Emily's Blog
Snapshots from Space
by Emily Lakdawalla
Follow the thrilling adventures of planetary missions, past and present, and see the stunningly beautiful photos that they return from space!
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Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/01/31 02:00 CST
We welcomed Sarah Noble to our weekly Google+ Hangout. Sarah is a lunar geologist and a civil servant working in the Research & Analysis program at NASA Headquarters, and has recently been named Program Scientist for the LADEE lunar mission.
Enceladus: A problem of contrast
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/01/30 07:00 CST | 6 comments
Time for my quarterly foray into the Cassini archival science data! The very first image I downloaded from the January 1, 2013 data release presented an interesting challenge to my image processing skill. I'll show you the pretty picture of Enceladus and then explain how I processed it.
Scientists: Register to be a Lunar and Planetary Science Conference Microblogger!
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/01/30 01:20 CST
Hey planetary scientists! Many of you know that the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC) is a great meeting in a venue that is perfect except for one thing: Internet access is positively lousy. So I'm really excited that a solution that I advocated to conference organizers is being adopted.
Curiosity update, sol 171: Placing the drill
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/01/29 11:11 CST | 1 comments
They're getting closer and closer to drilling. Curiosity now seems to be positioned in the spot where they plan to be when they execute that long-awaited first drill.
"Sand" means something different to me than it does to you, probably
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/01/24 01:28 CST | 2 comments
I had one of those "A-ha" moments last week where I suddenly realized that I had run afoul of a common problem in science communication: when the words I'm using mean something different to me than they do to almost everyone I'm talking to. The confusing word of the week: "sand."
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/01/24 10:21 CST | 3 comments
Zach Weiner's new collection of geekily awkwardly smart web comics will include a story I contributed!
Stars, and stars, and stars: pretty pictures from the European Southern Observatory
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/01/21 03:39 CST | 4 comments
My solar system chauvinism is well-established, but I am as much a sucker for beautiful astrophotos as the rest of you. Once in a while I get a media advisory from the European Southern Observatory about a new pretty picture posted on their website, and then I inevitably lose an hour following links to one stunner after another.
More Chang'E 2 Toutatis flyby images
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/01/20 09:52 CST | 6 comments
Last week at a meeting of NASA's Small Bodies Assessment Group (SBAG), Han Li of the Chinese Academy of Sciences gave a lengthy presentation on Chang'E 2. Her presentation included a new sequence of photos from the December 13 Toutatis flyby.
Pretty picture: new HiRISE view of Curiosity, sol 145
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/01/16 04:58 CST | 2 comments
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured a new view of Curiosity on Mars on January 2 (sol 145). Curiosity was in the same location as the one from which it shot the sol 137 panorama I posted earlier. You can see the rover's tracks leading all the way back to the landing site!
Curiosity update, sol 157: Glenelg isn't just a test site anymore; it's a scientific "candy store"
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/01/15 05:30 CST | 5 comments
The Curiosity mission held a press briefing this morning for the first time since the American Geophysical Union meeting, and it was jam-packed with science. The biggest piece of news is this: it was worth it, scientifically, to go to Glenelg first, before heading to the mountain.
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