(From west to east)

• Vesta is in the constellation of Scorpius.
• Harmonia is at opposition on the 3rd in the constellation of Capricornus.
• Prokne is at opposition on the 19th in the constellation of Aquarius.
• Pallas is in the constellation of Pegasus.
• Flora is in the constellation of Taurus.
• Eunomia is in the constellation of Auriga.
• Information about the Minor Planets can be found at the Minor Planet Observer website.

"Early this morning, New Horizons operators gently awakened the spacecraft from the two-week 'nap' that marked the mission's first operational step into hibernation mode.

Signals from New Horizons that it had come out of its electronic slumber – during which the guidance and control system and most science instruments were powered off – came through NASA's Deep Space Network and reached mission operators at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Md., just before 2 a.m. EDT. The spacecraft was 550 million miles from Earth, cruising toward the outer solar system at nearly 46,000 miles (74,000 kilometers) per hour."

• All of the Mars Global Surveyor images are archived here.

Information about how to submit requests is online at the new Mars Orbiter Camera Target Request Site, at http://www.msss.com/plan/intro"

Newly-released MOC images can be seen in the MOC Gallery, a website maintained by Malin Space Science Systems, the company that built and operates MOC for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and NASA.

"Using observations by NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter, scientists have discovered that water ice lies at variable depths over small-scale patches on Mars.

The findings draw a much more detailed picture of underground ice on Mars than was previously available. They suggest that when NASA's next Mars mission, the Phoenix Mars Lander, starts digging to icy soil on an arctic plain in 2008, it might find the depth to the ice differs in trenches just a few feet apart. The new results appear in the May 3, 2007, issue of the journal Nature."

"A simulated fly-through using the newly assembled imagery is available online.

The fly-through plus tools for wandering across and zooming into the large image are at http://themis.asu.edu."

Mars Odyssey THEMIS Images
Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) website: http://themis.asu.edu/

July 23-27, 2007

The following new images from the Mars Odyssey spacecraft are now available:

• Dust Devil Tracks (Released 23 July 2007)
  
• Changing Winds (Released 24nJuly 2007)
  
• Dunes in Hellas (Released 25 July 2007)
  
• Odd Texture (Released 26 July 2007)
  
• Dust Devil Tracks (Released 27 July 2007)
  
• All of the THEMIS images are archived here.

The Odyssey data are available through a new online access system established by the Planetary Data System at: http://starbrite.jpl.nasa.gov/pds/"

Spirit Status: Spirit Examines Rocks Possibly Formed In Volcanic Gases or Hot Springs - sol 1247-1252, July 16, 2007

"Spirit is healthy after driving to a cluster of rock fragments known as "Innocent Bystander" (so named because Spirit accidentally ran over it when another rock, "Virginia Bell," was the intended target. The aim had been to crush Virginia Bell to expose a fresh surface for examination).

It was a fortuitous encounter, though, because indications are that Innocent Bystander may have been formed by either a fumarole or hot spring. A fumarole is a vent in the Earth's surface that emits steam and volcanic gases. Volcanic gases leach the original rock and leave silica-rich rock behind. If Innocent Bystander was created in a hot spring environment, then it could be siliceous sinter, a kind of silica-rich rock that precipitates directly from water.

Spirit had a solar-array dust-cleaning event on the rover's 1,252nd day, or sol, of Martian exploration (July 12, 2007). Even though Tau, a measurement of atmospheric opacity caused by dust, has been trending upward for the past several days, Spirit's solar power levels have risen slightly due to wind-related cleaning of the solar panels."

Opportunity Status: Opportunity Waiting for Dust to Settle - sol 1220-1225, July 13, 2007

"Due to extensive dust storms in Mars' southern hemisphere causing record atmospheric opacity levels, Opportunity is currently experiencing its lowest power levels to date. The tau measurement as of sol 1225 is 4.12, resulting in a mere 280 watt-hours of array energy. A tau measurement of 5.0 would result in approximately 150 watt-hours. If tau begins to approach 5.0, the team will have to begin deleting communications windows in order to conserve energy and keep from draining the batteries.

On sol 1223 Opportunity successfully recovered from the robotic arm joint stall that occurred on sol 1217.

When the dust settles, Opportunity will drive approximately 30 meters (98.4 feet) south along the edge of "Duck Bay" to position itself at its "Victoria Crater" entry point!"

Landing sites

"NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter resumed normal operations on July 24, with all instruments operating and gathering data. Over the last few days, engineers rebooted the spacecraft to clear a software error, and then performed normal procedures to restart and verify the health of all spacecraft and instrument systems. All systems are operating normally."