More fascinating observations of Titan’s seas from the Cassini spacecraft operating at Saturn. From NASA.gov: These images from the Radar instrument aboard NASA’s Cassini spacecraft show the evolution of a transient feature in the large hydrocarbon sea named Ligeia Mare on Saturn’s moon Titan. Analysis by Cassini scientists indicates that the bright features, informally known as […]
NASA released this photo of three of Saturn’s moons yesterday. The image, which was taken by the Cassini spacecraft in December shows Tethys, Enceladus and Mimas cast against the absurdly photogenic backdrop of Saturn’s rings. The original caption was “Three Times the Fun,” but perhaps it could also hae been called “Three Times the […]
From NASA, comments follow: “New data from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft point to more prevalent water ice on Pluto’s surface than previously thought. This false-color image, derived from observations in infrared light by the Ralph/Linear Etalon Imaging Spectral Array (LEISA) instrument, shows where the spectral features of water ice are abundant on Pluto’s surface. It […]
First there was the Ed Wood classic, Plan 9 From Outer Space. Now, a fascinating bit of astronomical detective work from researchers at Caltech may have come up with the best evidence yet that somewhere well beyond the Kuiper Belt, our solar system harbors a massive, as yet undiscovered world they have dubbed “Planet Nine.” […]
Two new discoveries, one at the farthest boundary of our solar system, and one orbiting a dim star 39 light years add to a remarkable week of planetary news. First up is V774101, a 300-600 mile diameter world discovered orbiting at a distance 3 times further out than Pluto, and 103 times further than Earth […]
Cryovolcanoes. It sounds like the title to yet another of the Syfy Channel’s horrendous Saturday night movies. Instead, it is only one of a stunning series of discoveries taken from the agonizingly slow (4 kilobits per second) stream of data being transmitted by the New Horizons spacecraft as it speeds away from the Pluto-Charon system. […]
NASA’s Cassini spacecraft is about to make a return visit to one of the most interesting environments we have yet discovered in the Saturn system, and that is saying something. On Wednesday, October 28th, Cassini will make a low flyby over the South Pole of Enceladus, the 300 mile diameter moon which appears to contain […]
Ostensibly we go, or send our machines, out into space for the advancement of science. It is a goal NASA’s New Horizon’s mission to the Pluto – Charon system has clearly achieved and then some. As the quality of imaging systems has vastly improved over earlier missions however, what continues to delight and to invoke […]
It’s a big, beautiful world!
As it speeds away from its historic encounter with Pluto, NASA has identified the most promising target for the New Horizon’s next flyby, and it might present a scheduling issue for mission scientists and space enthusiasts who happen to be college football fans, at least for New Year’s Day 2019. That is when New Horizons […]
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