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Stories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.
Running Down a Comet
The Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) telescope has discovered its first comet of 2016.
Pretty Pictures of the Cosmos: Shadow Play
Adam Block brings us his first images processed in the new year, showcasing the beautiful interplay of light and dark.
Pretty Pictures of the Cosmos: Distant Galaxies
Astrophotographer Adam Block shares stunning his images of far-away spiral galaxies.
Pretty Pictures of the Cosmos: Lesser-Known Beauty
Award-winning astrophotographer Adam Block shares stunning images of a few rarely-imaged pieces of our universe.
Checking in on Uranus and Neptune, September 2015 edition
There are no spacecraft at Uranus or Neptune, and there haven't been for 30 and 25 years, respectively. So we depend on Earth-based astronomers to monitor them, including Damian Peach.
Jupiter's changing face, 2009-2015
Damian Peach's photo-documentation of Jupiter helps us monitor the giant planet's ever-changing patterns of belts, zones, storms, and barges, during a time when no orbiting missions are there to take pictures.
The Cosmic Microwave Oven Background
Over the past couple of decades the Parkes Radio Telescope in Australia has been picking up two types of mysterious signals, each lasting just a few milliseconds. The source of one of these signals may have finally been found—and an unexpected source at that.
Revitalized 0.81m telescope studying properties of NEOs
Thanks to a new focal reducer and re-aluminized mirror from a Shoemaker NEO grant, a 0.81-meter telescope in Italy is performing astrometric follow-up observations and physical studies of asteroids.
Camera now measuring even fainter Near-Earth Objects
Camera purchased with the support of a 2009 Shoemaker NEO Grant is now on a new telescope providing follow-up measurements for even fainter near-Earth objects.
Sky survey grant helps lead to a space science career
Quan-Zhi Ye was an 18 year-old college student and the principal investigator of the Lulin Sky Survey when he won a 2007 Shoemaker NEO grant. He's now a Ph.D. candidate and provides an update on his work in meteor studies.
2007 Shoemaker Grant Still Yielding Asteroid Science
Telescope purchased in 2007 with the support of a Shoemaker grant is still in service and has worked on over 100 near-Earth asteroids over its 8 years of operation.
Three Major Volcanic Eruptions Observed On Io in the Span of Two Weeks
Jason Perry brings us a report on recent ground-based observations that shed new light on the most powerful of Io’s volcanic eruptions.
I've been asteroided! (274860) Emilylakdawalla
What a great piece of news to receive upon returning home from vacation! There is now a small piece of the solar system named for me: asteroid 274860 has been formally named
How Arecibo Observatory Transmits to the ISEE-3 Spacecraft
Talking to spacecraft is a normal occurrence at Arecibo Observatory, but sometimes the nuts and bolts are a little unconventional.
The Case of the 5-Millisecond Cosmic Radio Burst
Everyone loves a good mystery. In astronomy, there is nothing more exciting than an unexplained signal.
Green Bank Telescope Helps Out an Old Friend
The Green Bank Telescope has been called into emergency service to play radar ping-pong on a close-by asteroid with Arecibo Observatory’s 100-meter William E. Gordon radio telescope.
Arecibo Observatory operational after repairs to fix earthquake damage
Early in the morning on January 13, 2014, a 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck beneath the Atlantic Ocean north of Puerto Rico, damaging Arecibo Observatory, the world’s largest single-dish radio telescope. The telescope is now operational after repairs and scientists have resumed observations. However, the future of Arecibo Observatory remains unclear due to funding uncertainties in the federal budget.
Returning Explorers
ICE has been on a journey for over 30 years around our sun. While the owner has decided not to bring the ship back to its home port, a group of radio amateurs tries to find out how ICE is doing.
Shining Up A Telescope
A 0.81m telescope in northern Italy is well on its way to being wide eyed and shiny thanks to a 2013 Planetary Society Shoemaker NEO Grant, which will enable it to make better near Earth object observations to help protect our planet from asteroid impact.
Spacecraft phone home: Cool Deep Space Network data visualization
Check out the awesome new