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The Planetary Society Blog
Archive
Archived posts are listed in reverse chronological order.
Nov. 11, 2010 | 09:48 PST | 17:48 UTC
The Disturbance is Starting
Jupiter's faded belt may be coming back.
Jupiter's South Equatorial Belt -- one of the two broad red stripes that are usually visible across its disk in even small telescopes -- faded into a pale white earlier this year. As I wrote in June, it's... More»
Nov. 11, 2010 | 08:13 PST | 16:13 UTC
DPS 2010: Centaurs and Trans-Neptunian objects
While cleaning out my files to switch to a new computer I realized I never posted this entry from a month ago. Better late than never!
I attended all day Tuesday of the Division of Planetary Sciences meeting on October 5, but even though I was... More»
Nov. 10, 2010 | 15:46 PST | 23:46 UTC
Opportunity bags a few craters
The Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has been driving, driving, driving, as the terrain between her and the rim of Endeavour crater gets steadily easier to traverse. In the last few days, she's passed by several craters, and the rover drivers... More»
Nov. 9, 2010 | 16:05 PST | Nov. 10 00:05 UTC
WISE's first brown (green?) dwarf
Look at the center of this star-studded image and you'll find an emerald green dot. That is a nearby brown dwarf, bigger than a planet but barely a star, that's dimly glowing away at a temperature not a whole lot hotter than the inside of your... More»
Nov. 9, 2010 | 13:18 PST | 21:18 UTC
An awesome animation of Jupiter's clouds
Ready to see something beautiful? Here's a team effort by Björn Jónsson (who did the image processing) and Ian Regan (who tweened the animation) to create a really mesmerizing view of the motions of Jupiter's clouds. Through the magic... More»
Nov. 9, 2010 | 12:13 PST | 20:13 UTC
In which I finally write up last week's Deep Impact Hartley 2 press briefing
On Thursday, November 4, at 13:50 UTC, Deep Impact flew within 700 kilometers of comet Hartley 2. Hartley 2 is the smallest and most active of the five comets that have been directly by a spacecraft, and the first to be visited within the lifetime... More»
Nov. 8, 2010 | 15:48 PST | 23:48 UTC
Eris might be smaller than Pluto after all (but it's still more massive)
"Eris, the goddess of discord and strife and the most massive dwarf planet, is up to her usual tricks," says Mike Brown, Eris' discoverer. Eris, you may remember, is the thing out there in the Kuiper belt whose discovery precipitated the crisis... More»
Nov. 8, 2010 | 14:31 PST | 22:31 UTC
Hydrogen Fuel Leak Postpones Discovery Launch to November 30
by Ken Kremer
A significant leak of highly flammable hydrogen gas in a critical vent line prompted NASA to scrub Friday's launch attempt of Space Shuttle Discovery to the International Space Station. NASA mission managers have postponed the final... More»
Nov. 8, 2010 | 10:19 PST | 18:19 UTC
Fly over Mars
Adrian Lark has posted several new flights over gorgeous Martian landscapes to his Youtube channel. My favorite of his recent ones is this dive into Zumba crater:
But don't miss the other recently posted videos, flying around West Holden crater,... More»
Nov. 5, 2010 | 16:17 PDT | 23:17 UTC
Hartley 2 compared to other comets, and in motion 3D
I had to catch up with tasks left undone at home today and didn't have time to write up my notes from the Hartley 2 press briefing, for which I apologize. I'll leave you for the weekend with three cool Hartley 2 pictures.
First, I've composed a... More»
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