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Stories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.
A first look at distant hills
Rover fans have been excitedly watching the hills on Opportunity's horizon grow taller and taller as Opportunity rolls toward its destination, Endeavour crater.
The August 20, 2010 Jupiter fireball -- and the March 5, 1979 one
Following up on the story I first posted on August 22, the Jupiter impact fireball first noticed by Japanese amateur astronomer Masayuki Tachikawa has been independently confirmed by two other Japanese astronomers.
Yet another Jupiter impact!? August 20, seen from Japan
This may be a very common event after all: another optical flash has been observed on Jupiter, again from an observer far east of the Greenwich meridian, though it was not Anthony Wesley (for once).
Exposing Io's true colors
Thanks to its active volcanic activity and sulfur-rich surface, Io is one of the most colorful worlds yet seen in the Solar System, save the Earth of course
Decoding a Titan crater
In response to Emily's entry about finally getting her hands on a subscription to the planetary science journal Icarus, I thought I would report on an article from the most recent issue: Geology of the Selk crater region on Titan from Cassini VIMS observations, by Jason Soderblom and 11 other scientists.
Weekend treats from Cassini: Enceladus plumes plus bonus Tethys and Dione
Over the last couple of days Cassini flew past Enceladus, Tethys and Dione, so there are lots of treats to see on the raw images website! You should go check it out for yourself, but here are a couple of real favorites.
How to Recognize Titan from Quite a Long Way Away
You know, I could fill this blog almost entirely with the amazing images that Gordan Ugarkovic locates, processes into prettiness, and uploads to his Flickr account.
Cassini catches four little moons in motion
I've posted animations from Cassini before in which there are multiple moons moving around, but this is one of the coolest such sequences I've seen yet.
Goodies from the latest Cassini data release
I've spent a pleasurable hour or so browsing over the latest release of images from Cassini to the Planetary Data System.
Voyager at Saturn, one year later
Here are two newly processed portraits of Saturn, showing the planet just after its equinox.
Curiosity rolls!
Enjoy my extremely low-tech animation of Curiosity's first
Watching the birth and death of moonlets in Saturn's F ring
The Saturn system is always in motion, always changing. Saturn itself is a gas giant, with swirling storms, and like the other gas giants it has a host of moons flying around, perturbing each other's motions. And then there's the rings.
Color portrait of asteroid 21 Lutetia
Since it doesn't look like the Rosetta mission is going to be releasing any color versions of their Lutetia close-encounter images any time soon, I figured it was time to make one.
Volcanism across the solar system: Io
Three months ago, grandiosely, I announced that I was going to survey volcanism across the solar system, and I began the journey on Earth. Then I failed to follow up.
Cassini eyes Janus
Four times a year, the Cassini mission releases three months' worth of data gathered from Saturn and its moons to NASA's Planetary Data System.
Sharpest-ever images of Daphnis
As promised last week, Cassini has delivered its best photos yet of the tiny moon Daphnis, the ringmoon that is responsible for carving out the skinny Keeler gap at the outer edge of Saturn's A ring.
Sunrise on Mars
Here is a photo crafted from data that are nearly as old as I am, showing a beautiful sunrise on Mars.
The June 3 Jupiter Impact: 22 hours later
Time to take stock of what happened a day ago. The worldwide, round-the-clock nature of planetary science is both exhilarating and challenging!
Confirmation of the Jupiter impact from Christopher Go
The impact flash on Jupiter observed earlier today by Anthony Wesley has been confirmed by Philippines-based amateur astronomer Christopher Go.