(From west to east)

• Eunomia is in the constellation of Capricornus.

• Hebe is in the constellation of Capricornus.

• Iris Iris is at opposition on the 14th in the constellation of Taurus.

• Nysa is in the constellation of Gemini.

• Vesta is in the constellation of Virgo.

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

"Cassini scientists are on the trail of the missing moons of Saturn. A recent observation by the spacecraft leads them to believe that they will find the moons near newly discovered rings around the planet.

During an unprecedented opportunity, with the sun poised behind Saturn, Cassini scientists discovered two new rings and confirmed the presence of two others. The new rings are associated with one or more small moons and share their orbits with the moons, while scientists suspect a moon is lurking near a third ring."

Cassini Imaging Team

"Blazing along its path to Pluto, New Horizons has come within hailing distance of Jupiter. The first picture of the giant planet from the spacecraft's Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) is a tantalizing promise of what's to come when New Horizons flies through the Jupiter system early next year."

"Deimos was discovered 129 years ago on August 11, 1877. To celebrate, the MGS team presents the first and only Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image of this tiny moon."

Image of the Wek - October 30, 2006

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

• Light-toned Rock Outcrop in Aureum Chaos (Released 30 October 2006)
  Image Caption:
  This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows an outcrop of light-toned, layered, sedimentary rock in Aureum Chaos. The darker material, which includes ripples, is composed of windblown sand and granules. This scene is located near 3.8S, 26.2W, and covers an area roughly 7.7 km by 3 km (4.8 by 1.9 mi) wide. Sunlight illuminates the terrain from the top/upper right. This southern autumn image was acquired on 14 July 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 MOC Gallery, 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 was launched in November 1996 and has been in Mars orbit since September 1997. It began its primary mapping mission on March 8, 1999. Mars Global Surveyor is the first mission in a long-term program of Mars exploration known as the Mars Surveyor Program that is managed by JPL for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. Malin Space Science Systems (MSSS) and the California Institute of Technology built the MOC using spare hardware from the Mars Observer mission. MSSS operates the camera from its facilities in San Diego, CA. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Mars Surveyor Operations Project operates the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft with its industrial partner, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, from facilities in Pasadena, CA and Denver, CO.

"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/

October 23-27, 2006

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

• Feature of the Week: Nili Patera
  
• Coprates Chasma (Released 23 October 2006)
  
• Ceraunius Tholus (Released 24 October 2006)
  
• Two Craters (Released 25 October 2006)
  
• Resistant Ridges (Released 26 October 2006)
  
• Lycus Sulci (Released 27 October 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/"

October 20, 2006 - During Solar Conjunction, Mars Spacecraft Will Be on Autopilot

"Every day for the past decade, the U.S. has had a presence at Mars, using spacecraft to understand this extreme world and its potential as a past or present habitat for life.

During that time, all spacecraft have become virtually incommunicado for about two weeks every two years. The reason is solar conjunction, which occurs again from October 18-29, 2006. Solar conjunction is the period when Earth and Mars, in their eternal march around the Sun, are obscured from each other by the fiery orb of the Sun itself. Like dancers on either side of a huge bonfire, the two planets are temporarily invisible to each other."

Spirit Status: Approaching Solar Conjunction - sol 982-987, October 16, 2006

"As Spirit enters a period known as solar conjunction, when the sun interferes with transmissions between Mars and Earth, mission planners sent a complete set of plans for science activities during solar conjunction to Spirit on the rover's 982nd sol, or Martian day, of exploring inside Gusev Crater (Oct. 7, 2006). During that time, the rover will achieve a new milestone: exploring Mars for 1,000 consecutive days.

Solar conjunction will begin on sol 991 (Oct. 16, 2006) and end on sol 1015 (Nov. 10, 2006). During this period, both NASA rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, will not receive any new command loads, but they will send daily downlinks to Earth, averaging 15 megabits of data per transmission. The data will be relayed to Earth via NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft in orbit above Mars.

Each day during conjunction, Spirit will spend 3 hours analyzing dust collected on the rover's filter magnet using the Moessbauer spectrometer and 24 minutes conducting a variety of early morning science observations. The morning science activities are designed to monitor the atmosphere and to search for any possible surface changes. The workload will make optimum use of solar power levels available with the retreat of Martian winter."

Opportunity Status: On the Promontory - sol 954-960, October 16, 2006

"Opportunity is healthy and perched at the tip of the promontory "Cape Verde," 3.1 meters (10.2 feet) from the edge of a sharp drop off on the rim of "Victoria Crater." Soon after arriving at Victoria Crater's "Duck Bay" last week, Opportunity was sent on its way to Cape Verde. Six sols, four drives and 127.61 meters (419 feet) later, Opportunity arrived at the rock target "Fogo" near the tip of Cape Verde.

Along the way, Opportunity made remote-sensing observations including a panorama from Duck Bay, imagery of Cape Verde and atmospheric science.

On Sol 957 (Oct. 3, 2006) Opportunity performed a coordinated observation with NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). MRO imagery included a picture of Opportunity itself! The image was taken with MRO's HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) camera, the highest-resolution camera ever to orbit Mars."

Landing sites

"Mars is ready for its close-up. The highest-resolution camera ever to orbit Mars is returning low-altitude images to Earth from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Rocks and surface features as small as armchairs are revealed in the first image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter since the spacecraft maneuvered into its final, low-altitude orbital path. The imaging of the red planet at this resolution heralds a new era in Mars exploration."