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Year in Space Calendar
  

Planetary News: The Planetary Society (2008)

The Year in Pictures: 2008

A Distant World
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Stay tuned! Many of these images will soon be available in the Year in Pictures '08 Wall Calendar, to be produced by Eric Hartwell.

Credit: NASA, ESA, and Z. Levay (STScI)

By Emily Lakdawalla
December 31, 2008

The year 2008 was notable for starting out -- and ending -- with more than 20 missions actively exploring our neighbors in the solar system. Four major events captured the attention of the public. MESSENGER began and ended the year with the first two flybys of its target planet, Mercury, finally revealing the half of the planet that had never been seen from a spacecraft. Cassini ended its primary mission and began its extended one with a series of close encounters with the geyser moon Enceladus. The first Mars Scout mission, Phoenix, landed safely near Mars’ north pole and immediately began a race against time to make the most of its mission before the arrival of autumn robbed the solar-powered spacecraft of energy. And ESA’s comet-chasing flagship mission, Rosetta, had its first science encounter with a tiny, unusual asteroid named Šteins.

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Throughout the year, less-heralded but still hardworking spacecraft carried on with their science missions. Venus Express continued its studies of patterns in Venus’ clouds, while Kaguya and Chang’e 1 sent high-resolution photos back from the Moon; those craft were soon joined by India’s Chandrayaan-1. Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Mars Express, and Mars Odyssey continued with their mapping of Mars from orbit as the Mars Exploration Rovers worked steadily through the long winter. Deep Impact searched for exoplanets transiting stars in its new extended mission, EPOXI. New Horizons crossed Saturn’s orbit on its way to Pluto. Dawn crossed Mars’ orbit and is ready for a Mars gravity assist early next year. Stardust and the Voyagers are cruising along, periodically communicating with Earth. And, late this year, an old but still-good spacecraft was heard from for the first time since 1999: the International Cometary Explorer, one of the fleet of spacecraft that studied Halley’s comet in 1986, is on a return trip to Earth; a gravity-assist flyby in 2014 could send it on to another comet.

The pictures below mark just a few of the exciting events of this year.
Mercury's colors
January 14:
Mercury as a
"Whole New Planet" 		Triple asteroid 153591 (2001 SN263)
February 13:
First triple
Near-Earth Asteroid 		Phoenix against Heimdall crater as it lands
May 25:
Falling
Toward Mars 		The Earth and Moon, from Deep Impact
May 29:
Earth as an
Extrasolar Planet
Could it be ice?
May 30:
Holy Cow,
It's Ice! 		The International Space Station, June 11, 2008
June 11:
Space Station
Nears Completion		 Bonestell Panorama, south view
July 2:
A Winter's Work
for Spirit 		Segment of the Phoenix Mission Success Panorama
July 8:
Phoenix Digs in
Saturn, its rings, and its moons
July 23:
Cassini
Recalls Voyager 		Cassini stares down the throats of Enceladus' geysers
August 11:
Cassini Stares
Down the Throats
of Enceladus' Geysers 		Crescent Mars
August 22:
Whose Crescent?		 An Ice-free Northwest Passage
August 25:
An Ice-free
Northwest Passage
Departing Victoria Station
August 28:
Departing
Victoria Station 		Asteroid (2867) Steins
September 5:
A Jewel of the
Solar System 		Topographic map of the Moon from the Kaguya Laser Altimeter (LALT)
October 2008:
A Renewed Focus on the Moon 		A Distant World
November 13:
First Sight of
a Distant World

If you'd like to check out past Years in Pictures, just visit the Year in Pictures 2007, the Year in Pictures 2006, and the Year in Pictures 2005.

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