Articles

Stories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.

New Horizons sees Io erupting!

There were two new pictures posted on the New Horizons Science Operations Center website this morning, of Io, and if you enhance the images a bit, there are two clear volcanic plumes visible on the limb -- Tvashtar and Prometheus are active!

A new way to darken Iapetus

Iapetus is one of the many fascinating bodies in the Saturn system.

Saturn from above, in color

I wrote recently about a set of images of Saturn acquired by Cassini from a unique vantage point, well above the planet, looking down on the rings. Someone has taken up the challenge of assembling the 36 different images into a single mosaic, in color, and it is as lovely as I'd hoped.

A cool Cassini ring plane crossing animation

Another recent, cool set of images that came down from Cassini was a series taken last week as the spacecraft crossed the ring plane.

New Horizons observes Jupiter's rotation

New Horizons' raw images are now online

I got an email from John Spencer this morning telling me that the mission had posted all of New Horizons' most recently acquired images on the mission website.

The Saturn view I've been waiting for

Over the weekend, Cassini acquired a set of images that will (I am assuming) eventually be used to produce a glorious portrait of the ringed planet from a point of view that's never been seen before.

Cassini's view from the backside of Saturn

Over time, Cassini's orbit apoapsis—the point on the orbit that is farthest from Saturn—has been shifting slowly toward Saturn's night side. Lately, this point of view has resulted in some truly lovely photos of the planet.

Blink comparison between ISS and RADAR views of Sinlap

The official publication on the second Titan RADAR swath is out

Today Nature published an article titled

Get used to this view

Get used to this view of Home Plate and Husband Hill, because Spirit will be seeing a lot of it over the next 8 months, whenever power levels permit the rover to eke a little bit of science activity out of the day.

The Orbital Dance of Epimetheus and Janus

Saturn is surrounded by a crowded family of rings and moons, and two of those moons -- Epimetheus and Janus -- orbit Saturn so close together that it seems as though their different orbital speeds should make them crash into each other.