This 20-frame animation shows dust-laden winds blowing across the Martian plains near Spirit’s current position…which is the same position she’s been in for several weeks since becoming mired in the soft sand on the western edge of “Home Plate”. Regardless of her predicament, Spirit’s energy levels are in good supply due to these same winds…
Pandorama
This animation, made up of 7 raw image frames taken by Cassini’s wide-angle camera, shows Saturn’s ring system ponderously rotating, the reflected light off the gas giant illuminating the dark material of the Cassini Division. In the lower right the moon Pandora orbits outside the twisted cords of the F ring. The planet itself is…
Will Worlds Collide?
According to a June 10 article in New Scientist, studies on the variable nature of planetary orbits have shown some valid possibilities of collisions in the future. (The very distant future, luckily for us.) Due to the nature of Jupiter’s massive gravitational pull on the inner planets, especially Mercury, their orbits are susceptible to incredible…
Streaking Past Pallene
The bright point of light in this raw image isn’t a star. It’s one of Saturn’s 61 known moons, the tiny 3-mile-wide Pallene (pronounced pal-LEE-nee). This little moon’s orbit is between those of much larger Mimas and Enceladus, around 131,000 miles out from Saturn. Only recently discovered in 2004 by the Cassini team, not much…
I’m Goin’ to Mars!
 Well, my name is. Mine and 46,111 other Americans. (173, 154 worldwide. It’s a big club.) NASA is offering everyone the chance to add their names to a microchip that will be installed on the next Mars Science Laboratory Rover headed to the red planet in 2011. Click here to add yours. It’s free, and gives…
Little Sculptor
 Another great raw image from the Cassini orbiter, showing the shepherd moon Daphnis raising high-crested waves in the edges of Saturn’s A ring bordering the Keeler Gap. Shadows cast by the low-angle sunlight show the height of these sinuous disturbances. Daphnis’ gravity affects the ring material both in front of it and behind. Discovered…
So Long, KAGUYA
…and thanks for all the photos. (And amazing HD vids too!) The final hours of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s moon-mapping KAGUYA orbiter are upon us…on Wednesday, June 10, at 2:30 PM EST (18:30 GMT) the orbiter will end its mission in a controlled – but no less fatal – impact onto the lunar surface….
Asteroid!
 This is Itokawa, a near-Earth asteroid that was investigated by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Hayabusa probe in September of 2005. The probe made a brief landing on the asteroid on November 19th of the same year, and again on the 25th, in an attempt to collect samples of the asteroid’s material, and also…
Between Rocks and a Soft Place
 All dusted off and nowhere to go. The Mars Exploration Rover Spirit is still stuck in her current position west of the low plateau called “Home Plate”, with the MER team at JPL still trying to devise a way to get her moving again. The sands on the slopes of Home Plate have proven…
An Icy Web
 The veinous texture seen here is part of the south polar region on Mars, imaged by the HiRISE hi-resolution camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Receding carbon dioxide ice, melting during the ongoing spring months, creating the polygonal shapes separated by sinuous ridges. This is known as “spider” terrain. The dark marks are caused…
The Eye of Odysseus
 This is Tethys, a 662-mile-wide moon of Saturn captured by Cassini’s cameras in this raw image from May 14. Dominating its face is the huge Odysseus Crater, its rim gleaming in the sunlight. Much of Tethys is estimated to be water ice, due to its density and high albedo (reflectivity). That Tethys was able…
Shepherds Fly
 Two of Saturn’s smaller moons pass by Cassini’s wide-angle camera in this animation sequence, made from 60 raw images taken on May 26, 2009. Prometheus enters first, stage right, deforming the ringlets of the F ring with its gravity, and is followed shortly after by Atlas, taking the inside track around the edge of…
Lights in the Dark 