Just out of curiosity ... does the JPL have backup mission control centers somewhere in the US?

A Major Earthquake in California. Yes, we even have plans for this goblin! If a major earthquake were to strike, communication lines between JPL and the remote Deep Space Network, which we use to communicate to the spacecraft, might be broken for hours to possibly days. And with a probability of about 2 percent per year of a "major" earthquake, we'd better be ready for it if it happens. Our strength in this area is Cassini's distributed network, with scientists planning observations all over the country. The spacecraft sequence files, not to mention the science observations, will be stored in more than one location. Of course, after an earthquake we'd have to make sure our operations team can get somewhere secure to continue to plan spacecraft events, but with sequences being 28 days long, it's likely we'll have some time to recover and get a team to develop the next 28-day sequence before the current sequence ends.

I think this is what we find at Tau Bootis.

[EDIT: I meant magnetic effects, like Io's effect on Jupiter's magnetic field.]

HD 17156b: a transiting planet with a 21.2-day period and an eccentric orbit

Another ESA 'first' that really isn't?

Some surprising detail brought out there--it looks to me like there are small clouds casting shadows on the surface. Can that be right? They could be little hills I suppose.

Do you know when are they going to use the Atomic Force Microscope?

3) Not worried at all - Jase should stop being a panic-merchant and lie down in a darkened room with a beer and some soothing music

"Figure 1: Pallas imaged by HST in 336nm UV filter."

No decent Hubble Space Telescope images exist of 2 Pallas do they, or have I not been able to find them?

...but I've heard nothing about the second two, going up to 1000 degrees. Did the other problems lead to them being cancelled?

Then we find a population of bodies that does *not* fall neatly into that ecliptic plane. What is the most natural conclusion to be drawn from that? The conclusion I draw is that the accretion disk had ceased to be a flat disk by the time we got out that far from the sun. Lack of tidal forces and all that.

Just as the farther-out shell of cometary debris, the Oort cloud, has.

I wonder why a greater percentage of images than usual are suffering from data loss in transit. Is this a Phoenix, Odyssey, MRO, or DSN problem?

Sure wish Phoenix had a relative humidity sensor (ideally at the end of the arm!), but I can't even imagine how to build one for Martian conditions.

However I have chucked the results on the web if it is any help to anyone:

http://www.nivnac.co.uk/phoenix/raws/

Speaking of "The Sky at Night," is there any way to get BBC-America to start running it? I appreciate being able to watch Torchwood and Dr. Who on BBC-A, but it would be great if we could get TSAN to us Americans, too!