So NEAR, and yet so far from UNDERSTANDING

Valles Marineris
Valles Marineris

On Valentine’s Day, 2000, the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) spacecraft is is due, on its second attempt, to go into orbit around asteroid 433 Eros. It will be the first spacecraft to orbit an asteroid. NEAR will examine the odd-shaped rock, about twice the size of Manhattan Island, for about a year. What do…


NASA’S Xmas Coloring Book

Coloring book
Coloring book

NASA have just released the first images from their Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1999, closest flyby of Io. See them at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/pictures/io [dead link 2012, try http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA02519]. My earlier prediction that the so-called volcanos would be much hotter than the estimates made at lower resolution has been hinted at by NASA. It is reported that…


MORE IO CLOSEUPS

Io closeup
Io closeup

Jupiter’s Moon Io: a Flashback to Earth’s Volcanic Past Excerpts From A NASA/JPL Press Release November 19, 1999 Jupiter’s fiery moon Io is providing scientists with a window on volcanic activity and colossal lava flows similar to those that raged on Earth eons ago, thanks to new pictures and data gathered by NASA’s Galileo spacecraft.…


HAWAIIAN-STYLE VOLCANO ON IO?

Lightning strike on a golf course
Lightning strike on a golf course

Excerpts from a NASA/JPL Press Release November 5, 1999 New images from Galileo reveal unexpected details of the Prometheus volcano on Io including a caldera and lava flowing through fields of sulfur dioxide snow. It appears that the Prometheus volcano on Io has characteristics remarkably similar to those of the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii, although…


CLOSEST EVER PICTURE OF IO

Io crater chains
Io crater chains

From NASA News of 24 October 1999 The highest resolution image ever of Jupiter’s volcanic moon Io, (the black and white image at top) was taken by NASA’s Galileo spacecraft on Oct. 11, 1999, from an altitude of 617 kilometers (417 miles). It shows an area about 7.2 kilometers (4.5 miles) long and 2.2 kilometers…


NASA risks Galileo spacecraft by FLYING A “KITE” AT IO!

Io plume
Io plume

JPL News wrote: “Galileo makes two daring passes less than 620 km above Io on October 11 and November 25, 1999. In November Galileo might even pass through the plume of Pillan Patera, making it the first spacecraft ever to fly through an alien volcano.” NASA scientists are upholding a long tradition of misinterpreting observations…