Last week , I told you we would show you a new map of Mercury based on the January MESSENGER flyby. Here it is, kindly provided by one of NASA’s master mappers, Robert Gaskell of the Planetary Science Institute in Altadena, California. This image is an anaglyph — a flat image that simulates a three-dimensional view — of the fault scarp Beagle Rupes as it cuts across the crater Sveinsdóttir. The area shown here is about 160 miles (257 kilometers) square...

In centuries past, explorers would visit terra incognita — unknown lands — and bring new information back home to feed the master mappers of Europe. It hasn’t changed all that much — except the explorers are robot spacecraft and the master mappers of the solar system are scientists. Late Tuesday afternoon, I saw a NASA press release about one of NASA’s master mappers, Robert Gaskell. He’s a senior scientist at the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson...

The Galileo spacecraft photographed the binary asteroid Ida (the big one at left) and its tiny satellite Dactyl in 1993. Galileo Project/JPL/NASA Spinning asteroids or skinning cats — there are so many ways to do it. Let’s look at three methods recently in the news: One: The effects of sunlight In today’s issue of Nature , several scientists outline a mechanism by which sunlight striking at an angle “spins up” loose, rubbly asteroids, causing them...

Look out, here comes the “Is Pluto a planet?” debate — again. I wade into these waters with trepidation and wearing armored hip waders. But on the other hand, how often does a guy get a chance to stir up a pot of angry astro-hornets? I won’t regurgitate the backstory. If you are reading this, you have a browser and an Internet connection. If you are not current on the drama, just Google “Is Pluto a planet?” and come back when you recover from your...

NASA engineers have proposed a mission to an asteroid threatening Earth. Bruce Damer (DigitalSpace) I’m happy to report NASA may be planning to do more about the as-yet unaddressed asteroid threat to Earth than helplessly watch giant space rocks whiz by the home planet from time to time. The Guardian , a British newspaper, reported recently that some NASA scientists have written a report outlining a mission to asteroid 2000SG344. The object is about...

This just in from the hydrocarbon desk at Astronomy.com: Titan’s surface lakes and methane-ice-laden dune seas collectively hold hundreds of times Earth’s bounty of hydrocarbons (oil and gas). It’s a Texas oilman’s dream: hydrocarbons rain from the sky on Titan. To my mind, this could solve a lot of problems. Planetary scientists have been competing with NASA’s fantastically expensive manned space program for decades. Word on the aerospace street...

Duck! There’s another near-Earth asteroid coming! You may have noted the media reports this week about the asteroid 2007 TU24 , which makes a close pass by our home planet next Tuesday (January 29). But don’t worry too much, because I mean “close” in astronomical terms, which in this case is 1.4 lunar distances (334,000 miles). Or perhaps a friend of yours forwarded a goofball hoax e-mail to you about the government conspiracy (only one?) to hide...

The Chang’e-1 lunar probe will explore the Moon from orbit. The mission includes mapping lunar topography, surveying the distribution of chemical elements, and gathering high-resolution photos of the lunar surface in preparation for future surface exploration. China National Space Administration I don't know about you, but I just can't wait for China to launch its lunar orbiter, Chang'e-1 . Not because I'm a big fan of the Chinese...

Ever hanker to take a gander at the lunar crater Zwicky? If so, just click over to a slick new site on the web called The-moon . There, you will quickly learn that Zwicky is a 94-mile-wide (150 kilometers) crater at latitude 15.4° south, longitude 168.1° east. You can also find out that Fritz Zwicky (1898–1974) "was an American-based Swiss astronomer. He was an original thinker, with many important contributions in theoretical and observational...

In a recent blog , I talked about the surprising difficulty of landing heavy crewed payloads on Mars — in fact, its present impossibility, in lieu of new technologies. That's a very big challenge to future Mars exploration, although not at all insurmountable. But what about the dumb stuff? The little things we take for granted on Earth that are actually quite difficult in zero-gravity? No, I don't mean using the toilet, although that's...