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Science
Friday > Archives
> 1998
> February
> February 13, 1998:
Hour One: New Explorations of the Solar System:
| Astronomers have been learning exciting new things about our neck of the galaxy - from the way gases are transported under the surface of our sun, to what rocks on Mars are made of, to the tantalizing fact that there may be liquid water on Europa, one of Jupiter's moons.
Exploration of our own solar system is under full swing. Cassini is en route to Saturn. Galileo is orbiting Jupiter and its moons. Mars Global Surveyor is orbiting Mars, following the recent success of the Pathfinder mission. And in the next few years, missions are planned to return to Mars two more times, to rendezvous with a meteor, and even to return a sample of ice from a comet to Earth. |
Earth and Moon together,
from the Galileo probe
on its second flyby of Earth.
(NASA/JPL photo) | On this hour of Science Friday, live from the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Philadelphia, we'll take a look at what we're learning about our own solar system - and about where we're going with that knowledge.
Images from the SOHO
(Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, a project of the European Space Agency and NASA)
A huge prominence erupts
from the sun's surface
(photo: NASA/SOHO-EIT Consortium) |
A coronagraph of the sun.
(photo: NASA/SOHO-LASCO Consortium) |
Currents of gas flowing
beneath the surface of the sun.
(Image: NASA/SOHO-SOI Consortium) |
Galileo-related images
The target site of the Galileo
probe project, taken by the
Hubble Space Telescope.
(photo NASA/STSci)
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Color-enhanced detail of
Europa's surface, showing
impurities in cracks
its icy surface.
(photo NASA/JPL)
Jupiter's rings,
as seen by Galileo.
(photo NASA/JPL)
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Two views of Europa, taken
during Galileo's approach.
(photo NASA/JPL) |
Mars Pathfinder Images - click on each image for a larger view.
"Twin Peaks" on Martian Surface, as seen by the Pathfinder lander. (NASA/JPL photo) |
Sojourner sets out on the
day after landing.
(NASA/JPL photo) |
The sunset, seen from Mars.
(NASA/JPL photo) |
Sojourner the rover
meets Yogi the rock.
(NASA/JPL photo) |
Guests:
Matt Golombek
Project Scientist, Mars Pathfinder Mission
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Pasedena, CA
Therese Kucera
Team Scientist, Solar and Heliospheric Observatory
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, MD
David Morrison
Director, Space
NASA Ames Research Center
Mountain View, CA
Jay Pasachoff
Field Memorial Professor, Astronomy
Director, Hopkins Observatory
Williams College
Williamstown, MA
Books/Articles Discussed:
Related Links:
SOHO mission
Galileo mission
Mars Pathfinder Mission
NASA astrobiology web site
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