Planetary Science Institute
psi.edu
A private nonprofit dedicated to studying the origin, characteristics, and evolution of planetary systems and planets, including the Earth.
- #JunoCam: A before and after processed image of Tros crater on #Jupiter's moon #Ganymede. 🧪 🔭 To process your own JunoCam images, visit: buff.ly/pzuB4qH 📸: NASA / JPL / SwRI / MSSS / Gerald Eichstädt / @tthomopoulos.bsky.social
- One goal of NASA's BepiColumbo mission is to decipher the mineral makeup of Mercury's surface. The Mercury Y project was developed with the goal of practicing and preparing to analyze data returned by the mission. buff.ly/JW9phbb 🧪 🔭
- Please join us in congratulating PSI's Pamela Gay @starstryder.space and her cohost Fraser Cain in making the list of top astronomy podcasts not once, but twice! Their two shows, Astronomy Cast and The 365 Days of Astronomy, ranked no. 2 and 5, respectively.
- As former PSI Director and CEO Mark Sykes reflects on his 21 years at PSI, he shares some of his wit and wisdom: Read about his career, hobbies, and advice for students: buff.ly/GL2Shyx 🧪 🔭 There, you can also subscribe to our newsletter, The PSI Weekly Briefing. 💻 🪐
- PSI in the news: Rodrigo Duran is featured in this Good Good Good article:
- #JunoCam: The folded filamentary region of Jupiter. Here, the zonal jets that create the familiar banded patterns in Jupiter's clouds break down leading to short-lived cloud structures. Process your own images here: buff.ly/XHZcam6 📸: NASA/JPL/SwRI/MSSS/David Marriott
- Mark Sykes led PSI for 21 years! Join us in thanking him and read about his time at the helm of PSI here: buff.ly/UKTqVlv
- ICYMI: PSI Scientists helped discover siderite, a carbonate mineral on Mars that hints at past water and thick atmosphere on Mars. Subscribe to our newsletter The PSI Weekly Briefing to get stories like this delivered directly to your inbox: buff.ly/sJoLPi9
- Happy Friday! This week's very alert PSI Planetary Pet is Banshee who, according to self-described cat grandma Dr Grace Wolf-Chase, lives up her name. Banshee screams for attention. Here is Grace's son, Jason, soothing the little girl.
- Amanda Hendrix is now the director of the Planetary Science Institute! Join us in congratulating and welcoming her! 🎉 🪐 Read more about her and her vision for PSI: buff.ly/Hd3VIh6
- The Planetary Science Institute joined the Planetary Society and other leading space industry organizations in signing this letter. Read the letter and join us in standing up for science: www.psi.edu/blog/science...
- #JunoCam: A view of Jupiter's moon Io based on Perijove 57 data compared to a view of the Earth obtained from the Deep Space Climate Observatory spacecraft on March 4, 2025 at scale. 🧪 🔭 📸 : NASA/SwRI/MSSS/DSCOVR/EPIC/Marc Lafferre To process your own JunoCam images, visit: buff.ly/XHZcam6
- The rover and near-IR satellite spectroscopy analysis hadn’t found enough surface carbonate to support the theory that Mars once had an atmosphere thick enough to hold water. That is, until the discovery of siderite. 🧪 🔭 More: buff.ly/UFsVvmL 📸: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
- "I enjoy reading, hiking, and cooking (I make a mean gumbo), but my hobby that I'm most proud of is running tabletop role playing games." Read the Q&A - including his inspiration, most exciting discovery & student advice + subscribe to our newsletter: buff.ly/aTT4RfW
- Happy Friday! 🪐 🐾 I know, I know...it looks like shameless product placement! This week's PSI #PlanetaryPet is the very alert Ziggy who lives with PSI's Megan Russell. Ziggy keeps a close eye on her PSI laptop bag. Good boy! 👩💻
- In recognition of #InternationalDarkSkyWeek, we're sharing Roger Clark's breathtaking nightscapes. Scenes like this will only become more illusive if artificial nighttime light grows unchecked. Learn more from @darkskyintl.bsky.social Find more of Clark's work at buff.ly/z17HqOC
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- To process your own JunoCam images, visit: buff.ly/XHZcam6 📸: NASA / JPL-CalTech / Southwest Research Institute / Malin Space Science Systems / Space Science Institute / Kevin M. Gill / Thomas Thomopoulos
- Secondary craters, the kind created by the falling debris that follows an initial impact, are what scientists call…annoying...because they muddy up crater counts, which scientists use to infer a surface's age. But new research has given them a purpose: buff.ly/scrHpTE 🧪 🔭
- Happy #EarthDay! 🌍 It’s often assumed that planetary scientists are only interested in outer space, but Earth can also be the subject of their research – from the effects of climate change to the origins of life and everything in between. Earth is also a planet. 📸: LRO
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- Interested in supporting PSI? buff.ly/GJz1oev
- Happy Friday! 🌌 🐠 Today, we're featuring PSI's First fish! This week's PSI #PlanetaryPet is handsome Fred who calmly patrols the waters of the aquarium at Senior Scientist Kat Volk's house. Fred keeps her and her indoor cats company when she works from home.
- PSI in the news: Jeffrey Kargel is one scientist to respond to a study published in PNAS that looks at global warming and the intensity of marine heatwaves. Read it here:
- JunoCam: A collage of #Jupiter images snapped during perijove 70, the spacecraft's 70th close approach to the planet. 🟠 🛰️ To process your own JunoCam images, visit buff.ly/sXcw789 Credit: #NASA / NASAJPL / SWRI / MSSS / Brian Swift. 🧪 🔭
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- If you're interested in supporting this award or other programs like it, please click here: buff.ly/LtS8buC Thank you 💫
- PSI in the news: Did you know that the first known observation of the Lyrid Meteor Shower was in 687 BC?? “So we're going on 3,000 years of looking at this,” PSI Senior Scientist Pamela Gay told the Weather Channel. Read the story & learn more about this week's night sky: buff.ly/Bu5IQDu 🧪 🔭
- Read the full story about the collection of eclipse articles and subscribe to our newsletter, the PSI Weekly Briefing, here: buff.ly/WVxydON 📸: Phil Hart @starstryder.space
- Happy Friday! 🪐 🐾 This week's sleepy PSI #PlanetaryPet is Stella who is taking a break from helping PSI's Pamela Gay keep her many projects, programs, and shows running. It's enough to wear anyone out! @starstryder.space
- #JunoCam: This crystal clear image of Jupiter was processed by citizen scientist Rashedul Hasan. To process your own JunoCam images, visit buff.ly/rBqKb41 🧪 🔭 Credit: NASA / JPL / SwRI / MSSS / Rashedul Hasan
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- Read the paper about the sculpture here: buff.ly/e286akD
- Astronomy Cast, a PSI production, published its 750th (what?!🎉 ) episode today! This one explores the Supernova Early Warning System. 💥 🧪 🔭 Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts:
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- Read about our engagement efforts & subscribe to our newsletter: buff.ly/ZnSvcqs
- Happy Friday! 🪐 🐾 So regal - looks like a fluffy little lion! Who would guess that this week's PSI #PlanetaryPet is actually a scaredy-cat? PSI's Beth Johnson says that handsome Nemo is a wimp!
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- The aurora were yellow-green from oxygen excited by solar winds at low altitudes & red from oxygen excited at high altitudes. Clark occasionally saw magenta, likely due to excited nitrogen which appears blue & deep red. Can you find the Big Dipper in the last image?
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- Laura said the image is processed "from the raw image framelets using Fiji (ImageJ)... Image enhancements were done in GIMP... My method of processing...is done roughly & with an artistic approach, so colours & positions/geometry of features are not an exact representation."
- An estimated 1,200 visitors over two days visited PSI’s display within Science City, a subsection of the festival tailored to children. PSI volunteers provided activities such as UV-sensitive beads to make bracelets. ☀️ 🧪 🔭 Read more: buff.ly/GD3fhh5
- ICYMI: Kirby Runyon is lead author on a new paper outlining how scientists can simulate reduced gravity conditions for experimental geology. 🧪 🔭 Read about it here and sign up for PSI's Weekly Briefing: buff.ly/oBKCilS
- Happy Friday! 🪐 🐾 What could be so riveting to this week's PSI #PlanetaryPet? Perhaps curious Angie is helping PSI's Aileen Yingst with her work on #SHERLOC (Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals) or #MAHLI (Mars Hand Lens Imager)
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- The honor was given “for outstanding contributions to planetary science, including creation of a highly used mineral spectral database, compositional analyses of planetary surfaces, and the application of remote sensing techniques to environmental disasters."
- #JunoCam: An iridescent giant 🌀 🦚 👾 Citizen scientist Maquet-80 said "This crop of a northern CPC is heavily post-processed in order to remove point noise and to enhance colors." 🧪 🔭 To process your own JunoCam images, visit: buff.ly/BXjCPYF Credit: NASA/JPL/SwRI/MSSS/Gerald Eichstädt/Maquet-80
- When an impactor strikes, the resulting debris, or ejecta, sprays out and around the impact site. Researchers wanted to understand how ejecta emplacement changed at various levels of gravitational force, such as on the Moon, Mars, and Mercury. 🧪 🔭 Read more: buff.ly/0P013IY
- ICYMI: Researchers aim to examine the intimate connections between Mercury’s surface, the surrounding space environment and its extremely tenuous atmosphere, called an exosphere. 🧪 🔭 Learn more & subscribe to our weekly newsletter: buff.ly/Rx9q9Th
