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Stories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.
A GRB in M31...or not
The Twittersphere has been alive with speculation about a Gamma Ray Burst in the nearby galaxy M31. The problem is, there was never a claim of such an event, and it turns out that the tentative result that triggered this story was overstated.
Comet Siding Spring Mars encounter: Cosmic bully spotted by ESA and NASA
Hubble has taken some great new images of our 'friend,' Comet Siding Spring, due to pass by Mars at less than 136,000 km on October 19 – less than half the distance between Earth and our moon.
[Updated] To Europa!...Slowly. First Impressions of NASA's New Budget Request
Europa may get a mission...eventually. We give our first take on the 2015 NASA Budget request. How does Planetary Exploration fare? Which projects were cancelled? Will NASA capture an asteroid? And most importantly, what can you do about it?
Predicting Pluto's moons and moondust
Why didn't we discover Pluto's moons until more than a decade after Hubble launched? Mark Showalter helps me answer this question.
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,
Cosmos with Cosmos Episode 10: The Edge of Forever
Carl Sagan takes us from the birth to the death of the universe. How do we reconcile our place within a universe that will die? Join us for the latest discussion on episode 10 of Cosmos.
Planetary Radio: NEOWISE PI Amy Mainzer
NEOWISE has reawakened to discover many more asteroids and comets. The mission leader thanks the amateur astronomers who follow up on these discoveries.
Snow balls in space
I don’t get much snow in southern California, but I do spend a lot of my time thinking about college snowball experiences and about the snowball fights that have made the objects of the outer solar system.
Cosmos with Cosmos Episode 8: Journeys Through Space and Time
Sagan makes us confront the limitations of our mortality given the immensities of space and time presented to us by the cosmos.
Destination: Europa!
It's time to reassess Europa exploration, past, present and future. The Destination Europa! session at AGU, inspired by the eponymous website and movement, didn't take exactly that message as its theme, but it's what I got from the presentations. What an ELECTRIFYING meeting this has been for Europa exploration!
The Plumes of Europa
2013 has been a rather exciting year for Europa scientists. Today's exciting news: the Hubble Space Telescope discovery of water vapor plumes from the south pole of this icy moon.
A Protected Class of Programs at NASA?
The House Science Committee is considering giving a select few NASA programs special protected status against cancellation.
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.
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.
Gaia Prepares for Ultimate Galactic Census
The European Space Agency's Gaia spacecraft is set to embark on a five-year, billion-star census next month.
Origami Nanosats: The Future of Space Telescopes?
We interview Dr. Franck Marchis from the SETI Institute about nanosats that can unfold in space to create sensitive telescopes that are orders of magnitudes cheaper than current hardware.
In his own words: Mike Massimino on how he "nearly broke" Hubble
In an enthralling article for Esquire magazine, astronaut Mike Massimino writes about nearly failing to repair the Hubble Space Telescope, and how the people of Earth came to his rescue.
Caution: Spacecraft Under Construction
Join Emily Lakdawalla and Mat Kaplan inside JPL's High Bay 1, where two Earth-revealing missions are being readied for launch.
Hubble captures time-lapse of comet ISON
The Hubble Space Telescope captured a series of images showing Comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) plunging toward the sun.
Lesser-known views of Uranus and Neptune
Despite the fact that Voyager 2 returned relatively few high-resolution images from either Uranus or Neptune, there are many more photos in the archives than regularly make it to public view.