(From west to east)

• Herculina is in the constellation of Ophiuchus.

• Pallas is at opposition on the 1st in the constellation of Lyra.

• Amphitrite is at opposition on the 12th in the constellation of Sagittarius.

• Hygiea is at opposition on the 12th in the constellation of Sagittarius.

• Eunomia is at opposition on the 29th in the constellation of Capricornus.

• Hebe is in the constellation of Aquarius.

• Iris is in the constellation of Pisces.

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

"Two years after reaching Saturn, the Cassini spacecraft is halfway to completing its orbital mission. On July 2, Cassini will perform its 16th flyby of Saturn's largest moon, Titan. Cassini will focus on the interactions between Titan's atmosphere and the big bubble that surrounds Saturn, called the magnetosphere. Cassini will also study Titan's surface to enable a better understanding of its properties and composition."

Cassini Imaging Team

"The student-built science instrument on NASA's New Horizons mission to Pluto has been renamed to honor one of astronomy's most famous students - the "little girl" who named the ninth planet more than 75 years ago.

For the rest of the New Horizons spacecraft's voyage to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt beyond, the Student Dust Counter - the first science instrument on a NASA planetary mission to be designed, built and operated by students - will be known as the Venetia Burney Student Dust Counter (VBSDC), or "Venetia" for short. The tag honors Venetia Burney Phair, who at age 11 offered the name "Pluto" for the newly discovered ninth planet in 1930."

"Shortly before Spirit's Martian anniversary, the Mars Orbiter Camera acquired an image centered on the rover's location at that time in the "Columbia Hills."

Mars Global Surveyor Images - June 22-28, 2006

"The following new images taken by the Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) on the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft are now available:

• Crumpled (Released 22 June 2006)
  
• Inverted Channels (Released 23 June 2006)
  
• Stairways to ? (Released 24 June 2006)
  
• Cracked Mars (Released 25 June 2006)
  
• Sisyphi Spine (Released 26 June 2006)
  
• Mars at Ls 66 Degrees (Released 27 June 2006)
  
• Memnonia Landscape (Released 28 June 2006)
  
• 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 MOCGallery, a website maintained by Malin Space Science Systems, the company that built and operates MOC for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and NASA.

Mars Global Surveyor completed its eighth year orbiting the red planet. MGS reached Mars on 12 September 1997. The first MOC images were obtained on 15 September 1997.

"NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey celebrates five years of exploration, returning spectacular images of features rarely seen on Earth and paving the way for future missions."

"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/

June 26-30, 2006

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

• Feature of the Week: Maja Valles
  
• Martian Color #3 (Released 26 June 2006)
  
• Martian Color #4 (Released 27 June 2006)
  
• Martian Color #5 (Released 28 June 2006)
  
• Martian Color #6 (Released 29 June 2006)
  
• Martian Color #7 (Released 30 June 2006)
  
• 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 "Warms up the Engines," Continues Work on Mars - sol 874-880, June 23, 2006

"Since the beginning of Spirit's winter science campaign, the science and engineering teams have held joint meetings every few weeks to track campaign progress and come up with a strategic plan that balances engineering resources with science productivity. This week, Spirit began acquiring the 22nd column of the 27-column "McMurdo panorama" and completed the seventh of nine photon transfer calibrations - procedures designed to measure electronic noise (unwanted signals) picked up by imaging sensors that convert light into electrical current in the rover's cameras."

Opportunity Status: Full Plate for Opportunity - sol 859-866, June 30, 2006

"Opportunity is healthy and making good progress towards "Victoria Crater," with just under 1,400 meters (.86 mile) to go. The team spent several days this week setting up for some robotic arm work over the weekend, provided there is a good piece of outcrop in the work volume. Opportunity will continue driving next week."

Landing sites

"NASA's newest spacecraft at Mars has already cut the size and duration of each orbit by more than half, just 11 weeks into a 23-week process of shrinking its orbit. By other indicators, the lion's share of the job lies ahead.

"The orbits are getting shorter and shorter. We've finished about 80 of them so far, but we have about 400 more to go, and the pace really quickens toward the end," said Dan Johnston, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter deputy mission manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif."