In less than 23 hours from the time of this writing, the Kepler spacecraft will launch from Pad 17-B at Cape Canaveral, FL, ready to take its place in orbit and begin its mission searching a patch of space for evidence of Earthlike planets. Liftoff will take place at 10:49 PM EST on Friday,…
Ringshine
Moons Dione and Janus are crescent-lit by the scattered light of Saturn’s F-ring, a narrow, clumpy ring with a bright core of water ice particles. (Dione is in the foreground.) This photo was rendered in true color by Gordan Ugarkovic using raw image data. Image credit: NASA/JPL/Gordan Ugarkovic.
Eye in the Sky
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured this photo of the Opportunity rover traversing the sand dunes of Meridiani Plain from its position in orbit, 172 miles away. The rover’s tracks can be seen extending away up and right in this image. (North is up.) Click the photo above to see the original cut shot. Opportunity is…
News Post: Cassini Photos New Moon
Cassini scientists have identified the presence of a previously unknown moonlet within Saturn’s thin G-ring, as seen in this series of photos spanning about ten minutes of time. The moonlet, only about a third of a mile wide, is the bright streak traveling in the center of the ring. (The other streaks are overexposed stars in…
Saturn’s Southern Cyclone
A great spiraling whirlpool of wind-whipped clouds wraps around Saturn’s southern pole, photographed here in polarized infrared light by Cassini on July 15, 2008. Towering white clouds mark areas of rising heat from deep within the atmosphere. The winds around the vortex have been measured at over 300mph (480 km/h). This photo shows an area…
Glamour Shot
A nicely-modeled Mimas, in sunlit backlighting and a soft cast from reflected light off Saturn. Taken by the Cassini orbiter on January 23 at a distance of 316,ooo miles. (Mimas is about 246 miles wide.) Image credit NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
What Is Space?
This is a reprint of an earlier article of mine from March 8, 2008. I thought it would have a good home here. Hope you enjoy it. Are We There Yet? We’ve all seen the grade-school models of the solar system. Maybe you made one in science class. Out of painted styrofoam balls or colored construction…
Stormy Skies
A blue-tinted circular storm blemishes Saturn’s creamy complexion while wispy rings slice the planet with their shadows. This photo, shown in true color, was taken by Cassini’s wide-angle camera at an orbiting distance of 662,000 miles. Saturn is mostly atmosphere, and a stormy one at that, made of hydrogen, helium and traces of ammonia and…
Sailing a Dune Sea
Opportunity’s tracks roll away over the crests of windswept dunes in this image, combined from two photos taken on February 13, 2009 (mission day – “Sol” – 1791). The original images were greyscale. I edited them to somewhat resemble true color. (Click the image for a full-size version.) Opportunity is currently traveling across the Meridiani…
Small Steps
It’s important to remember that, even with all of the incredible images and data coming in from the robotic missions at work around our solar system every day, humans have yet to venture further than our own Moon. Which is no mean feat in itself…traveling the 240,000-mile journey there and then back is not for…
News Post: And The Winner Is…
The flyby photo of the fractured face of Enceladus is the winner of JPL’s poll for best Cassini photo from 2008! This amazing image was featured in my 2/15 article, rotated clockwise. View the rest of the poll results here. Image credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Message From Mercury
In 2011 the Messenger spacecraft will be the first to enter into orbit around Mercury. While it performs its flyby maneuvers prior to establishing orbit, photos are being sent back revealing a thoroughly cratered surface. In this photo, taken on October 6, 2008, half of the 120-mile wide crater Stravinsky is seen pressing against the…
Lights in the Dark 