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Category Archives: Planets and moons

Saturn’s moon Rhea

By Thomas Posted 12 Aug 2014 — 0 Comment ↓
Saturn's moon Rhea, Epimetheus transiting (NASA/JPL)

Saturn has a great many more moons than our planet – a whopping 62. A single moon, Titan, accounts for an overwhelming 96% of all the material orbit the planet, with a group of six other smaller moons dominating the Continue reading →

Posted in Planets and moons | Tagged cassini, epimetheus, rhea, saturn | Leave a reply

A “selfie” from Mars

By Thomas Posted 29 Apr 2014 — 0 Comment ↓
A mosaic of images acquired by Curiosity on Mars (NASA/JPL)

This is very cute — Curiosity’s latest “selfie,” a mosaic made up of about a dozen images acquired with the rover’s Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) instrument on April 27-28, 2014 (Sol 613) with the 5.5-km-high Mount Sharp (Aeolis Mons) Continue reading →

Posted in Planets and moons, Rovers | Tagged curiosity, mars | Leave a reply

Mars view from the edge of a dune

By Thomas Posted 02 Feb 2014 — 0 Comment ↓
Curiosity's View Past Dune at 'Dingo Gap'

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover reached the edge of a dune on Jan. 30 and photographed the valley on the other side, to aid assessment of whether to cross the dune. Curiosity is on a southwestward traverse of many months from Continue reading →

Posted in Planets and moons, Rovers | Tagged curiosity, mars | Leave a reply

Saturn and Dione

By Thomas Posted 29 Jun 2013 — 0 Comment ↓
Photo of Dione and Saturn from Cassini (NASA)

Speeding toward pale, icy Dione, Cassini’s view is enriched by the tranquil gold and blue hues of Saturn in the distance. The horizontal stripes near the bottom of the image are Saturn’s rings. The spacecraft was nearly in the plane Continue reading →

Posted in Planets and moons | Tagged dione, saturn | Leave a reply

Rhea before Titan

By Thomas Posted 27 Jan 2013 — 0 Comment ↓
Cassini spacecraft view of Rhea and Titan (NASA)

Craters appear well defined on icy Rhea in front of the hazy orb of the much larger moon Titan in this Cassini spacecraft view of these two Saturn moons. Lit terrain seen here is on the leading hemispheres of Rhea Continue reading →

Posted in Planets and moons | Tagged rhea, titan | Leave a reply

Cassini spots mini Nile river on Titan

By Thomas Posted 13 Dec 2012 — 0 Comment ↓
Titan’s Nile River (NASA) (thumb)

The international Cassini mission has spotted what appears to be a miniature extraterrestrial version of the Nile River: a river valley on Saturn’s moon Titan that stretches more than 400 km from its ‘headwaters’ to a large sea. It is Continue reading →

Posted in Planets and moons | Tagged cassini, river, titan | Leave a reply

NASA’s GRAIL creates most accurate moon gravity map

By Thomas Posted 05 Dec 2012 — 0 Comment ↓
This image shows the variations in the lunar gravity field as measured by NASA's Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) during the primary mapping mission from March to May 2012. Very precise microwave measurements between two spacecraft, named Ebb and Flow, were used to map gravity with high precision and high spatial resolution (NASA)

Twin NASA probes orbiting Earth’s moon have generated the highest resolution gravity field map of any celestial body. The new map, created by the Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission, is allowing scientists to learn about the moon’s internal Continue reading →

Posted in Planets and moons | Tagged GRAIL, gravity field, moon | Leave a reply

Cassini sees abrupt turn in Titan’s atmosphere

By Thomas Posted 29 Nov 2012 — 0 Comment ↓
This artist's impression of Saturn's moon Titan shows the change in observed atmospheric effects before, during and after equinox in 2009. The Titan globes also provide an impression of the detached haze layer that extends all around the moon (blue) (ESA)

Data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft tie a shift in seasonal sunlight to a wholesale reversal, at unexpected altitudes, in the circulation of the atmosphere of Saturn’s moon Titan. At the south pole, the data show definitive evidence for sinking air Continue reading →

Posted in Planets and moons | Tagged atmosphere, cassini, saturn, titan | Leave a reply

A look up at the Saturn’s north pole

By Thomas Posted 28 Nov 2012 — 0 Comment ↓
Swirling clouds at the north pole of Saturn (NASA)

This fantastic swirl of clouds at the Saturn’s north pole has been photographed by the Cassini spacecraft on November 27, 2012. The camera was pointing toward Saturn at approximately 224,618 miles (361,488 kilometers) away, and the image was taken using the Continue reading →

Posted in Planets and moons | Tagged cassini, clouds, saturn | Leave a reply

One year after launch, Curiosity rover busy on Mars

By Thomas Posted 27 Nov 2012 — 0 Comment ↓
This panorama is a mosaic of images taken by the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on the NASA Mars rover Curiosity while the rover was working at a site called "Rocknest" in October and November 2012 (NASA)

The NASA Mars rover Curiosity began its flight to Mars on Nov. 26, 2011, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., tucked inside the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft. One year after launch and 16 weeks since its dramatic landing on Continue reading →

Posted in Planets and moons, Rovers | Tagged curiosity, jpl, mars, nasa, panorama | Leave a reply

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