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30th Anniversary of The Planetary Society

The Planetary Society Blog

By Emily Lakdawalla

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Feb. 9, 2010 | 09:39 PST | 17:39 UTC

A Space Carnival (#140) and some new names for Enceladus

Permalink: http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00002339/

This week the Carnival of Space is over at one of my favorite new blogs, Lights in the Dark. Actually it's not so new -- evidently this week marks its first anniversary!

Also, yesterday there were a pile of new names announced for features on Enceladus: Al-Medinah Sulci, Al-Yaman Sulci, Andalús Sulci, Bulak Sulcus, Makran Sulci, Misr Sulci, Shiraz Sulcus, Sind Sulci, Bishangarh Fossae, and Kaukabán Fossae. This is great, because one of those, Bishangarh, is the name of a feature for which I really needed a name a couple weeks ago when I posted about Bernhard Braun's pretty 3D views of Mars and Enceladus.

Click to enlarge >

3D view of an Enceladan landscape
This 3D view of Enceladus is based upon a topographic model calculated using photoclinometry on a single Cassini image of the moon. It is looking along a newly named set of fractures named Bishangarh Fossae. Credit: Image data: NASA / JPL / SSI; 3D model: Bernhard Braun

To see how all of Enceladus' names plot on the map, you can download the official map from the United States Geological Survey (in PDF format, several MB).

Feb. 9, 2010 | 09:32 PST | 17:32 UTC

Pretty picture: Opportunity around Concepcion

Permalink: http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00002338/

Here's a neat picture from Opportunity, a panorama composed of its wide-angle, mast-mounted Navcam cameras, showing the crater Concepcion. In this one I particularly like the parallel slices cut through a low dune by Oppy's wheels as she cut over to begin her clockwise circumnavigation of the crater. In front of her are the three cubic ejecta blocks named "Chocolate Hills."

Click to enlarge >

Concepcion crater, Opportunity sol 2147
On sol 2,147 (February 6, 2010), Opportunity had shifted around the small, fresh crater named Concepcion to check out some of its ejecta blocks. Credit: NASA / JPL / Damien Bouic

Opportunity captured a color view of the rocks from this position. There's a bit of a rind on the leftmost block, which might have been some mineral filling a fracture in the rock before the crater formed. In color, that rind is very clearly revealed to be a map of North and Central America, including Baja California, with a little less distinct mappery of part of Europe, perhaps even Australasia to the right. The martian cartographers need to go study that part of Earth a bit more. (At least that's what I see -- what do you see?)

Click to enlarge >

Chocolate Hills
Opportunity captured this view of the ejecta blocks named "Chocolate Hills" from Concepcion crater on Sol 2147 (February 6, 2010). Credit: NASA / JPL / Cornell / color composite by Stuart Atkinson

Feb. 8, 2010 | 15:50 PST | 23:50 UTC

WISE has found its first comet, P/2010 B2 (WISE)

Permalink: http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00002337/

Having discovered its first asteroid on January 12, Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) has now officially discovered its first comet, P/2010 B2 (WISE). The comet was first observed by WISE on January 22, and has since been followed up on by Mauna Kea, Spacewatch, and by Robert Holmes, a two-time winner of a Planetary Society Shoemaker NEO Grant.

Here's the Minor Planet Electronic Circular officially naming P/2010 B2 (WISE). Congratulations to all involved!

Feb. 8, 2010 | 13:21 PST | 21:21 UTC

Manic Monday: Chocolate Hills, Io, and NASA's budget

Permalink: http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00002336/

Although I am not suffering under the "snowpocalypse" on the East Coast, I woke up to Monday absolutely buried under a massive pile of things to do for both home and work, and it looks like it's going to take me a few days to dig out. So, with apologies, I'm going to make today's post a linky one.

Firstly, today's guest on Planetary Radio is my boss Lou Friedman, giving his perspective on the Administration's plans for NASA's future.

Over the weekend, Jason Perry posted a helpful roundup of the basics on Jupiter's volcanic moon Io.

And Stuart Atkinson has nicely illustrated some of the cool images coming out of Opportunity's exploration of the crater Concepcion, including some blocks of rock named "Chocolate Hills" that look as though they were hewn into neat brick shapes by an alien hand. Looked at more closely, they have neato blueberries on stalks -- it looks like the rock is sprouting snails' eyes! Bring 3D glasses if you have them. Sadly, I can never keep them on my desk -- a small person keeps stealing them.

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