Planetary Science

  1. Planetary Science

    Jupiter’s Whirlpool

    The surprising birth and rapid evolution of a giant vortex highlight the first movie of Jupiter’s polar regions seen in the ultraviolet. The movie and other Jupiter images from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft are available online at the Cassini imaging team and Jet Propulsion Laboratory Web sites. Go to: http://ciclops.org/view.php?id=58 and http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/releases/2002/release_2002_59.html

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  2. Planetary Science

    Mars Odyssey instrument revived

    Flight controllers have revived an instrument on the Mars Odyssey spacecraft that measures the amount of radiation bombarding the Martian surface.

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  3. Planetary Science

    Probing Jupiter’s big magnetic bubble

    Simultaneous measurements by two spacecraft have probed in greater detail than ever before Jupiter’s magnetosphere, the invisible bubble of charged particles that surrounds the giant planet.

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  4. Planetary Science

    Odyssey’s First Look: Craft spies signs of ice at the Martian south pole

    Astronomers have for the first time found evidence of large amounts of frozen water in the subsurface of Mars.

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  5. Planetary Science

    Galileo at Jupiter: The goodbye tour

    After more than 6 years spent touring Jupiter and its four largest moons, the Galileo spacecraft’s mission is beginning to wind down.

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  6. Planetary Science

    Extreme weather: Massive hurricanes meet on Jupiter

    Both professional and amateur sky watchers are pointing their telescopes at Jupiter as two titanic storms in the giant planet's upper atmosphere meet each other.

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  7. Planetary Science

    Exploring the Red Planet

    Searching for signs of subsurface water on the Red Planet and analyzing the elemental and mineral composition of surface rock, NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft begins its main mapping mission next month and may shed light on several enduring puzzles about the planet.

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  8. Planetary Science

    Galileo finds spires on Callisto

    The sharpest images ever taken of Jupiter's icy moon Callisto show a group of features never seen before on the remote body—icy, knoblike spires that show signs of slow but steady erosion.

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  9. Planetary Science

    Craft tracks giant dust storm on Mars

    The largest dust storm observed on Mars in 25 years is now engulfing the Red Planet.

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  10. Planetary Science

    Space Flight Basics

    For armchair space explorers, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory offers a tutorial on how to operate an interplanetary space mission. Originally created a decade ago, the newly updated guide includes information on spacecraft engineering, mission design, trajectories, launch, navigation, telecommunications, and much more. Go to: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/basics/

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  11. Planetary Science

    Nearby star may have its own asteroid belt

    Observations of warm dust swaddling a young, nearby star suggest that astronomers may have found evidence of a massive asteroid belt outside the solar system.

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  12. Planetary Science

    Asteroid Eros poses a magnetic puzzle

    Measurements with a magnetometer aboard the NEAR-Shoemaker spacecraft a few days after it landed on the asteroid 433 Eros confirmed a major puzzle: The rock has no detectable magnetic field.

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