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"content": "\u003cp>The most detailed images yet of strange “white spots” on the dwarf planet Ceres beamed down from \u003ca href=\"http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/\">NASA’s Dawn spacecraft\u003c/a> recently, bringing us closer to solving the puzzling mystery that emerged upon Dawn’s arrival there last March.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ceres is the largest object in the \u003ca href=\"http://www.universetoday.com/32856/asteroid-belt/\">Main Asteroid Belt\u003c/a> that rings the sun between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Discovered by chance in 1801, Ceres was the first asteroid ever detected, and it’s still the largest object in the Belt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the Dawn mission continues to collect and transmit \u003ca href=\"http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news-detail.html?id=4677\">ever more detailed information\u003c/a> about Ceres, we expect to learn something about the early formation of the solar system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_257771\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/ceres_globe.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-257771\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/ceres_globe-400x415.jpg\" alt=\"Early images of Ceres' mysterious white spots showed them as little more than bright, featureless dots. \" width=\"400\" height=\"415\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/ceres_globe-400x415.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/ceres_globe-800x829.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/ceres_globe-1180x1223.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/ceres_globe-960x995.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/ceres_globe-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/ceres_globe.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Early images of Ceres’ mysterious white spots showed them as little more than featureless, glowing dots. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Ceres was classified as a dwarf planet in 2006, along with Pluto and three other solar system objects. But it wasn’t until Dawn’s arrival that we knew what Ceres looked like. And in keeping with what has become the rule, not the exception, in solar system exploration, Ceres had some surprises for us in the form of big, gleaming white spots.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Dawn first drew close enough to Ceres to capture these brilliant but indistinct blurs on camera, scientists weren’t sure they meant anything actually existed; maybe they were simply an effect of exaggerated contrast in the low-resolution images.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But as Dawn settled into orbit around its new home, and in the months since, it has captured far more detailed images that show the white spots are, in fact, \u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/jpl/dawn/ceres-spots-continue-to-mystify-in-latest-dawn-images\">actual physical features\u003c/a>. And while the spots have been seen in several locations on Ceres, the \u003ca href=\"http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=4714\">brightest of them\u003c/a> is in a crater named Occator.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This brilliant dot sits dead center in Occator Crater, with a more diffuse scattering of smaller spots located halfway between the crater’s center and rim. The close-up picture at the top of this post is a composite of two images, each of which has been adjusted for brightness to yield good exposures for both the bright spots and the surrounding, darker crater surfaces.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_257772\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 288px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/dawn_and_ceres.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-257772\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/dawn_and_ceres.jpg\" alt=\"Artist concept of NASA's Dawn spacecraft orbiting the dwarf planet Ceres. \" width=\"288\" height=\"157\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/dawn_and_ceres.jpg 640w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/dawn_and_ceres-400x219.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 288px) 100vw, 288px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Artist concept of NASA’s Dawn spacecraft orbiting the dwarf planet Ceres. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL-Caltech)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The balanced exposure reveals intricate complexes of bright, shiny surface regions, set in the topography of the crater’s terrain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first thought that comes to my mind when looking at \u003ca href=\"http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news-detail.html?id=4697\">these pictures\u003c/a> is: Are we looking at some form of ice?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Astronomers have known for a while that Ceres possesses water in some form. The European Herschel Space Observatory \u003ca href=\"http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Herschel/Herschel_discovers_water_vapour_around_dwarf_planet_Ceres\">detected plumes of water vapor\u003c/a> outgassing from two dark regions on Ceres, even before Dawn arrived there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If we know water vapor is spewing out of Ceres, might we also imagine snows of water ice falling back onto the surface, like a snowy version of volcanic ash?\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_257773\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 348px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/ceres_layers.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-257773\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/ceres_layers-400x452.jpg\" alt=\"The current scientific model of the dwarf planet Ceres: a rocky core surrounded by a mantle of water ice 100 kilometers thick. \" width=\"348\" height=\"394\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/ceres_layers-400x452.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/ceres_layers.jpg 575w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 348px) 100vw, 348px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The current scientific model of the dwarf planet Ceres: a rocky core surrounded by a mantle of water ice 100 kilometers thick. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Or perhaps some kind of surface eruptions that leave behind crusty mineral deposits, like the geysers or hot springs of Yellowstone National Park?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We might \u003cem>imagine\u003c/em> things like that—and what a mesmerizing notion: extraterrestrial snow volcanoes or cold hot-tubs!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Do we know what these spots are yet?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not quite, but the truly exciting thing is that with Dawn’s ongoing investigation, we are perhaps on the verge of knowing what’s going on in Occator Crater.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dawn recently commenced a third global survey of Ceres, gathering data of its entire surface from continually changing angles, to produce a \u003ca href=\"http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=pia19890\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">3-D topographical map \u003c/a>of the dwarf planet. Dawn is also collecting data on surface chemical composition — in particular for the yet mysterious white spots.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The most detailed images yet of strange “white spots” on the dwarf planet Ceres beamed down from \u003ca href=\"http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/\">NASA’s Dawn spacecraft\u003c/a> recently, bringing us closer to solving the puzzling mystery that emerged upon Dawn’s arrival there last March.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ceres is the largest object in the \u003ca href=\"http://www.universetoday.com/32856/asteroid-belt/\">Main Asteroid Belt\u003c/a> that rings the sun between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Discovered by chance in 1801, Ceres was the first asteroid ever detected, and it’s still the largest object in the Belt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the Dawn mission continues to collect and transmit \u003ca href=\"http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news-detail.html?id=4677\">ever more detailed information\u003c/a> about Ceres, we expect to learn something about the early formation of the solar system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_257771\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/ceres_globe.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-257771\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/ceres_globe-400x415.jpg\" alt=\"Early images of Ceres' mysterious white spots showed them as little more than bright, featureless dots. \" width=\"400\" height=\"415\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/ceres_globe-400x415.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/ceres_globe-800x829.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/ceres_globe-1180x1223.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/ceres_globe-960x995.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/ceres_globe-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/ceres_globe.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Early images of Ceres’ mysterious white spots showed them as little more than featureless, glowing dots. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Ceres was classified as a dwarf planet in 2006, along with Pluto and three other solar system objects. But it wasn’t until Dawn’s arrival that we knew what Ceres looked like. And in keeping with what has become the rule, not the exception, in solar system exploration, Ceres had some surprises for us in the form of big, gleaming white spots.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Dawn first drew close enough to Ceres to capture these brilliant but indistinct blurs on camera, scientists weren’t sure they meant anything actually existed; maybe they were simply an effect of exaggerated contrast in the low-resolution images.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But as Dawn settled into orbit around its new home, and in the months since, it has captured far more detailed images that show the white spots are, in fact, \u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/jpl/dawn/ceres-spots-continue-to-mystify-in-latest-dawn-images\">actual physical features\u003c/a>. And while the spots have been seen in several locations on Ceres, the \u003ca href=\"http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=4714\">brightest of them\u003c/a> is in a crater named Occator.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This brilliant dot sits dead center in Occator Crater, with a more diffuse scattering of smaller spots located halfway between the crater’s center and rim. The close-up picture at the top of this post is a composite of two images, each of which has been adjusted for brightness to yield good exposures for both the bright spots and the surrounding, darker crater surfaces.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_257772\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 288px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/dawn_and_ceres.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-257772\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/dawn_and_ceres.jpg\" alt=\"Artist concept of NASA's Dawn spacecraft orbiting the dwarf planet Ceres. \" width=\"288\" height=\"157\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/dawn_and_ceres.jpg 640w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/dawn_and_ceres-400x219.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 288px) 100vw, 288px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Artist concept of NASA’s Dawn spacecraft orbiting the dwarf planet Ceres. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL-Caltech)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The balanced exposure reveals intricate complexes of bright, shiny surface regions, set in the topography of the crater’s terrain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first thought that comes to my mind when looking at \u003ca href=\"http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news-detail.html?id=4697\">these pictures\u003c/a> is: Are we looking at some form of ice?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Astronomers have known for a while that Ceres possesses water in some form. The European Herschel Space Observatory \u003ca href=\"http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Herschel/Herschel_discovers_water_vapour_around_dwarf_planet_Ceres\">detected plumes of water vapor\u003c/a> outgassing from two dark regions on Ceres, even before Dawn arrived there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If we know water vapor is spewing out of Ceres, might we also imagine snows of water ice falling back onto the surface, like a snowy version of volcanic ash?\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_257773\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 348px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/ceres_layers.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-257773\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/ceres_layers-400x452.jpg\" alt=\"The current scientific model of the dwarf planet Ceres: a rocky core surrounded by a mantle of water ice 100 kilometers thick. \" width=\"348\" height=\"394\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/ceres_layers-400x452.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/ceres_layers.jpg 575w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 348px) 100vw, 348px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The current scientific model of the dwarf planet Ceres: a rocky core surrounded by a mantle of water ice 100 kilometers thick. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Or perhaps some kind of surface eruptions that leave behind crusty mineral deposits, like the geysers or hot springs of Yellowstone National Park?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We might \u003cem>imagine\u003c/em> things like that—and what a mesmerizing notion: extraterrestrial snow volcanoes or cold hot-tubs!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Do we know what these spots are yet?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not quite, but the truly exciting thing is that with Dawn’s ongoing investigation, we are perhaps on the verge of knowing what’s going on in Occator Crater.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dawn recently commenced a third global survey of Ceres, gathering data of its entire surface from continually changing angles, to produce a \u003ca href=\"http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=pia19890\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">3-D topographical map \u003c/a>of the dwarf planet. Dawn is also collecting data on surface chemical composition — in particular for the yet mysterious white spots.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "The Cassini Spacecraft Gets Set for a Grand Finale",
"headTitle": "The Cassini Spacecraft Gets Set for a Grand Finale | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>On August 17, \u003ca href=\"http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NASA’s Cassini \u003c/a>spacecraft made its final close flyby of Dione, one of Saturn’s fascinating moons, sending us the highest-resolution pictures of its surface to date.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And though this isn’t the last flyby of a moon in store for Cassini, the event marks the beginning of this flagship mission’s end game.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On this fifth and\u003ca href=\"http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=4695\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> final flyby of Dione\u003c/a>, Cassini passed within 295 miles of the moon’s surface — a bit higher than the International Space Station orbits the Earth (keeping in mind, though, that Dione is only about 660 miles across).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though Cassini accomplished some exquisite photography, the primary objective of this pass was to probe Dione’s gravity, magnetic field, and the plasma environment around it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_229674\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA19060.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-229674\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA19060-400x225.jpg\" alt=\"Simulation depicting "curtains" of water vapor erupting from crevasses in the surface of Saturn's moon Enceladus. \" width=\"400\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA19060-400x225.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA19060-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA19060-1180x664.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA19060-960x540.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA19060.jpg 1278w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Simulation depicting “curtains” of water vapor erupting from crevasses in the surface of Saturn’s moon Enceladus. \u003ccite>(Cassini/NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Analysis of these data will allow scientists to probe the moon’s interior structure. Similar measurements of two of Saturn’s other moons, Titan and Enceladus, were responsible for the discovery of liquid seas deep beneath their crusts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s too early to tell what this flyby will reveal about the realm beneath Dione’s surface, but if there’s one thing we have learned from Cassini about the moons of Saturn, they tend to be full of surprises.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the months ahead, Cassini will buzz other Saturnian moons, including three passages of Enceladus, one at a distance of only 30 miles from its surface.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This moon-raking graze will send Cassini deeper than ever before into Enceladus’ plumes of water vapor, which spew from under the moon’s crust. That encounter could reveal more eye-opening clues about the moon’s subsurface geyser chambers, sea, and possible hydrothermal vent activity at the sea floor — all of which have been detected previously.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cassini’s 11-plus-year mission has been a stunning success in terms of its exploration and close scrutiny of Saturn, its system of ice and dust particle rings, and its entourage of moons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_229675\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18433-br500.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-229675\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18433-br500-400x400.jpg\" alt=\"Sunlight flashing off of the surface of a lake of liquid hydrocarbons on Saturn's moon Titan.\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18433-br500-400x400.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18433-br500-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18433-br500-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18433-br500-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18433-br500-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18433-br500-75x75.jpg 75w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18433-br500.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sunlight flashing off of the surface of a lake of liquid hydrocarbons on Saturn’s moon Titan. \u003ccite>(Cassini/NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Early in the mission, in 2005, Cassini launched the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Huygens probe onto the surface of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, making it the only solid surface in the outer solar system on which we’ve landed a spacecraft.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the last decade Cassini, and the Huygens probe, have greatly illuminated the Saturn system — but the mission did not begin without some controversy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 1997 launch of this spacecraft, which carries 73 pounds of plutonium within three radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs), \u003ca href=\"http://www.cnn.com/TECH/9710/04/cassini/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">was met with strong opposition\u003c/a>. Protesters were concerned with the possibility that a launch accident could spread the radioactive material into the Earth’s environment and pose health risks to human and animal populations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Exploration of the outer solar system, particularly as far from the sun as Saturn, requires a source of power other than sunlight, since sunlight at that distance is too weak for solar panels to be a practical alternative. Heat from the radioactive decay of substances like plutonium offers a steady and long-lasting supply of energy with which to generate electricity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The New Horizons spacecraft, which recently made its close flyby of Pluto, is powered by one of the Cassini mission’s spare plutonium-238 RTGs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After next December, Cassini will make only a small number of distant flybys of Saturn’s larger icy moons, and after that a series of long-range encounters with some of Saturn’s tiny, irregular moons, which we haven’t seen in any great detail so far.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_229677\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18295.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-229677\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18295-400x400.jpg\" alt=\"Saturn's seemingly serene cloud-tops, polar vortex, and translucent rings.\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18295-400x400.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18295-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18295-960x960.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18295-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18295-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18295-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18295-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18295-75x75.jpg 75w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18295.jpg 1020w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Saturn’s seemingly serene cloud-tops, polar vortex, and translucent rings. \u003ccite>(Cassini/NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Then in 2017, Cassini will enter what is being called its \u003ca href=\"http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/cassinifeatures/name/nameabout/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">grand finale\u003c/a>, steered into an inclined orbit that will send it repeatedly between Saturn and its innermost rings, a region that no spacecraft has ever before explored.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With the mission refocused exclusively on close-up investigation of Saturn and its rings, this daring and somewhat risky maneuver will deliver details about the gas giant planet as never before. Cassini will probe the interior of Saturn through its magnetic field, take extreme high-resolution images of its cloud systems, and obtain much better measurements of the mass of its ring system, which could give scientists great insight into its origin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then, at the conclusion of Cassini’s mission, the spacecraft will be sent into a fiery burn-up in Saturn’s atmosphere, eliminating any chance of its plutonium fuel from ever contaminating one of Saturn’s moons—particularly the water-bearing Enceladus, and cold, liquid-methane drenched Titan. (Maybe this self-sacrifice to protect any possible life on the moons of Saturn will make up a little for earlier concerns to life on Earth.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the meantime, our adventure in the Saturn system isn’t over yet, and we can expect more amazing revelations over the next year or two.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>On August 17, \u003ca href=\"http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NASA’s Cassini \u003c/a>spacecraft made its final close flyby of Dione, one of Saturn’s fascinating moons, sending us the highest-resolution pictures of its surface to date.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And though this isn’t the last flyby of a moon in store for Cassini, the event marks the beginning of this flagship mission’s end game.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On this fifth and\u003ca href=\"http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=4695\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> final flyby of Dione\u003c/a>, Cassini passed within 295 miles of the moon’s surface — a bit higher than the International Space Station orbits the Earth (keeping in mind, though, that Dione is only about 660 miles across).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though Cassini accomplished some exquisite photography, the primary objective of this pass was to probe Dione’s gravity, magnetic field, and the plasma environment around it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_229674\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA19060.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-229674\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA19060-400x225.jpg\" alt=\"Simulation depicting "curtains" of water vapor erupting from crevasses in the surface of Saturn's moon Enceladus. \" width=\"400\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA19060-400x225.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA19060-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA19060-1180x664.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA19060-960x540.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA19060.jpg 1278w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Simulation depicting “curtains” of water vapor erupting from crevasses in the surface of Saturn’s moon Enceladus. \u003ccite>(Cassini/NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Analysis of these data will allow scientists to probe the moon’s interior structure. Similar measurements of two of Saturn’s other moons, Titan and Enceladus, were responsible for the discovery of liquid seas deep beneath their crusts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s too early to tell what this flyby will reveal about the realm beneath Dione’s surface, but if there’s one thing we have learned from Cassini about the moons of Saturn, they tend to be full of surprises.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the months ahead, Cassini will buzz other Saturnian moons, including three passages of Enceladus, one at a distance of only 30 miles from its surface.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This moon-raking graze will send Cassini deeper than ever before into Enceladus’ plumes of water vapor, which spew from under the moon’s crust. That encounter could reveal more eye-opening clues about the moon’s subsurface geyser chambers, sea, and possible hydrothermal vent activity at the sea floor — all of which have been detected previously.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cassini’s 11-plus-year mission has been a stunning success in terms of its exploration and close scrutiny of Saturn, its system of ice and dust particle rings, and its entourage of moons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_229675\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18433-br500.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-229675\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18433-br500-400x400.jpg\" alt=\"Sunlight flashing off of the surface of a lake of liquid hydrocarbons on Saturn's moon Titan.\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18433-br500-400x400.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18433-br500-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18433-br500-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18433-br500-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18433-br500-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18433-br500-75x75.jpg 75w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18433-br500.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sunlight flashing off of the surface of a lake of liquid hydrocarbons on Saturn’s moon Titan. \u003ccite>(Cassini/NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Early in the mission, in 2005, Cassini launched the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Huygens probe onto the surface of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, making it the only solid surface in the outer solar system on which we’ve landed a spacecraft.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the last decade Cassini, and the Huygens probe, have greatly illuminated the Saturn system — but the mission did not begin without some controversy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 1997 launch of this spacecraft, which carries 73 pounds of plutonium within three radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs), \u003ca href=\"http://www.cnn.com/TECH/9710/04/cassini/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">was met with strong opposition\u003c/a>. Protesters were concerned with the possibility that a launch accident could spread the radioactive material into the Earth’s environment and pose health risks to human and animal populations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Exploration of the outer solar system, particularly as far from the sun as Saturn, requires a source of power other than sunlight, since sunlight at that distance is too weak for solar panels to be a practical alternative. Heat from the radioactive decay of substances like plutonium offers a steady and long-lasting supply of energy with which to generate electricity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The New Horizons spacecraft, which recently made its close flyby of Pluto, is powered by one of the Cassini mission’s spare plutonium-238 RTGs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After next December, Cassini will make only a small number of distant flybys of Saturn’s larger icy moons, and after that a series of long-range encounters with some of Saturn’s tiny, irregular moons, which we haven’t seen in any great detail so far.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_229677\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18295.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-229677\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18295-400x400.jpg\" alt=\"Saturn's seemingly serene cloud-tops, polar vortex, and translucent rings.\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18295-400x400.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18295-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18295-960x960.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18295-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18295-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18295-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18295-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18295-75x75.jpg 75w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18295.jpg 1020w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Saturn’s seemingly serene cloud-tops, polar vortex, and translucent rings. \u003ccite>(Cassini/NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Then in 2017, Cassini will enter what is being called its \u003ca href=\"http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/cassinifeatures/name/nameabout/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">grand finale\u003c/a>, steered into an inclined orbit that will send it repeatedly between Saturn and its innermost rings, a region that no spacecraft has ever before explored.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With the mission refocused exclusively on close-up investigation of Saturn and its rings, this daring and somewhat risky maneuver will deliver details about the gas giant planet as never before. Cassini will probe the interior of Saturn through its magnetic field, take extreme high-resolution images of its cloud systems, and obtain much better measurements of the mass of its ring system, which could give scientists great insight into its origin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then, at the conclusion of Cassini’s mission, the spacecraft will be sent into a fiery burn-up in Saturn’s atmosphere, eliminating any chance of its plutonium fuel from ever contaminating one of Saturn’s moons—particularly the water-bearing Enceladus, and cold, liquid-methane drenched Titan. (Maybe this self-sacrifice to protect any possible life on the moons of Saturn will make up a little for earlier concerns to life on Earth.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the meantime, our adventure in the Saturn system isn’t over yet, and we can expect more amazing revelations over the next year or two.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Flying Past the Sun, Rosetta Spacecraft Hitches a Ride on a Comet",
"headTitle": "Flying Past the Sun, Rosetta Spacecraft Hitches a Ride on a Comet | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>On Aug. 13, 2015 comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko achieved perihelion–its closest approach to the sun–accompanied by Europe’s Rosetta spacecraft.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rosetta arrived at the comet a year ago, and last Fall launched the Philae lander, which detected 16 different nitrogen- and carbon-rich organic compounds, four of which had never been found on a comet before.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The composition of comets, in particular their mix of organic compounds, is an intriguing subject of investigation, since one of the theories for the emergence of life on Earth involves the contribution of organic compounds by comets, asteroids, and protoplanets early in the formation of the solar system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_199900\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/philaeatabydos.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-199900\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/philaeatabydos-400x281.jpg\" alt=\"Image taken by the Philae lander at its final resting site, Abydos, shortly before going into hibernation.\" width=\"400\" height=\"281\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/philaeatabydos-400x281.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/philaeatabydos.jpg 735w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image taken by the Philae lander at its final resting site, Abydos, shortly before going into hibernation. \u003ccite>(Rosetta/Philae/ESA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>When Rosetta launched Philae in November 2014, the small spacecraft became the first ever to \u003ca href=\"http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Rosetta/Touchdown!_Rosetta_s_Philae_probe_lands_on_comet\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">land on a comet\u003c/a>. And though that landing did not go as planned–systems designed to pin down and hold fast to the comet failed–Philae was able to collect and transmit a useful load of data from near and on the comet’s surface before its batteries wound down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since that encounter, and up to and beyond perihelion on August 13, Rosetta’s mission has been to observe the effects of increasing solar radiation on comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko (C-G) over a year that brought it three times closer to the sun.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A year ago when Rosetta arrived, the comet was quietly exuding water vapor under the relatively gentle rays of the more distant sun. Picture a cube of ice that you just took out of the freezer and set on the counter: a light breath of vapor rolls gently from the cube’s surface.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, toss that ice cube onto a hot griddle. It sizzles energetically, spewing out jets of steam as the ice vaporizes under the heat.\u003cbr>\nIt’s something like that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the time of first encounter, well outside of Mars’ orbit, comet C-G gassed off a couple of drinking glass’ worth of water each second, a wisp of moisture supplied by its couple dozen square miles of surface area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_199905\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/Approaching_perihelion.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-199905\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/Approaching_perihelion-400x134.jpg\" alt=\"Series of images captured by ESA's Rosetta spacecraft showing gas jets emerging from comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko as it approached the sun.\" width=\"400\" height=\"134\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/Approaching_perihelion-400x134.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/Approaching_perihelion.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Series of images captured by ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft showing gas jets emerging from comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko as it approached the sun. \u003ccite>(Rosetta/ESA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Rosetta/Rosetta_s_big_day_in_the_Sun\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">At perihelion\u003c/a>, activity had increased a thousand-fold. The comet was blasting off over 130 pounds of water and almost 500 pounds of dust per second into space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rosetta captured many images of water and dust jets issuing from the comet over the months. One image in particular, taken only an hour before perihelion, shows a prominent plume bursting out energetically.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All of this activity, as ices vaporize and blow away into space carrying dust with it, is what builds up the comet’s atmosphere—or coma. In some comets–usually those that get closer to the sun than C-G ever does—this coma is blown by the solar wind into the long, iconic tail we generally associate with the image of a comet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There were hopes that the drained batteries of the Philae lander might recharge as sunlight levels increased—and this has in fact occurred. Philae has sent a few spurious signals to be relayed to Earth by the orbiting Rosetta.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_199901\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/comet-cg-62miles-rosetta.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-199901\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/comet-cg-62miles-rosetta-400x400.jpg\" alt=\"Image of the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko from a distance of 62 miles.\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/comet-cg-62miles-rosetta-400x400.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/comet-cg-62miles-rosetta.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/comet-cg-62miles-rosetta-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/comet-cg-62miles-rosetta-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/comet-cg-62miles-rosetta-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/comet-cg-62miles-rosetta-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/comet-cg-62miles-rosetta-75x75.jpg 75w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image of the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko from a distance of 62 miles. \u003ccite>(Rosetta/ESA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>So far, though, intermittent pings are all that have come from the comet’s surface. Mission operators are still hopeful that Philae may yet deliver more data, but since the comet and its two tag-along spacecraft are moving farther from the sun each day, the chances will diminish with the sunlight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, \u003ca href=\"http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Rosetta/Science_on_the_surface_of_a_comet\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Philae obtained very useful data\u003c/a> from its instruments upon landing and, as it turned out, during a couple of slow-speed “hops” it made after inadvertently bouncing off of its initial landing spot. Philae lighted upon two other locations before finally coming to rest at a site named Abydos.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rosetta will continue observing comet C-G’s activity in the aftermath of its solar close encounter, studying the effects of post-perihelion retreat as the comet cools and heads back to the other end of its orbit, aphelion—just beyond the orbit of Jupiter.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "On August 13th 2015 comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko made its closest approach to the sun (perihelion), carrying Europe's Rosetta spacecraft along for the ride.",
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"description": "On August 13th 2015 comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko made its closest approach to the sun (perihelion), carrying Europe's Rosetta spacecraft along for the ride.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>On Aug. 13, 2015 comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko achieved perihelion–its closest approach to the sun–accompanied by Europe’s Rosetta spacecraft.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rosetta arrived at the comet a year ago, and last Fall launched the Philae lander, which detected 16 different nitrogen- and carbon-rich organic compounds, four of which had never been found on a comet before.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The composition of comets, in particular their mix of organic compounds, is an intriguing subject of investigation, since one of the theories for the emergence of life on Earth involves the contribution of organic compounds by comets, asteroids, and protoplanets early in the formation of the solar system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_199900\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/philaeatabydos.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-199900\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/philaeatabydos-400x281.jpg\" alt=\"Image taken by the Philae lander at its final resting site, Abydos, shortly before going into hibernation.\" width=\"400\" height=\"281\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/philaeatabydos-400x281.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/philaeatabydos.jpg 735w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image taken by the Philae lander at its final resting site, Abydos, shortly before going into hibernation. \u003ccite>(Rosetta/Philae/ESA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>When Rosetta launched Philae in November 2014, the small spacecraft became the first ever to \u003ca href=\"http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Rosetta/Touchdown!_Rosetta_s_Philae_probe_lands_on_comet\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">land on a comet\u003c/a>. And though that landing did not go as planned–systems designed to pin down and hold fast to the comet failed–Philae was able to collect and transmit a useful load of data from near and on the comet’s surface before its batteries wound down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since that encounter, and up to and beyond perihelion on August 13, Rosetta’s mission has been to observe the effects of increasing solar radiation on comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko (C-G) over a year that brought it three times closer to the sun.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A year ago when Rosetta arrived, the comet was quietly exuding water vapor under the relatively gentle rays of the more distant sun. Picture a cube of ice that you just took out of the freezer and set on the counter: a light breath of vapor rolls gently from the cube’s surface.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, toss that ice cube onto a hot griddle. It sizzles energetically, spewing out jets of steam as the ice vaporizes under the heat.\u003cbr>\nIt’s something like that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the time of first encounter, well outside of Mars’ orbit, comet C-G gassed off a couple of drinking glass’ worth of water each second, a wisp of moisture supplied by its couple dozen square miles of surface area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_199905\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/Approaching_perihelion.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-199905\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/Approaching_perihelion-400x134.jpg\" alt=\"Series of images captured by ESA's Rosetta spacecraft showing gas jets emerging from comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko as it approached the sun.\" width=\"400\" height=\"134\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/Approaching_perihelion-400x134.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/Approaching_perihelion.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Series of images captured by ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft showing gas jets emerging from comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko as it approached the sun. \u003ccite>(Rosetta/ESA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Rosetta/Rosetta_s_big_day_in_the_Sun\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">At perihelion\u003c/a>, activity had increased a thousand-fold. The comet was blasting off over 130 pounds of water and almost 500 pounds of dust per second into space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rosetta captured many images of water and dust jets issuing from the comet over the months. One image in particular, taken only an hour before perihelion, shows a prominent plume bursting out energetically.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All of this activity, as ices vaporize and blow away into space carrying dust with it, is what builds up the comet’s atmosphere—or coma. In some comets–usually those that get closer to the sun than C-G ever does—this coma is blown by the solar wind into the long, iconic tail we generally associate with the image of a comet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There were hopes that the drained batteries of the Philae lander might recharge as sunlight levels increased—and this has in fact occurred. Philae has sent a few spurious signals to be relayed to Earth by the orbiting Rosetta.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_199901\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/comet-cg-62miles-rosetta.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-199901\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/comet-cg-62miles-rosetta-400x400.jpg\" alt=\"Image of the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko from a distance of 62 miles.\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/comet-cg-62miles-rosetta-400x400.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/comet-cg-62miles-rosetta.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/comet-cg-62miles-rosetta-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/comet-cg-62miles-rosetta-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/comet-cg-62miles-rosetta-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/comet-cg-62miles-rosetta-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/comet-cg-62miles-rosetta-75x75.jpg 75w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image of the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko from a distance of 62 miles. \u003ccite>(Rosetta/ESA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>So far, though, intermittent pings are all that have come from the comet’s surface. Mission operators are still hopeful that Philae may yet deliver more data, but since the comet and its two tag-along spacecraft are moving farther from the sun each day, the chances will diminish with the sunlight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, \u003ca href=\"http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Rosetta/Science_on_the_surface_of_a_comet\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Philae obtained very useful data\u003c/a> from its instruments upon landing and, as it turned out, during a couple of slow-speed “hops” it made after inadvertently bouncing off of its initial landing spot. Philae lighted upon two other locations before finally coming to rest at a site named Abydos.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rosetta will continue observing comet C-G’s activity in the aftermath of its solar close encounter, studying the effects of post-perihelion retreat as the comet cools and heads back to the other end of its orbit, aphelion—just beyond the orbit of Jupiter.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "It's Official: Don't Blame the Sun for Climate Change",
"headTitle": "It’s Official: Don’t Blame the Sun for Climate Change | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>New information about the energy output of the sun appears to contradict the claim, made by climate skeptics, that the sun is responsible for global warming. That idea relied on apparent evidence showing a rise in solar activity since 1800. But \u003ca href=\"http://www.sidc.be/silso/\">newly revised data\u003c/a>, published in July, suggests instead that our yardstick of solar activity was warped. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today scientists observe the sun 24 hours a day using \u003ca href=\"http://soho.nascom.nasa.gov/spaceweather/\">satellites in deep space\u003c/a> and solar telescopes on the ground. However, for historical data from before the 1980s, our best information on the activity of the sun has come from counting sunspots, a paper-and-pencil statistic determined by human eyes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sunspots and the Sunspot Number\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/phenomena/sunspotssolar-cycle\">Sunspots\u003c/a> are peculiar magnetic storms on the sun’s surface that appear like dark spots in comparison to the blinding gas around them. Large sunspots can be seen with the naked eye (although that’s not advisable, since you could damage your eye). But scientific observations had to await the invention of the telescope in the early 1600s. Galileo, the first person to turn a telescope toward the sky, made many careful drawings of the sun with sunspots on it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_186676\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 720px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/Galileo-sunspot.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/Galileo-sunspot.jpg\" alt=\"Galileo sun drawing\" width=\"720\" height=\"720\" class=\"size-full wp-image-186676\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/Galileo-sunspot.jpg 720w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/Galileo-sunspot-400x400.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/Galileo-sunspot-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/Galileo-sunspot-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/Galileo-sunspot-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/Galileo-sunspot-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/Galileo-sunspot-75x75.jpg 75w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Galileo made this drawing of the sun on June 23, 1613, showing sunspots. \u003ccite>(The Galileo Project/M. Kornmesser)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Sunspot counting was formalized in the 1840s by a Swiss astronomer named Rudolf Wolf, who began tracking them daily at the Zurich Observatory. Scientists had just discovered the sun’s 11-year cycle in which sunspot activity waxes and wanes. Wolf saw the need for a long and consistent record of them, and extended the record back in time using earlier sunspot reports. Counting groups of sunspots as ten and each individual spot as one, he devised a simple number that he could easily update every day the sun was out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Wolf Sunspot Number, determined every day since Wolf’s time by a worldwide group of astronomers, has become a fundamental tool of climate science. Extending from the first telescope observations in 1610 to today, it’s the longest set of solar data in science. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Still Relevant Today\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It turns out sunspots are a fairly good index of the sun’s total energy output, and sunspot data are used for many purposes. Sunspot counts are a gauge of the sun’s long-term behavior, the speed of the solar wind in outer space and the strength of the sun’s magnetic field — a set of natural activities summed up as \u003ca href=\"http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/communities/space-weather-enthusiasts\">space weather\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The sun’s energy output also affects the height of the atmosphere. An active sun heats up and expands the uppermost atmosphere, affecting low-flying satellites. The U.S. Air Force, which manages a fleet of satellites, is among the federal agencies keenly interested in all these topics. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_186677\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/SGN-record.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/SGN-record-800x340.png\" alt=\"Group Sunspot Number (not Wolf Sunspot Number)\" width=\"800\" height=\"340\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-186677\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/SGN-record-800x340.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/SGN-record-400x170.png 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/SGN-record-960x408.png 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/SGN-record.png 1000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sunspot numbers for the last 400 years appear to show a recent rise in solar activity. The newly revised record eliminates this bulge. \u003ccite>(Global Warming Art Project)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In researching Earth’s climate, sunspot numbers are the best tool we have to help correlate modern satellite data with other forms of evidence from the ancient and geological past. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some climate scientists have used different versions of the sunspot record to argue that the sun has been growing more active since around 1800, entering what they call a Solar Grand Maximum. Skeptics of climate change have seized on this idea to downplay the role of greenhouse gases in global warming, a stand contrary to the universal consensus of the scientific community. But what if the sunspot number is at fault? \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In July, a set of solar researchers issued a corrected sunspot record that erases the very concept of a Solar Grand Maximum. Instead the sun appears to have had a steady procession of 11-year cycles, modulated by longer cycles of roughly a century.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Problems With the Wolf Number\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After Wolf died in 1893, his successors at the Zurich Observatory continued counting the Wolf Sunspot Number. Today Sergio Cortesi, the fifth in line, carries on with this task at the Locarno Observatory, as he has since 1957. But like any observation that depends on human perceptions, the record collects subtle errors that must be detected and then corrected.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today the sunspot number is overseen by \u003ca href=\"http://sidc.be/silso/home\">Sunspot Index and Long-term Solar Observations\u003c/a> (SILSO), a group at the Royal Observatory of Belgium. SILSO relies on a network of about 60 observers whose observations are carefully compared to Cortesi’s at the Locarno Observatory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_186678\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 600px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/ISN-record.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/ISN-record.png\" alt=\"Corrected Wolf Sunspot record\" width=\"600\" height=\"580\" class=\"size-full wp-image-186678\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/ISN-record.png 600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/ISN-record-400x387.png 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/ISN-record-32x32.png 32w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The new sunspot record shows no Grand Maximum since 1800. \u003ccite>(SILSO/Royal Observatory of Belgium)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The push to clean up the record started when researchers revisited Wolf’s original data, adding thousands of observations that Wolf had not seen. For instance, Wolf had ignored much of the English-language literature. As they delved into the details, they uncovered enough errors and inconsistencies that it became clear a thorough housecleaning of the data was in order.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Fixing a Warped Foundation\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The research community gets nervous when someone tries to change one of its fundamental tools, like the \u003ca href=\"http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00190-015-0844-y\">location of the Prime Meridian\u003c/a> or the \u003ca href=\"http://geology.about.com/od/controversies/a/aa022005a.htm\">geological time scale\u003c/a>. Consensus can be slow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stanford University astrophysicist \u003ca href=\"http://www.leif.org/research/\">Leif Svalgaard\u003c/a> has been a steady force behind reforming the sunspot number, bringing a task force of his scientific peers together at annual conferences for the last five years. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Svalgaard argues that the “daisy chain” of observers connecting Wolf to Cortesi is prone to accumulating error. For example, in a review of more than 1,000 solar drawings made by Johann Staudacher between 1749 and 1796, he found Wolf had undercounted the number of sunspot groups by 25 percent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In making a fresh sunspot record, SILSO established a set of the most trustworthy “backbone” observers, those with long records and consistent techniques. And in July, SILSO formally ended the original sunspot number series and issued what it calls \u003ca href=\"http://www.sidc.be/silso/datafiles\">Sunspot Number version 2.0\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A special issue of the journal Solar Physics is in the works that will include dozens of papers, all properly peer-reviewed, to cement this step in scientific concrete. \u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>New information about the energy output of the sun appears to contradict the claim, made by climate skeptics, that the sun is responsible for global warming. That idea relied on apparent evidence showing a rise in solar activity since 1800. But \u003ca href=\"http://www.sidc.be/silso/\">newly revised data\u003c/a>, published in July, suggests instead that our yardstick of solar activity was warped. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today scientists observe the sun 24 hours a day using \u003ca href=\"http://soho.nascom.nasa.gov/spaceweather/\">satellites in deep space\u003c/a> and solar telescopes on the ground. However, for historical data from before the 1980s, our best information on the activity of the sun has come from counting sunspots, a paper-and-pencil statistic determined by human eyes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sunspots and the Sunspot Number\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/phenomena/sunspotssolar-cycle\">Sunspots\u003c/a> are peculiar magnetic storms on the sun’s surface that appear like dark spots in comparison to the blinding gas around them. Large sunspots can be seen with the naked eye (although that’s not advisable, since you could damage your eye). But scientific observations had to await the invention of the telescope in the early 1600s. Galileo, the first person to turn a telescope toward the sky, made many careful drawings of the sun with sunspots on it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_186676\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 720px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/Galileo-sunspot.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/Galileo-sunspot.jpg\" alt=\"Galileo sun drawing\" width=\"720\" height=\"720\" class=\"size-full wp-image-186676\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/Galileo-sunspot.jpg 720w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/Galileo-sunspot-400x400.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/Galileo-sunspot-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/Galileo-sunspot-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/Galileo-sunspot-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/Galileo-sunspot-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/Galileo-sunspot-75x75.jpg 75w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Galileo made this drawing of the sun on June 23, 1613, showing sunspots. \u003ccite>(The Galileo Project/M. Kornmesser)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Sunspot counting was formalized in the 1840s by a Swiss astronomer named Rudolf Wolf, who began tracking them daily at the Zurich Observatory. Scientists had just discovered the sun’s 11-year cycle in which sunspot activity waxes and wanes. Wolf saw the need for a long and consistent record of them, and extended the record back in time using earlier sunspot reports. Counting groups of sunspots as ten and each individual spot as one, he devised a simple number that he could easily update every day the sun was out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Wolf Sunspot Number, determined every day since Wolf’s time by a worldwide group of astronomers, has become a fundamental tool of climate science. Extending from the first telescope observations in 1610 to today, it’s the longest set of solar data in science. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Still Relevant Today\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It turns out sunspots are a fairly good index of the sun’s total energy output, and sunspot data are used for many purposes. Sunspot counts are a gauge of the sun’s long-term behavior, the speed of the solar wind in outer space and the strength of the sun’s magnetic field — a set of natural activities summed up as \u003ca href=\"http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/communities/space-weather-enthusiasts\">space weather\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The sun’s energy output also affects the height of the atmosphere. An active sun heats up and expands the uppermost atmosphere, affecting low-flying satellites. The U.S. Air Force, which manages a fleet of satellites, is among the federal agencies keenly interested in all these topics. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_186677\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/SGN-record.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/SGN-record-800x340.png\" alt=\"Group Sunspot Number (not Wolf Sunspot Number)\" width=\"800\" height=\"340\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-186677\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/SGN-record-800x340.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/SGN-record-400x170.png 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/SGN-record-960x408.png 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/SGN-record.png 1000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sunspot numbers for the last 400 years appear to show a recent rise in solar activity. The newly revised record eliminates this bulge. \u003ccite>(Global Warming Art Project)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In researching Earth’s climate, sunspot numbers are the best tool we have to help correlate modern satellite data with other forms of evidence from the ancient and geological past. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some climate scientists have used different versions of the sunspot record to argue that the sun has been growing more active since around 1800, entering what they call a Solar Grand Maximum. Skeptics of climate change have seized on this idea to downplay the role of greenhouse gases in global warming, a stand contrary to the universal consensus of the scientific community. But what if the sunspot number is at fault? \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In July, a set of solar researchers issued a corrected sunspot record that erases the very concept of a Solar Grand Maximum. Instead the sun appears to have had a steady procession of 11-year cycles, modulated by longer cycles of roughly a century.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Problems With the Wolf Number\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After Wolf died in 1893, his successors at the Zurich Observatory continued counting the Wolf Sunspot Number. Today Sergio Cortesi, the fifth in line, carries on with this task at the Locarno Observatory, as he has since 1957. But like any observation that depends on human perceptions, the record collects subtle errors that must be detected and then corrected.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today the sunspot number is overseen by \u003ca href=\"http://sidc.be/silso/home\">Sunspot Index and Long-term Solar Observations\u003c/a> (SILSO), a group at the Royal Observatory of Belgium. SILSO relies on a network of about 60 observers whose observations are carefully compared to Cortesi’s at the Locarno Observatory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_186678\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 600px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/ISN-record.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/ISN-record.png\" alt=\"Corrected Wolf Sunspot record\" width=\"600\" height=\"580\" class=\"size-full wp-image-186678\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/ISN-record.png 600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/ISN-record-400x387.png 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/ISN-record-32x32.png 32w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The new sunspot record shows no Grand Maximum since 1800. \u003ccite>(SILSO/Royal Observatory of Belgium)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The push to clean up the record started when researchers revisited Wolf’s original data, adding thousands of observations that Wolf had not seen. For instance, Wolf had ignored much of the English-language literature. As they delved into the details, they uncovered enough errors and inconsistencies that it became clear a thorough housecleaning of the data was in order.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Fixing a Warped Foundation\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The research community gets nervous when someone tries to change one of its fundamental tools, like the \u003ca href=\"http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00190-015-0844-y\">location of the Prime Meridian\u003c/a> or the \u003ca href=\"http://geology.about.com/od/controversies/a/aa022005a.htm\">geological time scale\u003c/a>. Consensus can be slow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stanford University astrophysicist \u003ca href=\"http://www.leif.org/research/\">Leif Svalgaard\u003c/a> has been a steady force behind reforming the sunspot number, bringing a task force of his scientific peers together at annual conferences for the last five years. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Svalgaard argues that the “daisy chain” of observers connecting Wolf to Cortesi is prone to accumulating error. For example, in a review of more than 1,000 solar drawings made by Johann Staudacher between 1749 and 1796, he found Wolf had undercounted the number of sunspot groups by 25 percent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In making a fresh sunspot record, SILSO established a set of the most trustworthy “backbone” observers, those with long records and consistent techniques. And in July, SILSO formally ended the original sunspot number series and issued what it calls \u003ca href=\"http://www.sidc.be/silso/datafiles\">Sunspot Number version 2.0\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A special issue of the journal Solar Physics is in the works that will include dozens of papers, all properly peer-reviewed, to cement this step in scientific concrete. \u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>The annual Perseid meteor shower is upon us, and this year the dark, moonless sky promises exceptional viewing. If the weather cooperates and the sky isn’t shrouded with smoke from nearby wildfires, this could be a spectacular show.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_183111\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/perseids_meteor_shower.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-183111\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/perseids_meteor_shower-400x195.jpg\" alt=\"Perseid meteors captured in a long exposure.\" width=\"400\" height=\"195\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/perseids_meteor_shower-400x195.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/perseids_meteor_shower.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Perseid meteors captured in a long exposure. \u003ccite>(JPL/NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The Perseid shower peaks between August 12 and 13 this year, so the best time to view them will be after midnight on Wednesday and into the early morning hours on Thursday. With the moon only one day away from its New phase, there will be no moonlight to interfere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For best viewing, find a location as far away from city lights as possible, where the skies are darker. The San Francisco Bay Area is blessed by a ring of hill and mountain ranges that can provide good shelter from light pollution, so find your local dark spot and throw out a blanket. Just keep in mind that coastal areas are often subject to fog this time of year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the South Bay, \u003ca href=\"http://coepark.net/pineridgeassociation/planning-your-visit/parkhours\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Henry Coe State Park\u003c/a> is a prime spot for meteor viewing, in part due to dark skies, but also because the park entrance is open around the clock all year long.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At \u003ca href=\"https://14884.blackbaudhosting.com/14884/page.aspx?pid=196&tab=2&txobjid=1db8a56b-e1f4-452c-96b9-a1f128b2c25c\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Chabot Space & Science Center\u003c/a> we’ll open our observatory deck for viewing from midnight to 3 a.m. on Thursday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Perseids have been called the “Old Faithful” of meteor showers. They reliably deliver high numbers of bright, fast meteors that often dazzle and thrill earthbound spectators. The main spoilers of a good show are light pollution (urban and/or moonlight), weather, and an unwillingness to stay up after midnight to see them. This year, fortunately, most of these factors are within our control, and you have a good shot at a breathtaking meteor adventure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_183109\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/meteors-leonids-carter-roberts-train1-21-26.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-183109\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/meteors-leonids-carter-roberts-train1-21-26-400x415.jpg\" alt=\"Colorful luminous meteor trails, from the annual Leonid Meteor Shower in November.\" width=\"400\" height=\"415\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/meteors-leonids-carter-roberts-train1-21-26-400x415.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/meteors-leonids-carter-roberts-train1-21-26-800x829.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/meteors-leonids-carter-roberts-train1-21-26-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/meteors-leonids-carter-roberts-train1-21-26.jpg 850w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Colorful luminous meteor trails, from the annual Leonid meteor shower in November. \u003ccite>(Carter Roberts)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The Perseid\u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/jpl/asteroids/best-meteor-showers/#.Vco98HFVhBc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> meteor shower\u003c/a> is caused by the passage of Earth through the dust trail left behind by the periodic comet \u003ca href=\"https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Com_109PSwiftTuttle\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Swift-Tuttle\u003c/a>, which orbits the sun every 133 years, and last passed by our neck of the solar system in 1992.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Earth passes through the dust trail at its orbital speed of about 18 miles per second, our atmosphere collides with the dust grains, which heat up by friction and vaporize in flashy streaks across the sky. Also called “shooting stars” (not to be confused with Clint Eastwood or Vin Diesel), the typical meteor is a bit of rock or metal perhaps the size of your fingernail.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meteors can be different colors, depending on their brightness and the composition of the dust particle that is burning up. Fainter meteors tend to appear white, mainly because the human eye isn’t good at seeing color when a light source is weak.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The word “meteor” comes from Latin for “sky,” or any atmospheric phenomenon, as in “meteorology,” the study of weather. In ancient times, meteors (shooting stars) were counted as a weather phenomenon, and though they do occur in the upper atmosphere, their celestial origin was not known.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Enjoy the show!\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The annual Perseid meteor shower is upon us, and this year the dark, moonless sky promises exceptional viewing. If the weather cooperates and the sky isn’t shrouded with smoke from nearby wildfires, this could be a spectacular show.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_183111\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/perseids_meteor_shower.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-183111\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/perseids_meteor_shower-400x195.jpg\" alt=\"Perseid meteors captured in a long exposure.\" width=\"400\" height=\"195\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/perseids_meteor_shower-400x195.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/perseids_meteor_shower.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Perseid meteors captured in a long exposure. \u003ccite>(JPL/NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The Perseid shower peaks between August 12 and 13 this year, so the best time to view them will be after midnight on Wednesday and into the early morning hours on Thursday. With the moon only one day away from its New phase, there will be no moonlight to interfere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For best viewing, find a location as far away from city lights as possible, where the skies are darker. The San Francisco Bay Area is blessed by a ring of hill and mountain ranges that can provide good shelter from light pollution, so find your local dark spot and throw out a blanket. Just keep in mind that coastal areas are often subject to fog this time of year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the South Bay, \u003ca href=\"http://coepark.net/pineridgeassociation/planning-your-visit/parkhours\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Henry Coe State Park\u003c/a> is a prime spot for meteor viewing, in part due to dark skies, but also because the park entrance is open around the clock all year long.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At \u003ca href=\"https://14884.blackbaudhosting.com/14884/page.aspx?pid=196&tab=2&txobjid=1db8a56b-e1f4-452c-96b9-a1f128b2c25c\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Chabot Space & Science Center\u003c/a> we’ll open our observatory deck for viewing from midnight to 3 a.m. on Thursday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Perseids have been called the “Old Faithful” of meteor showers. They reliably deliver high numbers of bright, fast meteors that often dazzle and thrill earthbound spectators. The main spoilers of a good show are light pollution (urban and/or moonlight), weather, and an unwillingness to stay up after midnight to see them. This year, fortunately, most of these factors are within our control, and you have a good shot at a breathtaking meteor adventure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_183109\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/meteors-leonids-carter-roberts-train1-21-26.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-183109\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/meteors-leonids-carter-roberts-train1-21-26-400x415.jpg\" alt=\"Colorful luminous meteor trails, from the annual Leonid Meteor Shower in November.\" width=\"400\" height=\"415\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/meteors-leonids-carter-roberts-train1-21-26-400x415.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/meteors-leonids-carter-roberts-train1-21-26-800x829.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/meteors-leonids-carter-roberts-train1-21-26-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/meteors-leonids-carter-roberts-train1-21-26.jpg 850w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Colorful luminous meteor trails, from the annual Leonid meteor shower in November. \u003ccite>(Carter Roberts)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The Perseid\u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/jpl/asteroids/best-meteor-showers/#.Vco98HFVhBc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> meteor shower\u003c/a> is caused by the passage of Earth through the dust trail left behind by the periodic comet \u003ca href=\"https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Com_109PSwiftTuttle\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Swift-Tuttle\u003c/a>, which orbits the sun every 133 years, and last passed by our neck of the solar system in 1992.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Earth passes through the dust trail at its orbital speed of about 18 miles per second, our atmosphere collides with the dust grains, which heat up by friction and vaporize in flashy streaks across the sky. Also called “shooting stars” (not to be confused with Clint Eastwood or Vin Diesel), the typical meteor is a bit of rock or metal perhaps the size of your fingernail.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meteors can be different colors, depending on their brightness and the composition of the dust particle that is burning up. Fainter meteors tend to appear white, mainly because the human eye isn’t good at seeing color when a light source is weak.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The word “meteor” comes from Latin for “sky,” or any atmospheric phenomenon, as in “meteorology,” the study of weather. In ancient times, meteors (shooting stars) were counted as a weather phenomenon, and though they do occur in the upper atmosphere, their celestial origin was not known.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Enjoy the show!\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Three Current Space Missions You May Not Know About",
"headTitle": "Three Current Space Missions You May Not Know About | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>With all of the \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2015/07/13/at-last-nasa-spacecraft-captures-a-close-up-of-pluto/\">attention grabbed by Pluto\u003c/a> in recent months, it’s easy to lose sight of just how much exploration is actually taking place across the solar system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lately, most of the news has come from \u003ca href=\"http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NASA’s New Horizons\u003c/a> flyby of Pluto, \u003ca href=\"http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Cassini’s \u003c/a>ongoing investigation of Saturn and its enigmatic moons and the \u003ca href=\"http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Curiosity \u003c/a>rover’s geologic quest on the slopes of Mount Sharp on Mars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Rosetta\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">European Space Agency’s Rosetta\u003c/a> spacecraft and Philae lander are carrying us on a roller coaster ride around the sun on Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A small fleet of solar observatories like \u003ca href=\"http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory\u003c/a> and the ESA’s SOHO keep an unblinking eye on our tumultuous sun.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, there are \u003ca href=\"http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/index.cfm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">dozens of robotic spacecraft\u003c/a> spread across the solar system, quietly exploring objects and regions from Earth’s moon all the way out to the frontier of interstellar space, three times more distant than Pluto.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Below are three current space expeditions that may yield results as soon as next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asteroid Expedition: Orbit, Land, Rove, Return!\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Have you heard of \u003ca href=\"http://global.jaxa.jp/projects/sat/hayabusa2/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Hayabusa 2\u003c/a>? Launched by Japan last December, this spacecraft is currently en route to the near-Earth object 1999 JU3, where it will arrive in 2018.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_168388\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/itokawa07_hayabusa_big.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-168388\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/itokawa07_hayabusa_big-400x214.jpg\" alt=\"Asteroid Itokawa as imaged by the Hayabusa spacecraft. \" width=\"400\" height=\"214\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/itokawa07_hayabusa_big-400x214.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/itokawa07_hayabusa_big.jpg 713w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Asteroid Itokawa as imaged by the Hayabusa spacecraft. \u003ccite>(JAXA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The spacecraft will spend about 18 months examining this half-mile-wide asteroid and employing a variety of exploration technologies, including deploying a lander and a rover to its surface, creating and exploring an artificial crater with an impactor projectile and the lander, and ultimately returning samples of the asteroid to Earth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sounds like a novel mission, but in fact this isn’t the first to bring pieces of an asteroid home to us; Hayabusa 2’s predecessor, Hayabusa (1), collected and returned samples of the asteroid Itokawa in 2010.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And 1999 JU3 is a “C” type \u003ca href=\"http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Asteroids_Structure_and_composition_of_asteroids\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">asteroid\u003c/a>, a carbonaceous object composed of clay and silicate rocks. Though C-type asteroids are the most common (75% of asteroids are of this type), they are among the oldest objects in the solar system. They are also thought to contain organic material and water (in hydrated rock).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These two factors—their origin in the earliest times of the solar system’s formation, and the water and organic molecules they may contain—can provide clues of how a planet like the Earth formed, in particular in relation to Earth’s oceans and the emergence of life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Recycled Robots\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Did you know that the green “reuse-recycle” ethic is occasionally employed with space missions? This is the case with ARTEMIS—a mission you may not have heard of even during its first incarnation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/artemis/index.html#.VcJK8PNVhBc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ARTEMIS \u003c/a>(Acceleration, Reconnection, Turbulence, and Electrodynamics of the Moon’s Interaction with the Sun) consists of two spacecraft that were originally members of another multi-probe mission called THEMIS.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_168383\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/Moon_ER_magnetic_field.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-168383\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/Moon_ER_magnetic_field-400x289.jpg\" alt=\"Lunar magnetic field strength map as measured by the Lunar Prospector mission. \" width=\"400\" height=\"289\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/Moon_ER_magnetic_field-400x289.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/Moon_ER_magnetic_field.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lunar magnetic field strength map as measured by the Lunar Prospector mission. \u003ccite>(Mark A. Wieczorek)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The original five THEMIS spacecraft orbited the Earth starting in 2007 studying its aurora, but two of the solar-powered probes were in danger of losing power due to spending too much time in Earth’s shadow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead of falling into dark silence, these two were sent on a new mission to the Moon, and renamed ARTEMIS-P1 and ARTEMIS-P2.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2010 the two repurposed spacecraft arrived at their initial destinations, the L1 and L2 Earth-Moon \u003ca href=\"http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/mechanics/lagpt.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">“Lagrange” points\u003c/a>, where a balancing act between the Earth’s and the Moon’s gravity creates semi-stable “pockets” where spacecraft can dwell. L1 resides between the Earth and Moon, and L2 on the far side of the Moon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These Lagrange points reside outside of Earth’s magnetic field, and so were excellent vantage points for the ARTEMIS spacecraft to study the properties of the solar wind and how it interacts with the Earth’s long magnetic tail and the Moon’s weak magnetism.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2011, both spacecraft were moved from the Lagrange points into close lunar orbits, and began a new phase of their repurposed mission to study the Moon more closely, including the structure of its core and its detailed surface magnetism. The ARTEMIS mission is still in progress.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Juno to Jupiter\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/juno/main/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NASA’s Juno\u003c/a> mission also hasn’t been on people’s radar, but not because its mission isn’t large. In fact, its mission objective is the biggest thing in the solar system, the planet Jupiter, where it will arrive in July of 2016 and enter a first-ever polar orbit of the gas giant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_168385\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/Jupiter-aurora-cp.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-168385\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/Jupiter-aurora-cp-400x226.jpg\" alt=\"Auroras surround Jupiter's North Polar region, revealing the gas giant's powerful magnetic field emerging from within. \" width=\"400\" height=\"226\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/Jupiter-aurora-cp-400x226.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/Jupiter-aurora-cp.jpg 781w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Auroras surround Jupiter’s North Polar region, revealing the gas giant’s powerful magnetic field emerging from within. \u003ccite>(Hubble Space Telescope)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>By investigating Jupiter’s polar regions, the Juno spacecraft will make detailed measurements of Jupiter’s powerful magnetic field where it emerges from within the planet, the structure of its atmosphere, and its gravitational field, giving scientists a glimpse of what’s going on deep within Jupiter’s thick gaseous layers and down to its core.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Probing Jupiter’s interior structure may give us insights into how Jupiter formed, and by extension the history of the formation of other planets in the solar system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Five decades ago the first robotic probe to reach any place in the solar system beyond the Earth-Moon system, \u003ca href=\"http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraftDisplay.do?id=1964-077A\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mariner 4,\u003c/a> flew by Mars, capturing and transmitting back to Earth less than two dozen images.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, the playing field of solar system exploration is crowded.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We’re in for a treat as spacecraft gather information and help us better understand the world in which we live.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "With all of the attention grabbed by high-profile cosmic expeditions in recent months, it's easy to lose sight of just how much exploration is actually taking place across the solar system. ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>With all of the \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2015/07/13/at-last-nasa-spacecraft-captures-a-close-up-of-pluto/\">attention grabbed by Pluto\u003c/a> in recent months, it’s easy to lose sight of just how much exploration is actually taking place across the solar system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lately, most of the news has come from \u003ca href=\"http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NASA’s New Horizons\u003c/a> flyby of Pluto, \u003ca href=\"http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Cassini’s \u003c/a>ongoing investigation of Saturn and its enigmatic moons and the \u003ca href=\"http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Curiosity \u003c/a>rover’s geologic quest on the slopes of Mount Sharp on Mars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Rosetta\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">European Space Agency’s Rosetta\u003c/a> spacecraft and Philae lander are carrying us on a roller coaster ride around the sun on Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A small fleet of solar observatories like \u003ca href=\"http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory\u003c/a> and the ESA’s SOHO keep an unblinking eye on our tumultuous sun.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, there are \u003ca href=\"http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/index.cfm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">dozens of robotic spacecraft\u003c/a> spread across the solar system, quietly exploring objects and regions from Earth’s moon all the way out to the frontier of interstellar space, three times more distant than Pluto.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Below are three current space expeditions that may yield results as soon as next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asteroid Expedition: Orbit, Land, Rove, Return!\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Have you heard of \u003ca href=\"http://global.jaxa.jp/projects/sat/hayabusa2/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Hayabusa 2\u003c/a>? Launched by Japan last December, this spacecraft is currently en route to the near-Earth object 1999 JU3, where it will arrive in 2018.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_168388\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/itokawa07_hayabusa_big.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-168388\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/itokawa07_hayabusa_big-400x214.jpg\" alt=\"Asteroid Itokawa as imaged by the Hayabusa spacecraft. \" width=\"400\" height=\"214\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/itokawa07_hayabusa_big-400x214.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/itokawa07_hayabusa_big.jpg 713w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Asteroid Itokawa as imaged by the Hayabusa spacecraft. \u003ccite>(JAXA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The spacecraft will spend about 18 months examining this half-mile-wide asteroid and employing a variety of exploration technologies, including deploying a lander and a rover to its surface, creating and exploring an artificial crater with an impactor projectile and the lander, and ultimately returning samples of the asteroid to Earth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sounds like a novel mission, but in fact this isn’t the first to bring pieces of an asteroid home to us; Hayabusa 2’s predecessor, Hayabusa (1), collected and returned samples of the asteroid Itokawa in 2010.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And 1999 JU3 is a “C” type \u003ca href=\"http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Asteroids_Structure_and_composition_of_asteroids\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">asteroid\u003c/a>, a carbonaceous object composed of clay and silicate rocks. Though C-type asteroids are the most common (75% of asteroids are of this type), they are among the oldest objects in the solar system. They are also thought to contain organic material and water (in hydrated rock).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These two factors—their origin in the earliest times of the solar system’s formation, and the water and organic molecules they may contain—can provide clues of how a planet like the Earth formed, in particular in relation to Earth’s oceans and the emergence of life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Recycled Robots\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Did you know that the green “reuse-recycle” ethic is occasionally employed with space missions? This is the case with ARTEMIS—a mission you may not have heard of even during its first incarnation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/artemis/index.html#.VcJK8PNVhBc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ARTEMIS \u003c/a>(Acceleration, Reconnection, Turbulence, and Electrodynamics of the Moon’s Interaction with the Sun) consists of two spacecraft that were originally members of another multi-probe mission called THEMIS.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_168383\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/Moon_ER_magnetic_field.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-168383\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/Moon_ER_magnetic_field-400x289.jpg\" alt=\"Lunar magnetic field strength map as measured by the Lunar Prospector mission. \" width=\"400\" height=\"289\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/Moon_ER_magnetic_field-400x289.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/Moon_ER_magnetic_field.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lunar magnetic field strength map as measured by the Lunar Prospector mission. \u003ccite>(Mark A. Wieczorek)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The original five THEMIS spacecraft orbited the Earth starting in 2007 studying its aurora, but two of the solar-powered probes were in danger of losing power due to spending too much time in Earth’s shadow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead of falling into dark silence, these two were sent on a new mission to the Moon, and renamed ARTEMIS-P1 and ARTEMIS-P2.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2010 the two repurposed spacecraft arrived at their initial destinations, the L1 and L2 Earth-Moon \u003ca href=\"http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/mechanics/lagpt.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">“Lagrange” points\u003c/a>, where a balancing act between the Earth’s and the Moon’s gravity creates semi-stable “pockets” where spacecraft can dwell. L1 resides between the Earth and Moon, and L2 on the far side of the Moon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These Lagrange points reside outside of Earth’s magnetic field, and so were excellent vantage points for the ARTEMIS spacecraft to study the properties of the solar wind and how it interacts with the Earth’s long magnetic tail and the Moon’s weak magnetism.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2011, both spacecraft were moved from the Lagrange points into close lunar orbits, and began a new phase of their repurposed mission to study the Moon more closely, including the structure of its core and its detailed surface magnetism. The ARTEMIS mission is still in progress.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Juno to Jupiter\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/juno/main/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NASA’s Juno\u003c/a> mission also hasn’t been on people’s radar, but not because its mission isn’t large. In fact, its mission objective is the biggest thing in the solar system, the planet Jupiter, where it will arrive in July of 2016 and enter a first-ever polar orbit of the gas giant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_168385\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/Jupiter-aurora-cp.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-168385\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/Jupiter-aurora-cp-400x226.jpg\" alt=\"Auroras surround Jupiter's North Polar region, revealing the gas giant's powerful magnetic field emerging from within. \" width=\"400\" height=\"226\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/Jupiter-aurora-cp-400x226.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/08/Jupiter-aurora-cp.jpg 781w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Auroras surround Jupiter’s North Polar region, revealing the gas giant’s powerful magnetic field emerging from within. \u003ccite>(Hubble Space Telescope)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>By investigating Jupiter’s polar regions, the Juno spacecraft will make detailed measurements of Jupiter’s powerful magnetic field where it emerges from within the planet, the structure of its atmosphere, and its gravitational field, giving scientists a glimpse of what’s going on deep within Jupiter’s thick gaseous layers and down to its core.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Probing Jupiter’s interior structure may give us insights into how Jupiter formed, and by extension the history of the formation of other planets in the solar system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Five decades ago the first robotic probe to reach any place in the solar system beyond the Earth-Moon system, \u003ca href=\"http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraftDisplay.do?id=1964-077A\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mariner 4,\u003c/a> flew by Mars, capturing and transmitting back to Earth less than two dozen images.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, the playing field of solar system exploration is crowded.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We’re in for a treat as spacecraft gather information and help us better understand the world in which we live.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Pluto or Bust: Possible Extended Mission for NASA's New Horizons",
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"content": "\u003cp>July 14th was a fantastic ride. \u003ca href=\"http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NASA’s New Horizons\u003c/a> mission took us through the Pluto system on the adventure of a lifetime, an adventure that will continue to unfold for many months as the large batch of data captured by the tiny spacecraft is sent back to Earth in radio trickles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[contextly_sidebar id=”gvz7vKV6Akp3r4AvzxGqsryhO7EbRAR2″]The encounter with Pluto and its large moon Charon dealt us far more surprises than expected. Far from being the icy, crater-scarred orbs that conventional thinking might have prepared us for, both appear to have relatively young, nearly crater-free surfaces–which means that some form of activity has taken place in their recent history—sometime in the past 100 million years or so.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tectonic activity? \u003ca href=\"http://astrogeology.usgs.gov/geology/titan-cryovolcanism\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Cryo-volcanism\u003c/a>? A \u003ca href=\"http://www.universetoday.com/120921/nasa-gives-go-for-mission-to-alien-ocean-world-at-jupiter-moon-europa/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sub-surface ocean\u003c/a>? Atmospheric meteorological phenomena? We don’t know, yet—but that’s part of the ongoing journey of discovery that we can enjoy for years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But even as Pluto data continues to flow in with fresh food for thought on these questions, mission scientists have their eyes on a further adventure, beyond Pluto. Though no definite decisions have been carved in ice yet, the opportunity to expand on the exploration of Pluto’s realm, the Kuiper Belt, is open wide before New Horizons’ flight trajectory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>New Horizons is in good condition, having survived its decade-long trek to Pluto, mostly in a preserving state of robotic hibernation. Powered by plutonium, the spacecraft’s energy source can last for, well, thousands of years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=KBOs&Display=OverviewLong\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kuiper Belt\u003c/a> is a wide band ringing the Sun, extending from just beyond the orbit of Neptune to about 50 astronomical units (AU–1 AU being the Earth-Sun distance of about 93 million miles). It is populated by an unknown number of icy objects—dwarf planets like Pluto, Eris, Haumea, and Makemake; smaller Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs); and comets—and is estimated to contain between 20 and 200 times the material of the main Asteroid Belt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A lot of territory to explore—and very interesting territory, if New Horizons’ revelations of the Pluto system are an indication.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the reasons for exploring Pluto and the Kuiper Belt—maybe the most important reason, scientifically—is that these objects possess clues about the \u003ca href=\"http://www.windows2universe.org/our_solar_system/formation.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">formation of the solar system\u003c/a>. They are basically “left overs” from the solar system’s earliest times, chunks of primordial material that didn’t get swept up in the formation of the planets, or were ejected from regions closer to the sun by their gravitational influence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While New Horizons is still officially engaged in its Pluto flyby mission, continuing observations of the dwarf planet system as it flies away, it is also poised on the point of a decision: where to go next.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mission scientists would like to send New Horizons to another encounter, and have a pair of candidates in mind: two Kuiper Belt Objects, called 2014 MU69 and 2014 PN70. We can only visit one of these, and to achieve either destination the spacecraft must expend some fuel to adjust its course—and by no later than the Fall of 2015. The actual encounter would occur in 2019.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both of these objects are quite different from Pluto. They are smaller, estimated to be a few tens of miles across—compared to Pluto’s newly refined diameter of 1,473 miles. And they are much farther from the sun—about a billion miles farther than Pluto, deep within the Kuiper Belt. A flyby sampling of either would likely tell us things about that region of the solar system that Pluto can only hint at.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, this further encounter can only take place if NASA approves funding for an extended mission, for which proposals are due in 2016, with funding granted in 2017.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Worst-case scenario: New Horizons is sent to one of these objects, but flies by without collecting or sending data back to Earth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Best case: we have another close encounter with a far-flung, exotic, and mysterious world to look forward to.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>July 14th was a fantastic ride. \u003ca href=\"http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NASA’s New Horizons\u003c/a> mission took us through the Pluto system on the adventure of a lifetime, an adventure that will continue to unfold for many months as the large batch of data captured by the tiny spacecraft is sent back to Earth in radio trickles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>The encounter with Pluto and its large moon Charon dealt us far more surprises than expected. Far from being the icy, crater-scarred orbs that conventional thinking might have prepared us for, both appear to have relatively young, nearly crater-free surfaces–which means that some form of activity has taken place in their recent history—sometime in the past 100 million years or so.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tectonic activity? \u003ca href=\"http://astrogeology.usgs.gov/geology/titan-cryovolcanism\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Cryo-volcanism\u003c/a>? A \u003ca href=\"http://www.universetoday.com/120921/nasa-gives-go-for-mission-to-alien-ocean-world-at-jupiter-moon-europa/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sub-surface ocean\u003c/a>? Atmospheric meteorological phenomena? We don’t know, yet—but that’s part of the ongoing journey of discovery that we can enjoy for years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But even as Pluto data continues to flow in with fresh food for thought on these questions, mission scientists have their eyes on a further adventure, beyond Pluto. Though no definite decisions have been carved in ice yet, the opportunity to expand on the exploration of Pluto’s realm, the Kuiper Belt, is open wide before New Horizons’ flight trajectory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>New Horizons is in good condition, having survived its decade-long trek to Pluto, mostly in a preserving state of robotic hibernation. Powered by plutonium, the spacecraft’s energy source can last for, well, thousands of years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=KBOs&Display=OverviewLong\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kuiper Belt\u003c/a> is a wide band ringing the Sun, extending from just beyond the orbit of Neptune to about 50 astronomical units (AU–1 AU being the Earth-Sun distance of about 93 million miles). It is populated by an unknown number of icy objects—dwarf planets like Pluto, Eris, Haumea, and Makemake; smaller Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs); and comets—and is estimated to contain between 20 and 200 times the material of the main Asteroid Belt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A lot of territory to explore—and very interesting territory, if New Horizons’ revelations of the Pluto system are an indication.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the reasons for exploring Pluto and the Kuiper Belt—maybe the most important reason, scientifically—is that these objects possess clues about the \u003ca href=\"http://www.windows2universe.org/our_solar_system/formation.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">formation of the solar system\u003c/a>. They are basically “left overs” from the solar system’s earliest times, chunks of primordial material that didn’t get swept up in the formation of the planets, or were ejected from regions closer to the sun by their gravitational influence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While New Horizons is still officially engaged in its Pluto flyby mission, continuing observations of the dwarf planet system as it flies away, it is also poised on the point of a decision: where to go next.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mission scientists would like to send New Horizons to another encounter, and have a pair of candidates in mind: two Kuiper Belt Objects, called 2014 MU69 and 2014 PN70. We can only visit one of these, and to achieve either destination the spacecraft must expend some fuel to adjust its course—and by no later than the Fall of 2015. The actual encounter would occur in 2019.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both of these objects are quite different from Pluto. They are smaller, estimated to be a few tens of miles across—compared to Pluto’s newly refined diameter of 1,473 miles. And they are much farther from the sun—about a billion miles farther than Pluto, deep within the Kuiper Belt. A flyby sampling of either would likely tell us things about that region of the solar system that Pluto can only hint at.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, this further encounter can only take place if NASA approves funding for an extended mission, for which proposals are due in 2016, with funding granted in 2017.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Worst-case scenario: New Horizons is sent to one of these objects, but flies by without collecting or sending data back to Earth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Best case: we have another close encounter with a far-flung, exotic, and mysterious world to look forward to.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Kepler Telescope Introduces Earth to a Very Distant Cousin",
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"content": "\u003cp>NASA’s planet-hunting Kepler Telescope has spotted the first roughly Earth-sized world orbiting in the “Goldilocks zone” of another star – offering perhaps the best bet so far for life elsewhere in the universe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A year on Kepler 452b, which is about 1,400 light years from us in the constellation Cygnus, is 385 days, meaning its orbit is just a bit farther away from its star than the Earth is from the sun. That places it squarely within what planetary scientists call the habitable zone, or “Goldilocks” zone — not too cold and not too hot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In my mind, this is the closest planet indeed to Earth,” Jon Jenkins, Kepler data analysis lead at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif, said at a media briefing. “The star is a little bit older and a little bit bigger and brighter, so it’s good that it’s a bit farther from its star.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[contextly_sidebar id=”YE9wLbqvu1LZlcR2Sfc2A1sM2raFh2oi”]And that star is what astronomers label a class-G, “main sequence” star, the same as our sun. It is of average size and luminosity. While astronomers have not ruled out life around either smaller, dimmer or larger and brighter stars, Jenkins notes that we know for sure that life can exist around a G-class star.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although Kepler 452b is also a 60 percent larger — and possibly five times as massive as Earth, with gravity about twice as great, there’s a “better than even chance” that it is rocky, like Earth, Jenkins says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is the closest thing we have to a place that someone else might call home,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kepler 452b is also in roughly the same period of planetary evolution as Earth. It’s thought to be about 6 billion years old, compared to Earth’s 4.5 billion years. But the estimate for Kepler 452b is based on models of stellar evolution, which could be off by as much as 2 billion years, which means on the lower end, it could be a contemporary of Earth, while on the upper end of the margin of error, it could be nearly twice as old, Jenkins says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s awe-inspiring to consider that this planet has spent 6 billion years in the habitable zone of its star; longer than Earth,” he said in a \u003ca href=\"http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-kepler-mission-discovers-bigger-older-cousin-to-earth\">statement from NASA.\u003c/a> “That’s substantial opportunity for life to arise, should all the necessary ingredients and conditions for life exist on this planet.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Kepler Telescope looks at a periodic, subtle dimming of distant stars that represents a slight blocking of sunlight as an orbiting planet passes between us and its parent star. But because the plane of the orbit must be parallel to Earth’s line-of-sight to be detected, Jenkins says that each discovery of an Earth-like planet by Kepler leaves possibly another 50 undetected.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, a total of 1,030 “extra-solar” planets have been identified, most — known as “hot Jupiters” — that are much larger and orbiting their stars much more closely than Earth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Exoplanets, especially small Earth-size worlds, belonged within the realm of science fiction just 21 years ago,” the NASA statement says. “Today, and thousands of discoveries later, astronomers are on the cusp of finding something people have dreamed about for thousands of years — another Earth.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2015 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Kepler+Telescope+Introduces+Earth+To+A+Very+Distant+Cousin&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>NASA’s planet-hunting Kepler Telescope has spotted the first roughly Earth-sized world orbiting in the “Goldilocks zone” of another star – offering perhaps the best bet so far for life elsewhere in the universe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A year on Kepler 452b, which is about 1,400 light years from us in the constellation Cygnus, is 385 days, meaning its orbit is just a bit farther away from its star than the Earth is from the sun. That places it squarely within what planetary scientists call the habitable zone, or “Goldilocks” zone — not too cold and not too hot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In my mind, this is the closest planet indeed to Earth,” Jon Jenkins, Kepler data analysis lead at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif, said at a media briefing. “The star is a little bit older and a little bit bigger and brighter, so it’s good that it’s a bit farther from its star.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>And that star is what astronomers label a class-G, “main sequence” star, the same as our sun. It is of average size and luminosity. While astronomers have not ruled out life around either smaller, dimmer or larger and brighter stars, Jenkins notes that we know for sure that life can exist around a G-class star.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although Kepler 452b is also a 60 percent larger — and possibly five times as massive as Earth, with gravity about twice as great, there’s a “better than even chance” that it is rocky, like Earth, Jenkins says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is the closest thing we have to a place that someone else might call home,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kepler 452b is also in roughly the same period of planetary evolution as Earth. It’s thought to be about 6 billion years old, compared to Earth’s 4.5 billion years. But the estimate for Kepler 452b is based on models of stellar evolution, which could be off by as much as 2 billion years, which means on the lower end, it could be a contemporary of Earth, while on the upper end of the margin of error, it could be nearly twice as old, Jenkins says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s awe-inspiring to consider that this planet has spent 6 billion years in the habitable zone of its star; longer than Earth,” he said in a \u003ca href=\"http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-kepler-mission-discovers-bigger-older-cousin-to-earth\">statement from NASA.\u003c/a> “That’s substantial opportunity for life to arise, should all the necessary ingredients and conditions for life exist on this planet.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Kepler Telescope looks at a periodic, subtle dimming of distant stars that represents a slight blocking of sunlight as an orbiting planet passes between us and its parent star. But because the plane of the orbit must be parallel to Earth’s line-of-sight to be detected, Jenkins says that each discovery of an Earth-like planet by Kepler leaves possibly another 50 undetected.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, a total of 1,030 “extra-solar” planets have been identified, most — known as “hot Jupiters” — that are much larger and orbiting their stars much more closely than Earth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Exoplanets, especially small Earth-size worlds, belonged within the realm of science fiction just 21 years ago,” the NASA statement says. “Today, and thousands of discoveries later, astronomers are on the cusp of finding something people have dreamed about for thousands of years — another Earth.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2015 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Kepler+Telescope+Introduces+Earth+To+A+Very+Distant+Cousin&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Pluto and Charon's First Portraits Do Not Disappoint",
"headTitle": "Pluto and Charon’s First Portraits Do Not Disappoint | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Update\u003c/strong>: 10:55 a.m., July 17, 2015\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>NASA has so far downloaded just one of 50 GB of data from the New Horizons closest approach to Pluto this week, but they are again releasing new photos of the dwarf planet and its moons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_123932\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-123932 size-full\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/frozen_carbon_monoxide_pluto.jpg\" alt=\"Scientists have found evidence of frozen carbon monoxide in Pluto’s 'Heart' region, now known as Tombaugh Regio. The concentration of carbon monoxide increases towards the center of the “bull’s eye” in this image. \" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/frozen_carbon_monoxide_pluto.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/frozen_carbon_monoxide_pluto-400x225.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/frozen_carbon_monoxide_pluto-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/frozen_carbon_monoxide_pluto-1440x810.jpg 1440w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/frozen_carbon_monoxide_pluto-1400x788.jpg 1400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/frozen_carbon_monoxide_pluto-1180x664.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/frozen_carbon_monoxide_pluto-960x540.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Scientists have found evidence of frozen carbon monoxide in Pluto’s ‘Heart’ region, now known as Tombaugh Regio. The concentration of carbon monoxide increases towards the center of the “bull’s eye” in this image. \u003ccite>(NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_123933\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1280px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-123933 size-full\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/pluto-and-charon-01.jpg\" alt=\"These full-frame images of Pluto and Charon were collected separately by New Horizons during approach this week, but their relative colors, size and separation are approximated in this composite image.\" width=\"1280\" height=\"720\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/pluto-and-charon-01.jpg 1280w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/pluto-and-charon-01-400x225.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/pluto-and-charon-01-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/pluto-and-charon-01-1180x664.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/pluto-and-charon-01-960x540.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">These full-frame images of Pluto and Charon were collected separately by New Horizons during approach this week, but their relative colors, size and separation are approximated in this composite image. \u003ccite>(NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Finally, NASA also released a simulated flyover of Pluto’s Norgay Mountains and Sputnik Plain, created from New Horizons closest-approach images.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydU-YrG_INk]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Original Post:\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>NASA has just released the first high resolution images from the New Horizons’ close encounter with Pluto, along with a few of the exciting discoveries made in the 24 hours since the probe first phoned home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_119874\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-119874\" src=\"http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/styles/full_width_feature/public/thumbnails/image/pluto-observations-through-the-years.gif\" alt=\"Animation showing how our views and understanding of Pluto has changed over the past few decades, in large part due to the New Horizons mission\" width=\"400\" height=\"210\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Animation showing how our views and understanding of Pluto has changed over the past few decades, in large part due to the New Horizons mission \u003ccite>(NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A few of the discoveries include: a canyon on Charon that is 4 to 6 miles deep (3.5-5 times deeper than our own Grand Canyon), an 11,000-foot mountain range near Pluto’s equator and a region of Pluto’s surface so young that it does not yet have any impact craters. Now scientists need to figure out what could generate Pluto’s mountains, since the dwarf planet isn’t heated by gravitational interactions with a larger body.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This may cause us to rethink what powers geological activity on many other icy worlds,” says New Horizons’ Geology, Geophysics and Imaging deputy team leader John Spencer, of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_119669\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-119669\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/nh-charon-400x302.jpg\" alt=\"The first high-resolution photo of Pluto's moon Charon, showing deep canyons and cliffs. The dark area near the north pole, known to the scientists as 'Mordor', may just be a thin veneer of surface materials.\" width=\"400\" height=\"302\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/nh-charon-400x302.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/nh-charon-800x605.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/nh-charon-960x726.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/nh-charon.jpg 1050w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The first high-resolution photo of Pluto’s moon Charon, showing deep canyons and cliffs. The dark area near the north pole, which scientists are calling Mordor, may be just a thin veneer of surface materials. \u003ccite>(NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Mark Showalter has been studying our solar system for over 30 years, but he says that this week’s Pluto flyby is the single most exciting thing he’s ever been involved in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Pluto has not disappointed us one bit. It is an utterly fascinating world, and everybody will appreciate it for that very, very soon.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2015/07/13/at-last-nasa-spacecraft-captures-a-close-up-of-pluto/\">Earlier this week\u003c/a>, we spoke with Showalter, an astronomer at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, about how his hazard analyses helped keep the New Horizons spacecraft out of harm’s way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now the\u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/07/14/science/space/pluto-flyby.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&modref=HPInteractiveRefer&module=second-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0\"> flyby\u003c/a> is over and the \u003ca href=\"http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/newhorizons/images/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">first photos are in. \u003c/a>We reached Showalter at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>So, are you drinking champagne yet?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-119120\">\u003cstrong>Mark Showalter:\u003c/strong> [\u003cem>laughs\u003c/em>] There was some celebration last night, that’s for sure. But now most of us are back to work. Certainly, the best data that we’ve seen so far has just come down overnight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>When did you get confirmation that it all worked?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We were watching as the operation center first got a signal lock at 8:54 pm roughly last night. Signal lock, for me as somebody who works on hazard, is the best piece of news whatsoever. It just means that there is a signal coming down from the spacecraft. Then, over the next minute or two, we had confirmation that the temperature was right and that the solid-state recorder, which is basically the storage disk that saves all the data, had the right amount of data on it. So essentially, we went step by step down the list of things that might have gone wrong, and everything was reported to be nominal, which in mission-speak means good. So we had a successful flyby and when we knew that, there was a huge celebration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_119670\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 303px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-119670\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/methane2.jpg\" alt=\"The latest spectra from New Horizons Ralph instrument reveal an abundance of methane ice, but with striking differences from place to place across the frozen surface of Pluto.\" width=\"303\" height=\"400\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The latest spectra from New Horizons Ralph instrument reveal an abundance of methane ice, but with striking differences from place to place across the frozen surface of Pluto. \u003ccite>(NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How did it all go? Were there any surprises that had you at the edge of your seat? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Actually, what was delightful was that there were no surprises whatsoever. That’s the point in time when you absolutely do not want any surprises at all! Since I’ve been particularly focused on the hazard analysis, it was a huge relief for me to know that the spacecraft was safe. And I gotta say that even though we thought the chance of damage was something like 1 in 10,000, we all know that things can go wrong. Anything that’s built by human hands sometimes fails us, and this was a space craft that was making its most important observations ever for essentially a 9-hour period without any contact whatsoever from Earth. So just knowing, finally at the end of all of that, that it had completed its set of observations successfully and was still healthy… You can’t imagine how relieved we all felt!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How long will we have to wait to see the rest of the data?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-117341\">Actually, it will be 16 months to get the last Pluto data down off the spacecraft. The reason is that the antenna is not that big, and the whole spacecraft only has about 200 watts of power, not all of which can be used to power the transmitter. So, we’re essentially getting data down at something on the order of kilobits per second. That’s a very slow rate: slower than any dialup modem you might ever remember using. So it’s just going to take a while, and we’re going to take down every bit of data that we obtained during the Pluto flyby.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Update\u003c/strong>: 10:55 a.m., July 17, 2015\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>NASA has so far downloaded just one of 50 GB of data from the New Horizons closest approach to Pluto this week, but they are again releasing new photos of the dwarf planet and its moons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_123932\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-123932 size-full\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/frozen_carbon_monoxide_pluto.jpg\" alt=\"Scientists have found evidence of frozen carbon monoxide in Pluto’s 'Heart' region, now known as Tombaugh Regio. The concentration of carbon monoxide increases towards the center of the “bull’s eye” in this image. \" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/frozen_carbon_monoxide_pluto.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/frozen_carbon_monoxide_pluto-400x225.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/frozen_carbon_monoxide_pluto-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/frozen_carbon_monoxide_pluto-1440x810.jpg 1440w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/frozen_carbon_monoxide_pluto-1400x788.jpg 1400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/frozen_carbon_monoxide_pluto-1180x664.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/frozen_carbon_monoxide_pluto-960x540.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Scientists have found evidence of frozen carbon monoxide in Pluto’s ‘Heart’ region, now known as Tombaugh Regio. The concentration of carbon monoxide increases towards the center of the “bull’s eye” in this image. \u003ccite>(NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_123933\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1280px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-123933 size-full\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/pluto-and-charon-01.jpg\" alt=\"These full-frame images of Pluto and Charon were collected separately by New Horizons during approach this week, but their relative colors, size and separation are approximated in this composite image.\" width=\"1280\" height=\"720\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/pluto-and-charon-01.jpg 1280w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/pluto-and-charon-01-400x225.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/pluto-and-charon-01-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/pluto-and-charon-01-1180x664.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/pluto-and-charon-01-960x540.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">These full-frame images of Pluto and Charon were collected separately by New Horizons during approach this week, but their relative colors, size and separation are approximated in this composite image. \u003ccite>(NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Finally, NASA also released a simulated flyover of Pluto’s Norgay Mountains and Sputnik Plain, created from New Horizons closest-approach images.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/ydU-YrG_INk'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/ydU-YrG_INk'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Original Post:\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>NASA has just released the first high resolution images from the New Horizons’ close encounter with Pluto, along with a few of the exciting discoveries made in the 24 hours since the probe first phoned home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_119874\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-119874\" src=\"http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/styles/full_width_feature/public/thumbnails/image/pluto-observations-through-the-years.gif\" alt=\"Animation showing how our views and understanding of Pluto has changed over the past few decades, in large part due to the New Horizons mission\" width=\"400\" height=\"210\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Animation showing how our views and understanding of Pluto has changed over the past few decades, in large part due to the New Horizons mission \u003ccite>(NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A few of the discoveries include: a canyon on Charon that is 4 to 6 miles deep (3.5-5 times deeper than our own Grand Canyon), an 11,000-foot mountain range near Pluto’s equator and a region of Pluto’s surface so young that it does not yet have any impact craters. Now scientists need to figure out what could generate Pluto’s mountains, since the dwarf planet isn’t heated by gravitational interactions with a larger body.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This may cause us to rethink what powers geological activity on many other icy worlds,” says New Horizons’ Geology, Geophysics and Imaging deputy team leader John Spencer, of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_119669\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-119669\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/nh-charon-400x302.jpg\" alt=\"The first high-resolution photo of Pluto's moon Charon, showing deep canyons and cliffs. The dark area near the north pole, known to the scientists as 'Mordor', may just be a thin veneer of surface materials.\" width=\"400\" height=\"302\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/nh-charon-400x302.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/nh-charon-800x605.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/nh-charon-960x726.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/nh-charon.jpg 1050w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The first high-resolution photo of Pluto’s moon Charon, showing deep canyons and cliffs. The dark area near the north pole, which scientists are calling Mordor, may be just a thin veneer of surface materials. \u003ccite>(NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Mark Showalter has been studying our solar system for over 30 years, but he says that this week’s Pluto flyby is the single most exciting thing he’s ever been involved in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Pluto has not disappointed us one bit. It is an utterly fascinating world, and everybody will appreciate it for that very, very soon.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2015/07/13/at-last-nasa-spacecraft-captures-a-close-up-of-pluto/\">Earlier this week\u003c/a>, we spoke with Showalter, an astronomer at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, about how his hazard analyses helped keep the New Horizons spacecraft out of harm’s way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now the\u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/07/14/science/space/pluto-flyby.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&modref=HPInteractiveRefer&module=second-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0\"> flyby\u003c/a> is over and the \u003ca href=\"http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/newhorizons/images/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">first photos are in. \u003c/a>We reached Showalter at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>So, are you drinking champagne yet?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-119120\">\u003cstrong>Mark Showalter:\u003c/strong> [\u003cem>laughs\u003c/em>] There was some celebration last night, that’s for sure. But now most of us are back to work. Certainly, the best data that we’ve seen so far has just come down overnight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>When did you get confirmation that it all worked?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We were watching as the operation center first got a signal lock at 8:54 pm roughly last night. Signal lock, for me as somebody who works on hazard, is the best piece of news whatsoever. It just means that there is a signal coming down from the spacecraft. Then, over the next minute or two, we had confirmation that the temperature was right and that the solid-state recorder, which is basically the storage disk that saves all the data, had the right amount of data on it. So essentially, we went step by step down the list of things that might have gone wrong, and everything was reported to be nominal, which in mission-speak means good. So we had a successful flyby and when we knew that, there was a huge celebration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_119670\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 303px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-119670\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/methane2.jpg\" alt=\"The latest spectra from New Horizons Ralph instrument reveal an abundance of methane ice, but with striking differences from place to place across the frozen surface of Pluto.\" width=\"303\" height=\"400\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The latest spectra from New Horizons Ralph instrument reveal an abundance of methane ice, but with striking differences from place to place across the frozen surface of Pluto. \u003ccite>(NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How did it all go? Were there any surprises that had you at the edge of your seat? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Actually, what was delightful was that there were no surprises whatsoever. That’s the point in time when you absolutely do not want any surprises at all! Since I’ve been particularly focused on the hazard analysis, it was a huge relief for me to know that the spacecraft was safe. And I gotta say that even though we thought the chance of damage was something like 1 in 10,000, we all know that things can go wrong. Anything that’s built by human hands sometimes fails us, and this was a space craft that was making its most important observations ever for essentially a 9-hour period without any contact whatsoever from Earth. So just knowing, finally at the end of all of that, that it had completed its set of observations successfully and was still healthy… You can’t imagine how relieved we all felt!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How long will we have to wait to see the rest of the data?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-117341\">Actually, it will be 16 months to get the last Pluto data down off the spacecraft. The reason is that the antenna is not that big, and the whole spacecraft only has about 200 watts of power, not all of which can be used to power the transmitter. So, we’re essentially getting data down at something on the order of kilobits per second. That’s a very slow rate: slower than any dialup modem you might ever remember using. So it’s just going to take a while, and we’re going to take down every bit of data that we obtained during the Pluto flyby.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has survived its encounter with Pluto and carried out its scientific observations as planned, according to a message received from the spacecraft. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2015/07/13/at-last-nasa-spacecraft-captures-a-close-up-of-pluto/\">New Horizons\u003c/a> is now zooming away from the dwarf planet at 31,000 miles an hour. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Tuesday night, the team gathered at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland to celebrate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first images from the probe’s closest approach to the dwarf planet and its moons are expected to be released around 3 pm ET at a NASA press conference. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The highest-resolution images will take months to transmit over the 3.5 billion miles that separate New Horizons from Earth. NASA expects to release them at a series of press conferences near the end of the year. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We’ll bring you those first photos as soon as they’re available, along with reactions from Bay Area scientists involved with the mission.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has survived its encounter with Pluto and carried out its scientific observations as planned, according to a message received from the spacecraft. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2015/07/13/at-last-nasa-spacecraft-captures-a-close-up-of-pluto/\">New Horizons\u003c/a> is now zooming away from the dwarf planet at 31,000 miles an hour. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Tuesday night, the team gathered at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland to celebrate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first images from the probe’s closest approach to the dwarf planet and its moons are expected to be released around 3 pm ET at a NASA press conference. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The highest-resolution images will take months to transmit over the 3.5 billion miles that separate New Horizons from Earth. NASA expects to release them at a series of press conferences near the end of the year. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We’ll bring you those first photos as soon as they’re available, along with reactions from Bay Area scientists involved with the mission.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Update:\u003c/strong> 3:42 p.m., July 13, 2015\u003cbr>\n\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has already resolved one of the key debates about Pluto: how big is it? The dwarf planet is 1,473 miles (2,370 kilometers) in diameter, slightly larger than scientists thought. Pluto is now confirmed to be the largest known object beyond the orbit of Neptune, in our solar system. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Original Post:\u003cbr>\n\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\nTomorrow morning, if all goes according to plan, an unmanned NASA spacecraft called \u003ca href=\"http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/\">New Horizons\u003c/a> will finally reach Pluto, snapping the first close-up photos ever taken of our solar system’s most famous dwarf planet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_114022\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/071215_Pluto_Alone.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/071215_Pluto_Alone-800x721.png\" alt=\"On July 11, NASA's New Horizons captured this image of Pluto, revealing cliffs and what might be an impact crater. \" width=\"800\" height=\"721\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-114022\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/071215_Pluto_Alone-800x721.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/071215_Pluto_Alone-400x361.png 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/071215_Pluto_Alone.png 914w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">On July 11, NASA’s New Horizons captured this image of Pluto, revealing cliffs and what might be an impact crater. On Tuesday, the spacecraft will make its closest approach of the dwarf planet. \u003ccite>(NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>New Horizons launched in 2006; eight hours later it passed the moon. It took nine-and-a-half years to get to Pluto.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In some sense, this is the bookend to the first, great, 50 years of space exploration,” says Jeff Moore, a research scientist at \u003ca href=\"http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/home/index.html\">NASA Ames Research Center\u003c/a> in Mountain View. Moore leads New Horizon’s Geology and Geophysics Investigation Team.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was almost exactly 50 years ago that we saw our first crisp images of a planet other than Earth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/214184992″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1965, Mariner 4, a NASA spacecraft the size of a Winnebago, whizzed past Mars, taking pictures along the way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>TV networks brought \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIj7kRSBywM\">the news \u003c/a>to American living rooms, disappointing some who’d hoped to catch a glimpse of alien life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The pictures and data recorded by Mariner 4 reveal Mars to be a cold, barren planet,” read the broadcaster from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1974 Venus and Mercury got their close ups, thanks to NASA’s Mariner 10 spacecraft.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the late 1970s and 80s, \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/news/story/2012/09/05/107172/after_35_years_voyager_nears_edge_of_solar_system\">Voyager 1\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/profile.cfm?MCode=Voyager_2\">Voyager 2\u003c/a> beamed back images of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_107641\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 404px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/Mariner-crater.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-107641\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/Mariner-crater-800x770.jpg\" alt=\"Mariner crater, snapped by the Mariner 4 spacecraft on July 15, 1965, from a distance of 7,800 miles. (NASA\" width=\"404\" height=\"389\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/Mariner-crater-800x770.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/Mariner-crater-400x385.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/Mariner-crater-1440x1385.jpg 1440w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/Mariner-crater-1180x1135.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/Mariner-crater-960x924.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/Mariner-crater-32x32.jpg 32w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 404px) 100vw, 404px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mariner crater on Mars, snapped by the Mariner 4 spacecraft on July 15, 1965, from a distance of 7,800 miles. \u003ccite>(NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>One by one, the planets in our solar system snapped into focus, thanks to cameras and transmitters launched into space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Only Pluto, discovered in 1930 by the American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh, remained largely unseen — and for good reason. Mars is about 50 million miles away. Pluto is four billion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Nobody knows what it looks like. That’s the whole point,” Moore says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Tuesday, the New Horizons spacecraft will pass within 8,000 miles of Pluto — the distance from San Francisco to Cairo. Once the highest-resolution images come in, we’ll be able to see objects the size of an office building.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Moore, it could be a revelation. Until now, the only images he’s seen of Pluto are distant and fuzzy. The dwarf planet looks like a moldy orange, with strange contrasting patches.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Some of the patches on Pluto are as bright as new-fallen snow, some of the other patches are as dark as charcoal,” Moore says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_107677\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 397px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/Hubble.-Pluto.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-107677\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/Hubble.-Pluto-800x800.png\" alt=\"An image of Pluto assembled from photographs taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2002 and 2003.\" width=\"397\" height=\"397\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/Hubble.-Pluto-800x800.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/Hubble.-Pluto-400x400.png 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/Hubble.-Pluto-1180x1180.png 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/Hubble.-Pluto-960x960.png 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/Hubble.-Pluto-32x32.png 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/Hubble.-Pluto-64x64.png 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/Hubble.-Pluto-96x96.png 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/Hubble.-Pluto-128x128.png 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/Hubble.-Pluto-75x75.png 75w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/Hubble.-Pluto.png 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 397px) 100vw, 397px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An image of Pluto assembled from photographs taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2002 and 2003. \u003ccite>(NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Scientists think those dark patches are methane, frozen into rock by Pluto’s minus-300-degree-Fahrenheit chill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moore will also be looking for signs of volcanoes on Pluto: “cryovolcanoes” that spew methane rocks and ice, rather than lava.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moore wonders whether we might even glimpse riverbeds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not water rivers, like on Earth — Pluto’s much too cold for that — but rivers made out of an element with a much lower freezing point.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Maybe neon,” Moore says. “So if we see riverbeds on Pluto they’d have to be carved by liquid neon.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Riverbeds of neon. That’s the kind of planetary weirdness that will have Moore glued to his computer screen tomorrow morning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, Mark Showalter, another Bay Area scientist on the New Horizons team, will be breathing a sigh of relief.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2011 and 12, Showalter, an astronomer at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, discovered or helped discover two of Pluto’s five moons: Kerberos and Styx.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_107077\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/pluto3_150705_noannot.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-107077\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/pluto3_150705_noannot-800x326.jpeg\" alt=\"Three views of Pluto, captured by New Horizons as it approaches Pluto between July 1 and July 3. The right panel shows four mysterious dark spots.\" width=\"800\" height=\"326\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/pluto3_150705_noannot-800x326.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/pluto3_150705_noannot-400x163.jpeg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/pluto3_150705_noannot-1440x586.jpeg 1440w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/pluto3_150705_noannot-1180x480.jpeg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/pluto3_150705_noannot-960x391.jpeg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Three views of Pluto, captured by New Horizons as it approaches Pluto between July 1 and July 3. The right panel shows four mysterious dark spots. \u003ccite>(NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Today, he’s a member of the New Horizons’ Hazard Analysis Team.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My job in hazard analysis has been to analyze the data,” Showalter says, “just looking for anything that might be in the way. Any rocky shoals, if you will.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pluto is located at the inner edge of the Kuiper belt, a massive band of icy asteroids. From Showalter’s standpoint, it’s like a mine field.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After all, New Horizons is traveling at nine miles per second. That’s about 32,000 miles per hour.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Way faster than a bullet,” Showalter says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At that speed, collision with an asteroid as small as a BB pellet or a grain of sand could be disastrous.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_107177\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 356px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/image-20141218-31040-u44bpe.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-107177\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/image-20141218-31040-u44bpe-800x597.jpg\" alt=\"The trajectory of the New Horizons probe since its launch in January 2006. After its flyby of Pluto and Charon this week, the probe will fly through the Edgeworth-Kuiper belt and then on to the stars.\" width=\"356\" height=\"266\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/image-20141218-31040-u44bpe-800x597.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/image-20141218-31040-u44bpe-400x298.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/image-20141218-31040-u44bpe-1180x880.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/image-20141218-31040-u44bpe-960x716.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/image-20141218-31040-u44bpe.jpg 1370w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 356px) 100vw, 356px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The trajectory of the New Horizons probe since its launch in January 2006. After its flyby of Pluto and Charon this week, the probe will fly through the Edgeworth-Kuiper belt and then out to the stars beyond. \u003ccite>(NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“If we’re just unlucky,” Showalter says, “and that BB or grain of sand happens to sever a critical cable between two components, we could conceivably just lose all contact with the spacecraft.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After a decade of waiting, a $700 million NASA mission would be lost.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These are the kinds of things we fear most,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If Showalter and his colleagues spot an asteroid up ahead, they can steer New Horizons around it, a bit like an exceptionally long-distance video game. At this point, New Horizons is so far away that it takes hours for instructions to reach it, or for data to come back showing where, precisely, the spacecraft is.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Basically, Showalter says, “we’re playing dodge ball with a six-hour delay.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That delay means the first photos of Pluto won’t start trickling in until Wednesday morning. The highest-resolution photos will arrive in the fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After its Pluto encounter, New Horizons will keep traveling, maybe for a decade, powered by plutonium pellets and, hopefully, sending back more photos from the icy edge of our solar system.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Will NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft find icy volcanoes or rivers of neon? Here’s a last image from New Horizons before it makes its closest contact, early Tuesday morning.",
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"description": "Will NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft find icy volcanoes or rivers of neon? Here’s a last image from New Horizons before it makes its closest contact, early Tuesday morning.",
"title": "At Last! NASA Spacecraft to Capture a Close-Up of Pluto | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Update:\u003c/strong> 3:42 p.m., July 13, 2015\u003cbr>\n\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has already resolved one of the key debates about Pluto: how big is it? The dwarf planet is 1,473 miles (2,370 kilometers) in diameter, slightly larger than scientists thought. Pluto is now confirmed to be the largest known object beyond the orbit of Neptune, in our solar system. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Original Post:\u003cbr>\n\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\nTomorrow morning, if all goes according to plan, an unmanned NASA spacecraft called \u003ca href=\"http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/\">New Horizons\u003c/a> will finally reach Pluto, snapping the first close-up photos ever taken of our solar system’s most famous dwarf planet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_114022\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/071215_Pluto_Alone.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/071215_Pluto_Alone-800x721.png\" alt=\"On July 11, NASA's New Horizons captured this image of Pluto, revealing cliffs and what might be an impact crater. \" width=\"800\" height=\"721\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-114022\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/071215_Pluto_Alone-800x721.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/071215_Pluto_Alone-400x361.png 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/071215_Pluto_Alone.png 914w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">On July 11, NASA’s New Horizons captured this image of Pluto, revealing cliffs and what might be an impact crater. On Tuesday, the spacecraft will make its closest approach of the dwarf planet. \u003ccite>(NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>New Horizons launched in 2006; eight hours later it passed the moon. It took nine-and-a-half years to get to Pluto.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In some sense, this is the bookend to the first, great, 50 years of space exploration,” says Jeff Moore, a research scientist at \u003ca href=\"http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/home/index.html\">NASA Ames Research Center\u003c/a> in Mountain View. Moore leads New Horizon’s Geology and Geophysics Investigation Team.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was almost exactly 50 years ago that we saw our first crisp images of a planet other than Earth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cdiv class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__shortcodes__shortcodeWrapper'>\n \u003ciframe width='”100%”' height='”166″'\n scrolling='no' frameborder='no'\n src='https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/214184992″&visual=true&”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false”'\n title='”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/214184992″'>\n \u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/div>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1965, Mariner 4, a NASA spacecraft the size of a Winnebago, whizzed past Mars, taking pictures along the way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>TV networks brought \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIj7kRSBywM\">the news \u003c/a>to American living rooms, disappointing some who’d hoped to catch a glimpse of alien life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The pictures and data recorded by Mariner 4 reveal Mars to be a cold, barren planet,” read the broadcaster from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1974 Venus and Mercury got their close ups, thanks to NASA’s Mariner 10 spacecraft.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the late 1970s and 80s, \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/news/story/2012/09/05/107172/after_35_years_voyager_nears_edge_of_solar_system\">Voyager 1\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/profile.cfm?MCode=Voyager_2\">Voyager 2\u003c/a> beamed back images of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_107641\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 404px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/Mariner-crater.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-107641\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/Mariner-crater-800x770.jpg\" alt=\"Mariner crater, snapped by the Mariner 4 spacecraft on July 15, 1965, from a distance of 7,800 miles. (NASA\" width=\"404\" height=\"389\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/Mariner-crater-800x770.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/Mariner-crater-400x385.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/Mariner-crater-1440x1385.jpg 1440w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/Mariner-crater-1180x1135.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/Mariner-crater-960x924.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/Mariner-crater-32x32.jpg 32w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 404px) 100vw, 404px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mariner crater on Mars, snapped by the Mariner 4 spacecraft on July 15, 1965, from a distance of 7,800 miles. \u003ccite>(NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>One by one, the planets in our solar system snapped into focus, thanks to cameras and transmitters launched into space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Only Pluto, discovered in 1930 by the American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh, remained largely unseen — and for good reason. Mars is about 50 million miles away. Pluto is four billion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Nobody knows what it looks like. That’s the whole point,” Moore says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Tuesday, the New Horizons spacecraft will pass within 8,000 miles of Pluto — the distance from San Francisco to Cairo. Once the highest-resolution images come in, we’ll be able to see objects the size of an office building.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Moore, it could be a revelation. Until now, the only images he’s seen of Pluto are distant and fuzzy. The dwarf planet looks like a moldy orange, with strange contrasting patches.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Some of the patches on Pluto are as bright as new-fallen snow, some of the other patches are as dark as charcoal,” Moore says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_107677\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 397px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/Hubble.-Pluto.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-107677\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/Hubble.-Pluto-800x800.png\" alt=\"An image of Pluto assembled from photographs taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2002 and 2003.\" width=\"397\" height=\"397\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/Hubble.-Pluto-800x800.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/Hubble.-Pluto-400x400.png 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/Hubble.-Pluto-1180x1180.png 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/Hubble.-Pluto-960x960.png 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/Hubble.-Pluto-32x32.png 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/Hubble.-Pluto-64x64.png 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/Hubble.-Pluto-96x96.png 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/Hubble.-Pluto-128x128.png 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/Hubble.-Pluto-75x75.png 75w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/Hubble.-Pluto.png 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 397px) 100vw, 397px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An image of Pluto assembled from photographs taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2002 and 2003. \u003ccite>(NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Scientists think those dark patches are methane, frozen into rock by Pluto’s minus-300-degree-Fahrenheit chill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moore will also be looking for signs of volcanoes on Pluto: “cryovolcanoes” that spew methane rocks and ice, rather than lava.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moore wonders whether we might even glimpse riverbeds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not water rivers, like on Earth — Pluto’s much too cold for that — but rivers made out of an element with a much lower freezing point.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Maybe neon,” Moore says. “So if we see riverbeds on Pluto they’d have to be carved by liquid neon.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Riverbeds of neon. That’s the kind of planetary weirdness that will have Moore glued to his computer screen tomorrow morning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, Mark Showalter, another Bay Area scientist on the New Horizons team, will be breathing a sigh of relief.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2011 and 12, Showalter, an astronomer at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, discovered or helped discover two of Pluto’s five moons: Kerberos and Styx.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_107077\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/pluto3_150705_noannot.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-107077\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/pluto3_150705_noannot-800x326.jpeg\" alt=\"Three views of Pluto, captured by New Horizons as it approaches Pluto between July 1 and July 3. The right panel shows four mysterious dark spots.\" width=\"800\" height=\"326\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/pluto3_150705_noannot-800x326.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/pluto3_150705_noannot-400x163.jpeg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/pluto3_150705_noannot-1440x586.jpeg 1440w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/pluto3_150705_noannot-1180x480.jpeg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/pluto3_150705_noannot-960x391.jpeg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Three views of Pluto, captured by New Horizons as it approaches Pluto between July 1 and July 3. The right panel shows four mysterious dark spots. \u003ccite>(NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Today, he’s a member of the New Horizons’ Hazard Analysis Team.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My job in hazard analysis has been to analyze the data,” Showalter says, “just looking for anything that might be in the way. Any rocky shoals, if you will.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pluto is located at the inner edge of the Kuiper belt, a massive band of icy asteroids. From Showalter’s standpoint, it’s like a mine field.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After all, New Horizons is traveling at nine miles per second. That’s about 32,000 miles per hour.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Way faster than a bullet,” Showalter says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At that speed, collision with an asteroid as small as a BB pellet or a grain of sand could be disastrous.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_107177\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 356px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/image-20141218-31040-u44bpe.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-107177\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/image-20141218-31040-u44bpe-800x597.jpg\" alt=\"The trajectory of the New Horizons probe since its launch in January 2006. After its flyby of Pluto and Charon this week, the probe will fly through the Edgeworth-Kuiper belt and then on to the stars.\" width=\"356\" height=\"266\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/image-20141218-31040-u44bpe-800x597.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/image-20141218-31040-u44bpe-400x298.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/image-20141218-31040-u44bpe-1180x880.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/image-20141218-31040-u44bpe-960x716.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/image-20141218-31040-u44bpe.jpg 1370w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 356px) 100vw, 356px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The trajectory of the New Horizons probe since its launch in January 2006. After its flyby of Pluto and Charon this week, the probe will fly through the Edgeworth-Kuiper belt and then out to the stars beyond. \u003ccite>(NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“If we’re just unlucky,” Showalter says, “and that BB or grain of sand happens to sever a critical cable between two components, we could conceivably just lose all contact with the spacecraft.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After a decade of waiting, a $700 million NASA mission would be lost.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These are the kinds of things we fear most,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If Showalter and his colleagues spot an asteroid up ahead, they can steer New Horizons around it, a bit like an exceptionally long-distance video game. At this point, New Horizons is so far away that it takes hours for instructions to reach it, or for data to come back showing where, precisely, the spacecraft is.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Basically, Showalter says, “we’re playing dodge ball with a six-hour delay.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That delay means the first photos of Pluto won’t start trickling in until Wednesday morning. The highest-resolution photos will arrive in the fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After its Pluto encounter, New Horizons will keep traveling, maybe for a decade, powered by plutonium pellets and, hopefully, sending back more photos from the icy edge of our solar system.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "NASA's Cassini Spacecraft Reveals Mystery Lakes on Saturn's Moon Titan",
"headTitle": "NASA’s Cassini Spacecraft Reveals Mystery Lakes on Saturn’s Moon Titan | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>New observations of Saturn’s largest satellite, Titan, by \u003ca href=\"http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NASA’s Cassini \u003c/a>spacecraft, paint a fresh picture of the striking similarities between the cold, distant moon and the Earth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mysterious, round-edged lakes filling depressions with no apparent sources of liquid have been found in the wide, flat plains in Titan’s polar region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Titan is one of the most fascinating and enigmatic natural satellites in the solar system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Its cold, dense nitrogen atmosphere is stocked with thick layers of hydrocarbon clouds, and an apparent liquid cycle of methane and ethane that parallels the precipitation, runoff, and formation of lakes and seas in Earth’s water cycle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_102573\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 328px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/sinkholelakes1.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-102573\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/sinkholelakes1.jpg\" alt=\"Alleged "sinkhole" lakes in the flat plains of Titan's polar region. (Cassini/NASA)\" width=\"328\" height=\"282\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Alleged “sinkhole” lakes in the flat plains of Titan’s polar region. (Cassini/NASA)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The vast lakes and small seas that Cassini introduced us to years ago, which are hundreds of miles across and possibly hundreds of feet deep, are supplied by an obvious source: extensive river networks collecting the runoff from precipitation falling on higher ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the \u003ca href=\"http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/cassinifeatures/feature20150619/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">newly discovered\u003c/a> family of small, rounded lakes set in the wide, flat polar plains and mostly unconnected to runoff channels has prompted scientists to refine our understanding of some of the processes that shape Titan’s surface.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>How these lakes are filled is only part of the mystery. It is believed that, in the absence of runoff channels feeding them, these depressions likely collect liquid directly from precipitation, and possibly from underground sources.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Earth, Crater Lake in Oregon is an example of a lake filled solely by rain and snowfall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_102565\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/lakeejagham.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-102565\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/lakeejagham-400x339.jpg\" alt=\"Meteorite impact crater Lake Ejagham in Cameroon. (Google Earth)\" width=\"400\" height=\"339\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/lakeejagham-400x339.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/lakeejagham.jpg 686w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lake Ejagham in Cameroon was caused by a meteorite impact. (Google Earth)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The other part of the puzzle is what made the depressions in the first place. Were they gouged out of the flat Titanian plains by meteorite impacts? Such crater lakes can be found on Earth, like Lake Ejagham in the Southwest Province of Cameroon, a circular, half-mile wide water-filled depression in a flat forest basin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, the structure and appearance of the strange lakes on Titan appear to be more similar to limestone cave and sinkhole formations on Earth, which are created when soft limestone and gypsum rock is dissolved by the action of water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Earth, such formations are most prevalent in humid and rainy climates. Numerous large sinkholes, or “cenotes,” are found in the jungles of the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_102566\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/cenote.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-102566\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/cenote-400x225.jpg\" alt='A \"cenote,\" or sinkhole, in the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. (Google Earth)' width=\"400\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/cenote-400x225.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/cenote-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/cenote.jpg 914w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">This sinkhole or “cenote” in Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula was caused by the dissolving of soft rock by the action of water percolating through the earth. (Google Earth)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>On Titan, these lake depressions are located in the relatively rainy polar plains, and are not to be found in the equatorial regions where there is considerably less rainfall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A team of scientists calculated how long it would take for the alleged polar sinkhole depressions to form, taking into account the differences in conditions between Earth and Titan, including the nature of the frigid liquid hydrocarbons and Titan’s much longer seasons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Titan’s seasonal cycle, which drives the rainy and dry periods that alternately fill and dry up the polar lakes, is tied in with the orbital period of Saturn and its moons around the sun, which is almost 30 years in length.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The science team estimated that a 300-foot-deep depression–created from the dissolving of surface rock by liquid hydrocarbon action–would take about 50 million years to form.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This may sound like a long time, but in terms of geologic change is not all that long. Titan’s surface in general is regarded as relatively “young” in the geologic timescale: about a billion years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though Titan’s surface is extremely cold—a couple hundred degrees below zero, cold enough that the burner on a gas stove would spew out liquid methane instead of gas—the parallels to conditions on Earth and landscapes that we might find familiar make this world great food for the imagination, and fuel for scientific curiosity.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "New observations of Saturn's largest satellite, Titan, by NASA's Cassini spacecraft, paint a fresh picture of the striking similarities between the cold, distant moon and the Earth. ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>New observations of Saturn’s largest satellite, Titan, by \u003ca href=\"http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NASA’s Cassini \u003c/a>spacecraft, paint a fresh picture of the striking similarities between the cold, distant moon and the Earth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mysterious, round-edged lakes filling depressions with no apparent sources of liquid have been found in the wide, flat plains in Titan’s polar region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Titan is one of the most fascinating and enigmatic natural satellites in the solar system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Its cold, dense nitrogen atmosphere is stocked with thick layers of hydrocarbon clouds, and an apparent liquid cycle of methane and ethane that parallels the precipitation, runoff, and formation of lakes and seas in Earth’s water cycle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_102573\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 328px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/sinkholelakes1.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-102573\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/sinkholelakes1.jpg\" alt=\"Alleged "sinkhole" lakes in the flat plains of Titan's polar region. (Cassini/NASA)\" width=\"328\" height=\"282\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Alleged “sinkhole” lakes in the flat plains of Titan’s polar region. (Cassini/NASA)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The vast lakes and small seas that Cassini introduced us to years ago, which are hundreds of miles across and possibly hundreds of feet deep, are supplied by an obvious source: extensive river networks collecting the runoff from precipitation falling on higher ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the \u003ca href=\"http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/cassinifeatures/feature20150619/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">newly discovered\u003c/a> family of small, rounded lakes set in the wide, flat polar plains and mostly unconnected to runoff channels has prompted scientists to refine our understanding of some of the processes that shape Titan’s surface.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>How these lakes are filled is only part of the mystery. It is believed that, in the absence of runoff channels feeding them, these depressions likely collect liquid directly from precipitation, and possibly from underground sources.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Earth, Crater Lake in Oregon is an example of a lake filled solely by rain and snowfall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_102565\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/lakeejagham.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-102565\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/lakeejagham-400x339.jpg\" alt=\"Meteorite impact crater Lake Ejagham in Cameroon. (Google Earth)\" width=\"400\" height=\"339\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/lakeejagham-400x339.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/lakeejagham.jpg 686w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lake Ejagham in Cameroon was caused by a meteorite impact. (Google Earth)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The other part of the puzzle is what made the depressions in the first place. Were they gouged out of the flat Titanian plains by meteorite impacts? Such crater lakes can be found on Earth, like Lake Ejagham in the Southwest Province of Cameroon, a circular, half-mile wide water-filled depression in a flat forest basin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, the structure and appearance of the strange lakes on Titan appear to be more similar to limestone cave and sinkhole formations on Earth, which are created when soft limestone and gypsum rock is dissolved by the action of water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Earth, such formations are most prevalent in humid and rainy climates. Numerous large sinkholes, or “cenotes,” are found in the jungles of the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_102566\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/cenote.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-102566\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/cenote-400x225.jpg\" alt='A \"cenote,\" or sinkhole, in the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. (Google Earth)' width=\"400\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/cenote-400x225.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/cenote-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/cenote.jpg 914w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">This sinkhole or “cenote” in Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula was caused by the dissolving of soft rock by the action of water percolating through the earth. (Google Earth)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>On Titan, these lake depressions are located in the relatively rainy polar plains, and are not to be found in the equatorial regions where there is considerably less rainfall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A team of scientists calculated how long it would take for the alleged polar sinkhole depressions to form, taking into account the differences in conditions between Earth and Titan, including the nature of the frigid liquid hydrocarbons and Titan’s much longer seasons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Titan’s seasonal cycle, which drives the rainy and dry periods that alternately fill and dry up the polar lakes, is tied in with the orbital period of Saturn and its moons around the sun, which is almost 30 years in length.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The science team estimated that a 300-foot-deep depression–created from the dissolving of surface rock by liquid hydrocarbon action–would take about 50 million years to form.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This may sound like a long time, but in terms of geologic change is not all that long. Titan’s surface in general is regarded as relatively “young” in the geologic timescale: about a billion years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though Titan’s surface is extremely cold—a couple hundred degrees below zero, cold enough that the burner on a gas stove would spew out liquid methane instead of gas—the parallels to conditions on Earth and landscapes that we might find familiar make this world great food for the imagination, and fuel for scientific curiosity.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
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"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
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