Solar System
The Earth's solar system, including the sun, moon, planets and satellites
Saturn’s Massive Newfound Ring
NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has discovered a new ring around Saturn. This ring is very different from those previously known. In some ways, this ring resembles the "accretionary disk" found around some stars more than it resembles the thin, orderly rings that Saturn is famous for.The new ring ...
October 08, 2009 |
By Greg Laden
Space Ships to Crash Into the Moon This Friday!
On Friday, October 9, two space ships will crash into the moon, and you will be able to see it happen.All you need to do is find the crater Cabeus, which is near the Moon's south pole. Be watching at 11:30 UT (That's 4:30 a.m. Pacific Time, 6:30 a.m. Central.) Bring your telescope. It should be a ...
October 06, 2009 |
By Greg Laden
Fantastic Photos of our Solar System
In the past decade, extraordinary space missions have found water on Mars, magnetic storms on Mercury and volcanoes on the moons of Saturn
October 2009 |
By Laura Helmuth
Mars Climate Change Patterns Seen in Ice Caps
Greg Laden is guest-blogging this week while Sarah is on vacation. You can find his regular blog at Scienceblogs.com and Quiche Moraine.You may know that much of the climate change on earth over the last two million years--the coming and going of ice ages--is caused by the "orbital geometry" of the...
September 29, 2009 |
By Greg Laden
Jupiter’s Temporary Moons
How many moons does Jupiter have? The answer may not be as simple as it sounds. Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, is so big that it can deflect the paths of comets and other objects, some of which might otherwise hit the Earth. Some of those comets hit the surface of the gas giant. O...
September 14, 2009 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Hubble Telescope Gets Back to Work
Yesterday, NASA celebrated the rejuvenation of the Hubble Space Telescope by releasing the first batch of images to come from the satellite since it was upgraded in May. That’s when astronauts installed two new instruments—the Wide Field Camera 3 and the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph—and repaired two...
September 10, 2009 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Sunspots and Climate
One of the more persistent climate change myths is that any warming we've been experiencing here on Earth is because of sunspots, not increasing amounts of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere. Of course, the Sun is an important factor in climate, and changes in solar output are suspected to be behin...
September 01, 2009 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Apollo 11's Giant Leap for Mankind
40 years ago, the lunar module landed on the moon, providing an unforgettable moment for the millions watching back on Earth
August 2009 |
By Owen Edwards
Q and A: Astronaut Buzz Aldrin on the Moon
Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon, reflects on the Apollo 11 mission
August 2009 |
By Joseph Caputo
Galileo's Vision
Four hundred years ago, the Italian scientist looked into space and changed our view of the universe
August 2009 |
By David Zax
The Legacy of Apollo
On July 16, 1969, NASA launched Apollo 11, the mission that put two men on the moon four days after lift-off.Forty years later, historians and NASA officials are still trying to gauge the legacy of the Apollo program. On Thursday, five panelists met at NASA headquarters to discuss its impact.Many o...
July 18, 2009 |
By Ashley Luthern
Moonwalk Launch Party
The launch 40 years ago of Apollo 11, which put a man on the moon, brought Americans together during a time of nationwide unrest
July 2009 |
By David Burnett
An Explanation for the Missing Sunspots
I bet that most of you don’t know that the sunspots are missing. That’s okay. I’m sure many people don’t realize that the sun is more than just a ball of fire: it has a complex internal structure, features that vary based on multi-year cycles, and it can create solar storms that knock out power and...
June 18, 2009 |
By Sarah Zielinski
The Hubble Space Telescope’s Finest Photos
Now that the telescope has received its final upgrades, we look back on Hubble's most memorable images from space
May 06, 2009 |
By Joseph Caputo
After Space, Saving Suits, Boots and Gloves
The spacesuits that kept U.S. astronauts alive now owe their survival to one woman
May 2009 |
By Megan Gambino
Forensic Astronomer Solves Fine Arts Puzzles
Astrophysicist Don Olson breaks down the barriers between science and art by analyzing literature and paintings from the past
April 2009 |
By Jennifer Drapkin and Sarah Zielinski
Stardust Memories
Cosmic dust may reveal some of the uncovered secrets of our universe
December 2008 |
By Anika Gupta
Picture of the Week – A Newly Restored Photo of the Earth and Moon
In honor of our newly launched sister blog, The Once and Future Moon, from Air & Space, this week’s Picture of the Week is the Earth as seen from the Moon, circa 1966.Thinking ahead, NASA sent five missions up to photograph the moon in the 1960s, before sending the first people. The data have b...
November 21, 2008 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Lunar Living
The quest to return to the moon ignites new hope and vision at the 50-year-old space agency
July 2008 |
By Kenneth R. Fletcher
Debating Manned Moon Missions
Experts provide opposing viewpoints on manned missions to space
July 2008 |
By Kenneth R. Fletcher
