“That’s one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind.” After speaking these historic words at 10:56 EDT on July 20, 1969, marking the moment that humanity first placed a foot on a world other than its own, Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong began his work documenting the lunar surface before him. The…
Tag: science
Eagle’s Eye View
In the center of this image from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, there’s a small object casting a shadow toward the right. That object is the remaining section of the Apollo 11 lunar module, Eagle, from which astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin made history as the first humans to step foot on the moon…
Phoenix’s Sense of Snow
The results are in: Mars has (or had) a favorable environment for life. Microbial life, sure, but life nonetheless. This is according to the results posted in this week’s edition of the journal Science, from the Phoenix Mars polar lander. The data indicates that the region around the lander has subsurface layers of perchlorate, a…
Wave Forms
Cast shadows reveal some interesting structure in the waves sent up by little Daphnis in this image, taken by the Cassini spacecraft on June 26, 2009. Daphnis orbits Saturn within the 26-mile-wide Keeler gap in the A ring. Its gravity disrupts the edges of the gap, carving scalloped edges in the ring material and also,…
Congratulations Cassini!
 The Cassini mission web site, http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/, was voted Best Science Site in this year’s Peoples Voice Webby awards! A big congrats to the web team – and the entire mission team as well – for the recognition of excellence. I know I cast my vote for the site, as it’s well-made and a daily…
Ice Volcanoes on Titan?
This infrared image, taken by Cassini during a March 27, 2009 flyby of Titan, shows a bright area of topography called “Hotei Arcus” that is believed to be active with volcanoes that ooze slushy ice rather than molten rock. Over the past four years, this area has undergone variations in brightness that indicate resurfacing activity of…
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…
Lights in the Dark 