25.05.10- Ad-Hoc Imaging and the Tale of Copland Crater.

 
   Oh, how far we’ve come… time was when the family portrait of the solar system included blurry images snapped from world class observatories. Fast forward to the 21st century, and amateur astronomers now routinely delete pristine images from memory cards for tiny flaws that would have been the envy of astronomy text books a [...]

03.04.10- Messenger and the Mysteries of Mercury.

 
   The history of the inner most planet is an enduring puzzle to planetary scientists. On September 29th of last year, NASA’s Messenger spacecraft passed within 142 miles of Mercury’s night side in an orbital “tweak” on its way to eventual orbital insertion on March 18th, 2011. During that pass, the spacecraft once again measured the [...]

28.03.10- Messenger Spies High-Energy Solar Neutrons.

 
   After a considerable hiatus, solar cycle 24 is now well under way. And this time, NASA has a key observing platform in the inner solar system; the Messenger spacecraft, bound for an insertion to orbit Mercury in March, 2011. In the intervening time, scientists at the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona have been [...]

08.11.09:Does Cometary Mass Extinction Need to be Rewritten?

The disconnection event of comet 73P Schwassmann-Wachmann-3 as seen from the Hubble Space Telescope. (Credit: NASA/ESA/H. Weaver STScl.)

Comets are cause all mass extinctions in Earth’s history, right? Maybe not, if new research is correct. Simulations run by the scientists at the University of Washington now suggest that the giant planets of Jupiter and Saturn [...]

22.10.09: Thank Relativity that We’re Here!

The next time you’re studying the Lorentz equation or are forced to account for Relativity on your Buzzard Ramjet trip to Sirius, thank Einstein that we’re here at all! Scientists Jacques Laskar and Mickael Gastineau at the Paris Observatory have been modeling orbital dynamics in our solar system and have come up with some “disturbing” [...]

The Moon joins a Planetary Three-Way.

Three planets and one Moon. (Credit: Stellarium).
Early risers this week will awaken to a fine sight; a three way dance between Mercury, Saturn, and Venus, joined by the waning crescent Moon on the 16th. Look towards the east, about a half hour before local sunrise. Mercury has just passed greatest elongation on the 6th [...]

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