and Rhea
When I posted about the really cool Cassini SAR images of Enceladus a few weeks ago, I initially wrote that this was the first-ever SAR image of an icy moon other than Titan. Several people (some readers and two members of the Cassini science... More»
Dec. 20, 2011 | 15:53 PST | 23:53 UTC
Separating fact from speculation about Kepler-20's Earth-sized planets
There's an exciting story circulating today: A large team of researchers has announced in a Nature article the discovery of not one, but two, Earth-sized planets orbiting a star named Kepler-20. Previously, the smallest-reported exoplanet was 1.42... More»
Dec. 19, 2011 | 17:57 PST | Dec. 20 01:57 UTC
Do you have an iPhone? Do you like the Mars rovers? Check out the awesome my3D viewer.
If you have an iPhone, and you are into Mars rovers, I very strongly recommend that you acquire a Hasbro my3D viewer without delay. (If you don't have an iPhone, there's still 3D coolness in this post for you, so keep reading.) The my3D basically... More»
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