Planetary Science Institute

PSI's Kirby Runyon was featured on the HELLO FUTURE podcast! Catch it here: https://buff.ly/IqWsx8b

In this episode host Kevin Cirilli sits down with his space coach, Kirby Runyon, research scientist at the Planetary Science Institute (PSI) and contributor to The Planetary Society, who is one of NASA’s leading experts mapping the Moon. Kirby breaks down the Moon’s incredible geological diversity, from massive impact basins and ancient lava plains to future landing sites for crewed missions. He explains why humans should be racing back to the Moon and playfully tackles the big question: Should we reclassify it as a planet? Packed with NASA-backed insights, this episode shows why the Moon isn’t just a destination — it’s the key to our future as a spacefaring species.

HELLO FUTURE: Is the Moon a Planet? Mapping Lunar Geography with Space Coach Kirby Runyon In this episode of HELLO FUTURE, host Kevin Cirilli sits down with his space coach, Kirby Runyon — research scientist at the Planetary Science Institute (PSI) and contributor to The Planetary Society — who is one of NASA’s leading experts mapping the Moon. Kirby breaks down the Moon’s incred...

Happy Friday! 🌌 🎨

This week's features a painting from our art collection. This piece, Coronagraph from the Moon, was painted by PSI cofounder William K. Hartmann in 2025. A coronagraph is a device that blocks out direct light from the Sun so the corona can be studied. However, coronagraphs can’t be used effectively on Earth due to scattered light in the atmosphere. The Moon, on the other hand, lacks an atmosphere, so astronauts could create a handheld coronagraph for use on the surface.

Learn more about the collection: https://buff.ly/M9qipVt

: The Milky Way Rises Over Mesa Arch, Canyonlands National Park

The center of the Milky Way and the constellation of Sagittarius are on the right side of the arch, and the Constellation Cygnus is above the left side of the arch, with the red North America Nebula.

This was taken by PSI Senior Scientist Roger Clark.

We never know where PSI scientists will be next. For David Grinspoon, the answer was London for SWSX where he talked with Dune's production designer building worlds at the junction of science and fiction. Learn more in this The Hollywood Reporter article.

‘Dune’ Oscar Winner Talks Pushing Back on AI and the One Mode of Time Travel He Knows At SXSW London, Canadian production designer Patrice Vermette took the audience inside his process, talking about “method designing" and "scientific jam sessions."

: The many textures of Jupiter. Swipe through. This never gets old!

These images were processed by citizen scientists. Interested in processing your own JunoCam images? Visit: https://buff.ly/iFVvCkA

📸: NASA / SwRI / MSSS / Navaneeth Krishnan / Emma Wälimäki / Björn Jónsson / Tracy Prell

“I will specifically contribute by analyzing potential landing sites, assessing geologic context and contributing to analyses of lunar regolith structure,” she said. “It’s hard to express just how excited I am to join the science team for the first landed Artemis mission. It has been a goal of mine to participate in human exploration of the Moon since graduate school, when I got to meet and work with several Apollo astronauts. Artemis has been billed as my generation’s Apollo moment, and the opportunity to participate in the first human return to the lunar surface in over 50 years feels like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I am thrilled and honored to be able to lend expertise to the team, in particular to landing site analysis and studies of highlands regolith structure.”

Jawin’s research focuses on how the surfaces of rocky planets, asteroids and moons in our Solar System evolve, specifically focusing on several themes including resurfacing on rubble pile asteroids, Martian polar surface variability, and explosive volcanism on the Moon and Mercury.

Her research integrates geomorphology and geologic mapping with complementary datasets such as those from radar measurements. She is a science team member on two active NASA missions: the OSIRIS-APEX mission to asteroid Apophis, which will rendezvous in April 2029, as well as the SHAllow RADar (SHARAD) instrument onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The U.S. team lead of the SHARAD instrument is PSI’s Senior Scientist Than Putzig.

Full story: https://buff.ly/FbRVR6U

Learn more about the award and how you can support this work inspired by Betty: https://buff.ly/1DSkFcW

This story was featured in this week's newsletter. Read and subscribe: https://buff.ly/E0tvqzs

We are opening today, May 30 from 11am-3pm if you’d like to come by and see the William K. Hartmann Art Collection! Learn more about the collection and pricing at the link in our bio.

Happy Friday! 🪐 🐾

This week’s is the award-winning 10-year-old Jax, a Belgian Malinois who cleared the field in ONE weekend to win all of these awards in Estes Park, CO. Jax is a high-ranking scent detection dog with the National Association of Canine Canine Scent Work (NACSW) Summit title. Jax lives with PSI Senior Scientist Robert Tokar.

Monty Python encourages us to "Just remember that you're standing on a planet that's evolving // And revolving at 900mph."

At the same time, the Moon is traveling round and round at 2,288mph on a not-round orbit that yo-yos the Moon from 225,700 mi to 251,970 mi away, causing it to appear to vary up & down about 10% in size.

Tomorrow, these motions line up to give us a 2nd full Moon of May at 4:10am PDT and the Moon is farthest from Earth at 10:33am PDT. Put together, we have a **Blue Micromoon**.

Which is just a cool excuse to get you to think about the Moon. You're welcome.

(Unless you regularly compare the size of the Moon to the size of your thumb at arm's length, you won't notice any difference. But isn't it cool to know this is happening?)

Image Credit: Lon&Queta https://buff.ly/VzGH7J6