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Small BodiesStories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.
Asteroids vs comets vs meteorites/meteoroids/meteors
A handy guide to help tease apart the differences between asteroids, comets, meteors, meteorites, and meteoroids. e
Storms and showers
Mars has storms of dust, while Saturn pours down ammonia rain. Here on Earth, we passed through a debris tail to get a special kind of shower.
Hasta la vista, baby
Terminators abound this week in space, and we’ll be back to Mars if NASA gets the budget it needs.
Rocket flight and the five dwarfs
Meet the Solar System’s five official dwarf planets, celebrate two major launches, and find out why planets sometimes seem to go backwards across the sky.
What was the Chelyabinsk meteor event?
When an asteroid exploded in the atmosphere above Chelyabinsk, Russia on Feb. 15, 2013, it made history and underscored the importance of planetary defense.
Comets: big, beautiful, and surprisingly smelly
Get ready for one of the year’s best meteor showers, caused by one of the many intriguing comets of our Solar System.
New year, same universe
While missions are achieving new things, the cosmos reminds us that some things are universal.
Who loves the Sun?
Our host star takes center stage, and JWST demands a little more patience.
The great conjunction! (And how it functions)
Everything you need to know about Saturn and Jupiter’s upcoming conjunction, and more from this week in space exploration.
Wish upon a shooting star (or a descending asteroid sample)
Hayabusa2 brings its sample safely to Earth, and the Geminids meteor shower approaches.
Sky survey grant helps lead to a space science career
Quan-Zhi Ye was an 18 year-old college student and the principal investigator of the Lulin Sky Survey when he won a 2007 Shoemaker NEO grant. He's now a Ph.D. candidate and provides an update on his work in meteor studies.
On space kindness and the Chelyabinsk meteor
Through an act of kindness, we now have images of the Chelyabinsk meteor trail from Russia's Elektro-L satellite.
Saving the Planet can be Exciting!
Planetary Radio for the week of May 6 visits the Planetary Defense Conference one last time to join a
An Amazing Evening for Planetary Defense
Bill Nye, Bruce Betts, Mat Kaplan, Meteorite Man Geoffrey Notkin and stars of planetary science at the Planetary Defense Conference public event in Flagstaff.
Meteor showers on Titan: an example of why Twitter is awesome for scientists and the public
I use a variety of social networking tools to perform my job, but there's one that's more important and valuable to me than all the rest combined: Twitter. Yesterday afternoon there was a discussion on Twitter that exemplifies its value and fun: are there visible meteors on Titan?
The Sky Was Falling! A Meteoric Airburst Over Russia and the Encounter with 2012 DA14
SEE IT NOW: The Planetary Society's CEO, Bill Nye the Science Guy, joined Director of Projects Bruce Betts for a live webcast as 2012 DA14, a 45-meter asteroid, was passing Earth. Bill and Bruce also marveled at video of the meteor burst high over a city in Russia.
What We Know About the Russian Meteor Event [UPDATED]
Preliminary estimates show that the meteoroid was 15 meters wide and weighed roughly 8000 tons. The resulting airburst would have the equivalent yield of about a 1/2 megaton explosion.
BREAKING: Meteor fall causes damage in Russia [UPDATED]
A large meteor streaked through the skies above Russia on the morning of Feb 15th, causing a deafening sonic boom that shattered windows and injured hundreds.
Looking down on a shooting star
This photo is making the rounds of Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and whatever other social network you care to name today. It was shot by astronaut Ron Garan from the Space Station, and it's a meteor seen from above. Way cool.
Summer Sights of the Solar System
What can you expect to see if you look at the night sky this summer (2011)?