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Small BodiesStories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.
Visualize today's solstice with images from Earth-observing satellites
What do the shortest days of the year look like from space?
#AGU17: Spherical harmonics, gravity, and the depth of winds at Jupiter
Results from the Juno gravity science experiment presented at last week's American Geophysical Union meeting suggest Jupiter's winds penetrate only to 3000 kilometers deep.
A closer look at China's audacious Mars sample return plans
China is making steady progress on a proposed mission to bring a piece of Mars back to Earth in the late 2020s.
#AGU17: JunoCam science
JunoCam may be an outreach instrument, but its superb photos of storms on Jupiter are providing plenty of data for scientists to talk about.
Brief note from #AGU17: Juno observes volcanism on Io
At the American Geophysical Union meeting, members of the Juno team showed observations of active volcanism on Jupiter's moon Io.
An exoplanet-hunting space telescope turns and takes a photo of Earth
On December 10, Kepler—NASA’s prized exoplanet discovery telescope—will finally turn back and take a picture of the Earth.
The case for Venus
NASA is about to pick finalists for its next New Frontiers mission. Will Venus make the cut?
The Mars Exploration Rovers Update: Opportunity Returns Fundamental Finding in Perseverance, Cruises Through Winter Solstice
Opportunity continued the historic winter science campaign inside Perseverance Valley and delivered the goods that confirmed an important discovery in November, and then cruised through winter solstice, driving the mission closer to its 14th anniversary of surface operations coming up in January.
Clipper Slipper
Will NASA's Space Launch System be ready to launch a Europa mission in 2022?
This newly discovered Earth-sized planet could harbor life
And it's only 11 light-years away.
Planetary Society asteroid hunter snags picture of interstellar visitor ʻOumuamua
Asteroid hunters named the first-known interstellar asteroid ʻOumuamua as a nod to its scout-like traits.
Dawn Journal: Second Extended Mission
Building on the successes of its primary mission and its first extended mission, NASA has approved the veteran explorer for a second extended mission.
The Mars Exploration Rovers Update: Opportunity Pops Wheelies Over Etched Rocks in Perseverance
As brutally cold got even colder at Endeavour Crater in October, the depths of winter gripped Opportunity, and ‘life’ on Mars slowed. But the robot field geologist continued to work on through the doldrums of the season.
#DPS17: The Moon's Giordano Bruno crater through many eyes
Today's story from the Division for Planetary Sciences meeting looks at one youthful rayed crater on the Moon from many different spacecraft.
Explore spinnable Saturn and Jupiter moons with Google Maps
Google Maps released several new map products that allow you to see the locations of named features on many solar system planets and non-planets, spinning them around in space with your mouse.
#DPS17: Wobbling the Moon and art by James Tuttle Keane
James Tuttle Keane is increasingly famous (among planetary scientists anyway) for his remarkable illustrated notes from conferences. Here's his work from the Division for Planetary Sciences meeting, illustrating both his own and others' research.
#DPS2017: Progress report on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter images of comet C/2013 A1 Siding Spring
Three years ago, on October 19, 2014, comet C/2013 A1 Siding Spring passed within 138,000 kilometers of Mars. At the 2017 meeting of the Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society, we heard a progress report on Mars orbiter imaging of the comet's nucleus.
Planetary Society-funded telescopes help find ring around Haumea, a distant dwarf planet
Haumea has a ring! Two telescopes used in the discovery—one in Slovenia, and one in Italy—received funding from The Planetary Society's Shoemaker Near Earth Object (NEO) Grant program, which helps amateur astronomers find, track and characterize near-Earth asteroids.
Cassini’s Last Dance With Saturn: The Farewell Mosaic
Amateur image processor Ian Regan shares the story of processing Cassini's final images of the ringed planet.
Meet VOX, a proposed mission to uncover the secrets of Venus
Van Kane brings us newly released details of the Venus Origins eXplorer (VOX), one of NASA's 12 New Frontiers mission proposals.