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Stories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.
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.
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
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.
Mars Express team readies for Siding Spring
On Sunday, 19 October 2014, at around 18:30 UTC, comet C/2013 A1 – known widely as 'Siding Spring' after the Australian observatory where it was discovered in January 2013 – will make a close fly-by of Mars.
Super-close supernova in M82
The astronomy world is all a-twitter this morning over the discovery of a new supernova in M82, a galaxy that's in our astronomical backyard,
Planetary Radio: The Gemini Planet Imager
It's very nice to infer the existence of planets circling other stars. It's even better to see them. This new instrument has just become the most powerful exoplanet viewer yet created.
Shaping the Search for Life
A short film on the Giant Magellan Telescope, which could revolutionize exoplanet research and shape the search for life in the Universe.
A case of the measles for Jupiter?
Amateur astronomer Christopher Go has found Jupiter to be putting on a fun show for observers: it's sprouting little red spots
Neptune: The new amateur boundary?
Can features on Neptune be observed by amateur astronomers? For years, the Hubble Space Telescope and some professional terrestrial observatories have been revealing incomplete belts and spots on the surface of Neptune. Now, spots have been imaged by amateurs.
Why does ISON look green?
You may have noticed that Comet ISON appears to have a green halo in some recent images, but in other images acquired at about the same time, it doesn’t. Thanks to the beautiful new spectrum posted earlier today by Christian Buil, it’s relatively easy to understand why.
Uranus Awaits
It’s been a long time since anyone paid Uranus a visit. The Uranus system is, however, fascinating, as evidenced by the wealth of topics covered by the diverse group of planetary scientists who gathered to discuss it last week at the Paris Observatory.
Our Improved Optical Search for ET
The Planetary Society Optical SETI (OSETI) Telescope was successfully upgraded and fully tested, and is now fully operational looking for aliens. Here are some updates on the performance and progress. In summary, the upgraded telescope is performing just as hoped and is scanning the skies.
Making mirrors for the Giant Magellan Telescope
A video on the Giant Magellan Telescope and its third mirror, which was cast on August 24, 2013 at the University of Arizona's Steward Observatory Mirror Lab in Tucson, Ariz.
Book review: Europe to the Stars, by Govert Schilling and Lars Lindberg Christensen
The world's great telescopes capture stunning photographs of stars, nebulae, and other sky phenomena. In Europe to the Stars, authors Govert Schilling and Lars Lindberg Christensen share many such photos. But the real stars of this book are the great telescopes of the European Southern Observatory.