|
|
| Titan Fly-by - 21 December 2008 |
| Sixteen days after its previous fly-by, the Cassini spacecraft returns to Saturn's largest moon for the mission's fiftieth targeted encounter with Titan. The closest approach to Titan occurs on Sunday, 21 December, at 12:59:53 UT at an altitude of 970 kilometres above the surface and at a speed of 6.3 kilometres per second. The latitude at closest approach is 43.9°S and the encounter occurs on orbit number 97. |
| Date: 19 Dec 2008 |
|
|
| European Membership in the JAXA Astro-H Mission Science Working Group |
|
| Date: 18 Dec 2008 |
|
|
| Mars Express reveals a link between ferric oxides and sulfates in equatorial regions of Mars |
| Observations made with the OMEGA imaging spectrometer onboard Mars Express reveal very strong signatures of sulfates and ferric oxides in Aram Chaos. Detailed morphological analyses indicate that the concentration of ferric oxides in this region results from the alteration of a sulfate rich sedimentary formation resting on the floor of the crater. |
| Date: 18 Dec 2008 |
|
|
| The science of space weather |
| On 26 November 2008, the Ministers in charge of space activities in the European Space Agency's eighteen Member States and Canada subscribed to the start of a new programme called Space Situational Awareness. The purpose of this programme is to help protect European space systems against debris and the influence of adverse space weather. But what is the science behind space weather?
|
| Date: 15 Dec 2008 |
|
|
| What is the origin of light-toned deposits on Mars? |
| Light-Toned Deposits (LTD) on the surface of Mars have been at the centre of scientific debate since their discovery by the Viking spacecraft in the late 1970's. In a recent paper, using data obtained with Mars Express, Angelo Pio Rossi and colleagues propose that several LTD are vestiges of large-scale spring deposits.
|
| Date: 10 Dec 2008 |
|
|
| Titan Fly-by - 5 December 2008 |
| Sixteen days after its previous flyby, the Cassini spacecraft once again approached Saturn's largest moon for the mission's forty-ninth targeted encounter with Titan. The closest approach to Titan occured on Friday 5 December at 14:25:45 UTC, at an altitude of 960 kilometres above the surface and at a speed of 6.3 kilometres per second. The latitude at closest approach was 10.3°S and the encounter occured on orbit number 95. |
| Date: 10 Dec 2008 |
|
|
| Hubble finds carbon dioxide on an extrasolar planet [heic0823] |
| The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has discovered carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of a planet orbiting another star. This is an important step along the trail of finding the chemical biotracers of extraterrestrial life, as we know it. |
| Date: 09 Dec 2008 |
|
|
| Looking at Jupiter to understand Earth |
| Magnetic substorms observed at Jupiter have recently been compared with those that occur at Earth, shedding new light on this phenomenon. This study was based on data obtained with the ESA Cluster and NASA Galileo spacecraft. |
| Date: 05 Dec 2008 |
|
|
| Venus Express unveils the cause of Venus' global cloud patterns |
| A recent study combining data collected with the VMC and the VIRTIS instruments on board Venus Express has shed light on the atmospheric conditions that give rise to the presence and distribution of the as-yet-unidentified UV absorbers. These absorbers are responsible for the characteristic dark features in the UV images of Venus' cloud deck. Dmitry Titov and colleagues, reporting in the 4 December issue of Nature, have found that it is mainly the temperature and atmospheric dynamics that drive the global pattern of the UV markings. They also determined variations of the cloud top altitude over the Venus globe. |
| Date: 03 Dec 2008 |
|
|
| French debut for Planck Dome exposition |
| An exposition entitled "Planck - Looking back to the dawn of time" was one of the featured exhibits at La Ville Européenne des Science held at the Grand Palais, Paris from 14-16 November 2008. |
| Date: 02 Dec 2008 |
|
|
| ESA presence at the International Year of Astronomy Opening Ceremony |
| A spectacular launch to the International Year of Astronomy (IYA2009) will take place on 15 and 16 January 2009 at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) Headquarters in Paris. Events will include showcases of two major ESA contributions to IYA2009: the Planck Dome and the Groningen Discovery Truck featuring Herschel. |
| Date: 01 Dec 2008 |
|
|
