Big News From Little Worlds

Senior Editor Emily Lakdawalla has returned from the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Texas with the latest revelations about our solar system. She shares them in an extended report. Bill Nye is back at home, too. He attended the fifth White House Science Fair, where he shared some thoughts with Charles Bolden, the NASA Administrator. Bruce Betts and Mat Kaplan get serious—or is that Cereous?—about the new space trivia contest on What’s Up.

Related Links:

• LPSC 2015: Philae at comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko
• LPSC 2015: "Bloggers, please do not blog about this talk."
• LPSC 2015: First results from Dawn at Ceres: provisional place names and possible plumes
• Is the Opportunity Rover a Mission 'Whose Time Has Passed'? (No.)
• Indiegogo Campaign: Science and Stories on the Space Station

This week's prize is Jeffrey Bennett’s “Max Goes to the Space Station,” signed by the author and an astronaut.

This week's question:

What is the approximate latitude of the center of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot?

To submit your answer:

Complete the contest entry form at http://planetary.org/radiocontest or write to us at [email protected] no later than Tuesday, March 31st at 8am Pacific Time. Be sure to include your name and mailing address.

Last week's question:

What is the closest known white dwarf star?

Answer:

The answer will be revealed next week.

Question from the week before:

What is Ceres’ approximate rate of rotation?

Answer:

Ceres rotates once every 9 hours and 4 minutes.