(From west to east)

• Eunomia is in the constellation of Capricornus.

• Hebe is in the constellation of Capricornus.

• Ceres (now a Dwarf Planet) is in the constellation of Microscopium.

• Leto is in the constellation of Aquarius.

• Iris is in the constellation of Taurus.

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

"Saturn sports a new ring in an image taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft on Sunday, Sept. 17, during a one-of-a-kind observation.

Other spectacular sights captured by Cassini's cameras include wispy fingers of icy material stretching out tens of thousands of kilometers from the active moon, Enceladus, and a cameo color appearance by planet Earth."

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."

Mars Global Surveyor Images - September 21-27, 2006

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

• Cracky Mars (Released 21 September 2006)
  
• West Candor Rocks (Released 22 September 2006)
  
• Mesa with Apron (Released 23 September 2006)
  
• Yardang City (Released 24 September 2006)
  
• Patterned Plains (Released 25 September 2006)
  
• Mars at Ls 107 Degrees (Released 26 September 2006)
  
• Ganges Quagmire (Released 27 September 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 completed its ninth year orbiting the red planet. MGS reached Mars on 12 September 1997. The first MOC images were obtained on 15 September 1997.

"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/

September 25-29, 2006

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

• Feature of the Week: Arabia Terra
  
• Sirenum Fossae (Released 25 September 2006)
  
• Arsia Flows (Released 26 September 2006)
  
• Dissected Surface (Released 27 September 2006)
  
• Polar Margin (Released 28 September 2006)
  
• Polar Crater (Released 29 September 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: Solar Power Is on the Rise as Spirit 'Follows the Water' - 970-976, September 29, 2006

"Solar power levels on Spirit are slowly beginning to rise again following a winter low of 275 watt-hours on Martian day, or sol, 933 (Aug. 18, 2006). One hundred watt-hours is the amount of electricity needed to light one 100-watt bulb for one hour. This week, the rover's power levels rose to about 296 watt-hours.

Spirit spent much of the week analyzing atmospheric dust attracted to magnets on the spacecraft. The rover identifies iron minerals in the dust using the Mšssbauer spectrometer. One of the two magnets, the filter magnet, is weaker than the capture magnet, allowing scientists to separate mineral grains that have the highest magnetic susceptibility, particularly minerals that contain iron."

Opportunity Status: A View Worth Waiting For! - sol 947-953, September 29, 2006

"Opportunity is healthy and sitting at the rim of "Victoria Crater"! After traveling 9,279.34 meters (5.77 miles) in 952 sols the team is rewarded by some of the most spectacular views seen on this mission. The week began with a checkout of basic mobility functions using the new flight software: arc, turn, go-to-waypoint and visual odometry. Also checked were a few of the mobility test criteria such as the time-of-day limits, suspension limits and a new capability for keep-out zones (areas deemed too dangerous to rove). Later in the week, Opportunity drove 60.1 meters (197 feet) over three sols to our current location at the top of 'Duck Bay.'"

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."