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Webcast Tonight! Planetary Scientist and Society President Jim Bell
Posted by Mat Kaplan on 2013/02/20 07:59 CST
Professor Bell's topic is "Exploring Mars, the Moon, Asteroids, and Comets with Rovers and Landers," and there is no one better to talk about this subject.
Curiosity update, sol 193: drilled stuff is in the scoop, ready for analysis
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/02/20 06:36 CST
There was a press briefing today to announce that Curiosity has completed her last major first-time activity: powder drilled from inside a rock at John Klein successfully made its way into the CHIMRA sample handling mechanism in the turret. Sol 193, then, marks the day that Curiosity is finally ready to start the science mission.
Brother, Can You Spare $1B for a Planetary Space Telescope?
Posted by Van Kane on 2013/02/20 12:29 CST | 2 comments
Imagine you had a Hubble-class telescope and could use in any way you wanted to explore planets. What would you do with it?
Why don't we have any photos of asteroid 2012 DA14 if it came so close?
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/02/19 03:13 CST | 2 comments
A frequently-asked question last week was: if asteroid 2012 DA14 is coming so close to Earth, why hasn't anyone taken any pictures of it? Now that 2012 DA14 has whizzed past us, we do finally have some radar pictures of it, but they still may not satisfy everyone.
Posted by Louis D. Friedman on 2013/02/19 12:05 CST | 3 comments
Executive Director Emeritus Louis Friedman writes about Asteroid programs of The Planetary Society.
Posted by Edward Gomez on 2013/02/18 05:14 CST | 4 comments
Mostly the Universe stays unchanged for hundreds, thousands or even millions of years. There are some cases however when some things change really rapidly. Recently I observed one of these rapidly changing, transient phenomena, as asteroid called 2012 DA14. I work for Las Cumbres Observatory and we have been trying to observe this asteroid since 5 February.
When will New Horizons have better views of Pluto than Hubble does?
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2013/02/18 04:22 CST | 7 comments
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.
The Sky Was Falling! A Meteoric Airburst Over Russia and the Encounter with 2012 DA14
Posted by Mat Kaplan on 2013/02/18 03:27 CST
SEE IT NOW: The Planetary Society's CEO, Bill Nye the Science Guy, joined Director of Projects Bruce Betts for a live webcast as 2012 DA14, a 45-meter asteroid, was passing Earth. Bill and Bruce also marveled at video of the meteor burst high over a city in Russia.
Posted by Bill Dunford on 2013/02/18 10:20 CST | 2 comments
When the sunlight catches it just right, Saturn's F Ring is something to see.
What We Know About the Russian Meteor Event [UPDATED]
Posted by Heidi Hammel on 2013/02/15 02:26 CST | 22 comments
Preliminary estimates show that the meteoroid was 15 meters wide and weighed roughly 8000 tons. The resulting airburst would have the equivalent yield of about a 1/2 megaton explosion.
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