Planetary Society Blog for Wednesday 9 December 2015

Planetary Society Blog

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Live from Sagamihara: Akatsuki in Orbit, Day 1

Posted: 08 Dec 2015 08:29 AM PST
http://www.planetary.org/blogs/guest...agamihara.html

One day after closest approach, Akatsuki is now speeding away from Venus at
4.09 kilometers per second and is 180,000 kilometers from the planet. In
his last report from Sagamihara, Sanjay Limaye gets some updates on the new
orbiter's trajectory.

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SpaceX, Partners Prepare for Falcon Return-to-Flight

Posted: 08 Dec 2015 07:23 AM PST
http://www.planetary.org/blogs/jason...aclon-rtf.html

SpaceX is preparing to return its Falcon rocket to service after the loss
of a mission in June 2015. A backlog of payloads, including an ISS-bound
Dragon cargo craft, await.

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Colors in Planetary Imaging

Posted: 08 Dec 2015 06:26 AM PST
http://www.planetary.org/blogs/guest...y-imaging.html

When looking at an image of, say, a galaxy, have you ever wondered to
yourself, “Is this real?� Trevor Rector explains how astronomical images
are processed.