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| Good Look at Dione |
| Nov 23, 2005 - Cassini took this amazing image of Saturn's moon Dione on approach to its recent October 11, 2005 rendezvous; Saturn itself sits in the background. Dione is much darker on its western side in this image, and you can see the bright wispy fresh canyons right at the edge. Cassini took this image when it was approximately 24,500 kilometers (15,200 miles) from Dione. (Full Story) |
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| NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech. Click to enlarge |
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| Spirit Wraps Up a Martian Year of Exploration |
| Nov 23, 2005 - NASA's Spirit rover recently celebrated its one year anniversary on the surface of Mars... that's one Martian year. Spirit has now been exploring the Red Planet for more than 669 days. Not bad considering the rovers were only expected to perform for 60-90 days until their solar panels became so clogged with dust they wouldn't function. And even after surviving more than 7-times their expected lifetimes, Spirit and its twin Opportunity are still going strong, and should be returning much more science. (Full Story) |
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| Early Earth Had Continents |
| Nov 23, 2005 - Researchers from the University of Colorado at Boulder think they've found evidence that the very early Earth had continents soon after the planet formed, overturning theories that the planet was Moon-like, or covered with oceans. The team analyzed a rare element called hafnium in ancient minerals from the Jack Hills in Western Australia. It showed that continental crusts had formed 4.4 - 4.5 billion years ago, and were then recycled into the Earth's mantle. (Full Story) |
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