By Paul Scott Anderson, on May 26th, 2017
Jupiter in all its glory: stunning view from Juno showing intricate details in the atmosphere of the gas giant. Image Credit: NASA/SwRI/MSSS/Gerald Eichstädt/Seán Doran
The first in-depth science results from the Juno mission at Jupiter were presented yesterday morning in a NASA media teleconference, and as referred to in the press release, they […]
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By Paul Scott Anderson, on April 27th, 2017
Raw image from Cassini’s last-ever flyby of Titan, taken on April 21, 2017. Photo Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has now officially entered the last phase of its mission – the “Grand Finale,” with the last-ever close flyby of Titan and the first of 22 final orbits which will take the […]
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By Paul Scott Anderson, on February 6th, 2017
Artist’s depiction of OSIRIS-REx in orbit around Bennu. Currently, the spacecraft is searching for other Trojan asteroids near Earth. Image Credit: NASA
Asteroids are some of the most ancient objects in the Solar System, relics left over from the time when the planets first started forming and evolving. For this reason, scientists are […]
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By Paul Scott Anderson, on November 25th, 2016
View from Cassini of Saturn and its main rings. Photo Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
The Cassini mission to Saturn has been one of the most successful planetary missions ever, revealing the ringed giant and its moons as never before. Sadly, that mission is scheduled to end Sept. 15, 2017, and in preparation the […]
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By Paul Scott Anderson, on August 17th, 2016
The newly discovered object called Niku is a real oddity (artist’s conception). It is also part of a group of many such objects far past Neptune in the outer Solar System. Image Credit: ESO/L. Calçada/Nick Risinger
For the most part, the Solar System seems to be a rather well-ordered place; the planets, dwarf […]
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By Paul Scott Anderson, on July 18th, 2016
Artist’s conception of the Solar Probe Plus spacecraft near the Sun. Image Credit: NASA/JHUAPL
The Solar System is a busy place, with spacecraft currently visiting most of the planets as well as some dwarf planets and comets. Akatsuki is at Venus, several rovers and orbiters are at Mars, the Juno spacecraft just reached […]
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By Paul Scott Anderson, on July 12th, 2016
Artist’s conception of the star system HD 131399, with the planet HD 131399Ab in the foreground. Image Credit:ESO/L. Calçada/M. Kornmesser
Over the past couple decades, astronomers have been discovering a seemingly endless variety of exoplanets orbiting other stars. Some are rather similar to planets in our own Solar System, while others are more […]
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By Leonidas Papadopoulos, on March 31st, 2016
A simulation showing the turbulent atmosphere of exoplanet HD 80606b, based on data gathered with the Spitzer space telescope. This hot Jupiter-type world has one of the most elongated orbits known for an exoplanet, one that resembles the orbits of comets in our Solar System. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MIT/Principia College
Seen from the perspective […]
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By Paul Scott Anderson, on March 21st, 2016
High-resolution view of Pluto from New Horizons. The large smoother area of ice in Sputnik Planum is the western lobe of the “heart” feature. Image Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI
Pluto is a tiny world in the outer fringes of the Solar System; for many decades it was only a mere speck of light in even […]
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By Paul Scott Anderson, on February 9th, 2016
The Kuiper Belt is a massive collection of dwarf planet- and asteroid-sized worlds orbiting far past Neptune. Is the hypothetical Planet 9 really a second such belt? Image Credit: T. Pyle (SSC)/JPL-Caltech/NASA
The announcement of a possible large ninth planet in our Solar System way beyond Neptune last month caused a lot of […]
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