(From west to east)

• Iris is in the constellation of Taurus.

• Melpomeme is in the constellation of Cancer.

• Massalia is in the constellation of Cancer.

• Juno is in the constellation of Virgo and is stationary on the 18th.

• Vesta is in the constellation of Libra.

• Metis is in the constellation of Ophiuchus.

• Information about the Minor Planets can be found at the Minor Planet Observer website.

"During Cassini's next pass of Saturn's moon Titan on Jan. 29, its infrared eyes will study the moon's murky atmosphere and peer through its thick, smoggy-veil mapping surface features."

Cassini Imaging Team

"After a busy year on the ground and on the New Horizons spacecraft, the Jupiter approach observations are in full swing. Principal Investigator Alan Stern looks at some of the early, exciting returns from the solar system's largest planet."

"NASA has formed an internal review board to look more in-depth into why NASA's Mars Global Surveyor went silent in November 2006 and recommend any processes or procedures that could increase safety for other spacecraft.

Mars Global Surveyor launched in 1996 on a mission designed to study Mars from orbit for two years. It accomplished many important discoveries during nine years in orbit. On Nov. 2, the spacecraft transmitted information that one of its arrays was not pivoting as commanded. Loss of signal from the orbiter began on the following orbit.

Mars Global Surveyor has operated longer at Mars than any other spacecraft in history and for more than four times as long as the prime mission originally planned."

• 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.

"Every spring brings violent eruptions to the south polar ice cap of Mars, according to researchers interpreting new observations by NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter.

Jets of carbon dioxide gas erupting from the ice cap as it warms in the spring carry dark sand and dust high aloft. The dark material falls back to the surface, creating dark patches on the ice cap which have long puzzled scientists. Deducing the eruptions of carbon dioxide gas from under the warming ice cap solves the riddle of the spots. It also reveals that this part of Mars is much more dynamically active than had been expected for any part of the planet."

"A simulated fly-through using the newly assembled imagery is available online at http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mars/missions/odyssey/20060313.html.

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/

January 22-26, 2007

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

• Dunes (Released 22 January 2007)
  
• Sand Dunes (Released 23 January 2007)
  
• Lycus Sulci (Released 24 January 2007)
  
• Lava Flows (Released 25 January 2007)
  
• Pavonis Mons (Released 26 January 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 Studies Layered Rocks and Wind-Blown Drifts - sol 1085-1090, January 27, 2007

"With the rover's third Martian spring just around the corner, Spirit is healthy and has started acquiring movies with the navigation camera in search of dust devils wheeling across the terrain. Spring officially begins on Martian day, or sol 1103 (Feb. 8, 2007).

During the past week, Spirit acquired microscopic images of a soil target called "Londonderry," which is an active wind drift shaped by the motion of bouncing sand grains. Spirit also acquired super-resolution panoramic camera images of an exposure of layered bedrock with rounded rock fragments known as "Zucchelli." Scientists hope the images will reveal information about color, structure, grain size, and mineralogical composition of the rock.

Spirit continued to make progress on scientific studies of a rock exposure known as "Montalva" on the lower stratigraphic unit of an outcrop known as "Troll." On the rover's 1,085th sol (Jan. 21, 2007) of exploration, Spirit used the wire brush on the rock abrasion tool to reveal more surface area and enable clean measurements with the miniature thermal emission spectrometer. Spirit then backed up to conduct analysis of the newly brushed area.

In the coming week, scientists plan to have Spirit retrace its tracks toward a soil exposure known as "Tyrone" for additional panoramic camera images and miniature thermal emission spectrometer measurements to be taken from a distance of about 10 meters (30 feet)."

Opportunity Status: Opportunity Hones Reckoning Skills, Tests Computer Smarts - sol 1063-1069, January 27, 2007

"After driving around the "Bay of Toil" onto "Cape Desire," a promontory overlooking "Victoria Crater," Opportunity began testing various techniques for visually determining the rover's precise location after moving across sandy, somewhat slippery terrain. Because the sandy surface is largely flat and featureless (except for the dropoff into "Victoria Crater"), the rover's primary reference points are the long rows of repeating ridges and holes in its own tracks. They all look pretty much the same, repeating the same pattern every 80 centimeters (2.6 feet). The rover is working on ways to make its tracks look different at every step, which will remove any ambiguities in the images of the tracks.

Opportunity continued to test new computer smarts to enable automated placement of instruments on a target of scientific interest."

Landing sites

"The high-resolution camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has imaged the 1997 landing site of NASA's Mars Pathfinder, revealing new details of hardware on the surface and the geology of the region.

The new image from the orbiter's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment is available on the Internet at http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/MRO/multimedia/pia09105.html and at links from http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu.

The Pathfinder mission's small rover, Sojourner, appears to have moved closer to the stationary lander after the final data transmission from the lander, based on tentative identification of the rover in the image. Pathfinder landed on July 4, 1997, and transmitted data for 12 weeks. Unlike the two larger rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, currently active on Mars, Sojourner could communicate only with the lander, not directly with Earth."