SETI Institute

#PPOD: NASA's Perseverance rover has made history! On October 11, 2026, the rover reached a total distance of 45.22 kilometers across Mars, surpassing the 45.16-kilometer record set by its predecessor, Opportunity. 🧪 🔭

Robert (Rob) French is a planetary scientist at the SETI Institute who studies the rings and moons of the outer solar system. His research includes Saturn's rings, Uranus's inner moons, and the co-discovery of a moon of Neptune. 🧪 🔭 #PlanetaryScience #Space #Science #SETI #NotJustAliens

Rob also helps scientists make the most of spacecraft data. As a co-investigator with NASA's PDS Ring-Moon Systems Node, he develops tools to explore planetary observations and has helped researchers use approximately 500,000 images from Cassini, New Horizons, Voyager, and Galileo more easily.

#PPOD: The graceful spiral arms of Messier 83, also known as the Southern Pinwheel Galaxy, reveal a hidden world of cold gas in this view from Chile's Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). 🔭 🧪

Located approximately 15 million light-years from Earth, M83 is a nearby spiral galaxy whose sweeping arms contain vast reservoirs of molecular gas—the raw material from which new stars are born.

#PPOD: On October 22, 1975, the Soviet Union's Venera 9 spacecraft made history by transmitting the first photograph from another planet's surface. Landing on Venus at about 32° south latitude, the spacecraft survived for 53 minutes in crushing atmospheric pressure and temperatures. 🧪 🔭

The scene's curved appearance results from the camera's imaging system. Although Venera 9 returned only this single view, it gave humanity its first direct glimpse of Venus's surface, transforming a world hidden beneath thick clouds into a place we could finally see.

#PPOD: On October 22, 1975, the Soviet Union's Venera 9 spacecraft made history by transmitting the first photograph from another planet's surface. Landing on Venus at about 32° south latitude, the spacecraft survived for 53 minutes in crushing atmospheric pressure and temperatures. 🧪 🔭

#PPOD: This spectacular mosaic, released in 2006, brings the Orion Nebula to life as one of the most detailed portraits ever captured of this nearby stellar nursery. Combining observations from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, the image reveals more than 3,000 stars... 🧪 🔭

Hubble's sharp vision also reveals protoplanetary disks around young stars, along with brown dwarfs and possible planetary-mass objects. Together, these details offer astronomers a remarkable view of stellar birth and the environments in which new planetary systems may emerge.

#PPOD: This spectacular mosaic, released in 2006, brings the Orion Nebula to life as one of the most detailed portraits ever captured of this nearby stellar nursery. Combining observations from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, the image reveals more than 3,000 stars... 🧪 🔭

Heading to #DPS2026 in Spokane? 🚀 Join Christina Richey and Matt Tiscareno for a Proposal Writing Workshop exploring how to communicate your science effectively when applying for federal funding, using NASA ROSES as an example. DPS attendees don't need to register separately for the workshop. 🧪 👩‍🔬

#PPOD: The star-filled sky above ESO's La Silla Observatory in Chile reflects off the enormous dish of the Swedish–ESO Submillimetre Telescope (SEST). Photographed by José Rodrigues, the now-retired telescope stands beneath the southern night sky... 🧪 🔭

...allowing astronomers to study cold clouds of gas and dust where new stars and planetary systems form. Although the telescope ceased operations in 2003, its scientific legacy lives on in modern facilities such as the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA)...

#PPOD: The star-filled sky above ESO's La Silla Observatory in Chile reflects off the enormous dish of the Swedish–ESO Submillimetre Telescope (SEST). Photographed by José Rodrigues, the now-retired telescope stands beneath the southern night sky... 🧪 🔭

#PPOD: Ancient lava flows and relentless winds have shaped this dramatic Martian landscape, captured by ESA's Mars Express orbiter. Rising up to 3 kilometers above the surrounding plains, the flat-topped Amazonis Mensa stands amid terrain... 🧪 🔭

More recently, persistent Martian winds have sculpted the softer surrounding material into streamlined ridges called yardangs. Their differing orientations reveal how wind patterns have shifted and interacted with the local terrain over time...

#PPOD: Ancient lava flows and relentless winds have shaped this dramatic Martian landscape, captured by ESA's Mars Express orbiter. Rising up to 3 kilometers above the surrounding plains, the flat-topped Amazonis Mensa stands amid terrain... 🧪 🔭

Dr. Milan Gošić is a solar physicist who has been working on the spatio-temporal evolution of the solar magnetic fields using multi-instrument, multiwavelength observations. His field of expertise is space and ground solar observations, data processing, and data analysis. 🧪 🔭 #NotJustAliens

Dr. Gošić also employs models to better understand and interpret solar observations and has supported the IRIS satellite's everyday science operations. He has been training solar physicists to conduct observations with IRIS and coordinating IRIS with space- and ground-based telescopes.