Tag: Planetary Science

  • Saturn’s moons align for cosmic photo opportunity

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    Like a cosmic bull’s-eye, Enceladus and Tethys line up almost perfectly for Cassini’s cameras. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute NASA has released an image of Saturn’s moons Enceladus and Tethys caught in a rare alignment by the Cassini spacecraft, which is heading for its final close encounter with the icy moon Enceladus Saturday. Taken Sept. 24,…

  • Asteroid probe confirmed on good trajectory after Earth flyby

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    Artist’s concept of the Hayabusa 2 spacecraft near Earth. Credit: JAXA A Japanese space probe picked up just the right amount of speed when it flew by Earth earlier this month, using the planet’s gravity to slingshot toward an asteroid scientists think is a primordial leftover from the ancient solar system, mission managers said Monday.…

  • Curiosity rover reaches Martian sand dunes

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    The rippled surface of the first Martian sand dune ever studied up close fills this Nov. 27, 2015, view of “High Dune” from the Mast Camera on NASA’s Curiosity rover. This site is part of the “Bagnold Dunes” field of active dark dunes along the northwestern flank of Mount Sharp. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS NASA’s Curiosity rover…

  • With widespread salts and ices, Ceres in a class of its own

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    The dwarf planet Ceres turns out to be a world with untold wonders, with vivid bright spots likely made of dried mineral salts and hazes apparently triggered by daytime heating, drawing a comparison to comets and strikingly differentiating it from neighboring bodies in the asteroid belt, according to the latest results from NASA’s Dawn mission.…

  • Akatsuki probe relays its first images from Venus orbit

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    The Akatsuki spacecraft’s ultraviolet camera took this image of Venus at 0519 GMT (12:19 a.m. EST) on Dec. 7 from a distance of 73,000 kilometers (45,000 miles). Credit: JAXA Japanese scientists released Wednesday the first views of Venus captured by the Akatsuki spacecraft after arriving in orbit this week, setting the stage for regular observations…

  • Japanese probe fires rockets to steer into orbit at Venus

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    Updated at 0315 GMT (10:15 p.m. EST) Artist’s concept of the Akatsuki spacecraft. Five years after missing a shot to enter orbit at Venus, Japan’s Akatsuki spacecraft completed a critical rocket burn late Sunday in a bid to salvage the research mission and become the only space probe operating around Earth’s nearest planetary neighbor. Four…

  • Tiny thrusters to do heavy lifting as Japanese probe approaches Venus

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    Artist’s concept of Japan’s Akatsuki spacecraft at Venus. Credit: JAXA/Akihiro Ikeshita Inside a month until its next chance to swing into orbit around Venus, Japan’s Akatsuki spacecraft has weathered unexpectedly “severe” conditions after missing an arrival opportunity in 2010, according to the mission’s project scientist. The space probe accomplished its last targeting maneuver Oct. 11…

  • Solar wind blasting away Martian atmosphere

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    STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION The solar wind, the million-mile-per-hour stream of charged particles blasted away from the sun, is slowly but surely stripping away Mars’ atmosphere and likely played a major role in turning the red planet from a habitable world in the distant past into the dry, frozen wasteland seen today,…

  • Charon takes center stage in new batch of New Horizons images

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    This enhanced color view of Charon comes from New Horizons’ Ralph color camera. The colors highlight the subtle variations in the composition of Charon’s crust, with the reddish region near the north pole — informally named Mordor Macular — standing out most prominently. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute With a meandering…

  • Secrets behind Pluto’s pastels far from being answered

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    In this extended color image of Pluto taken by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, rounded and bizarrely textured mountains, informally named the Tartarus Dorsa, rise up along Pluto’s day-night terminator and show intricate but puzzling patterns of blue-gray ridges and reddish material in between. This view, roughly 330 miles (530 kilometers) across, combines blue, red and…