NASA’s Juno Spacecraft Spots Signs That “Sprites” or “Elves” Frolic in Jupiter’s Atmosphere
An instrument on the spacecraft may have detected transient luminous events — bright flashes of light in the gas giant’s upper atmosphere. New results from…
Geophysics
Greenland’s Retreating Glaciers: NASA Details Physical Transformation of Over 200 Coastal Glaciers
Details about the physical transformation of over 200 of the island’s coastal glaciers are documented in a new study, in which the authors anticipate environmental…
A Vicious Circle: Ice Loss Due to Warming Leads to Warming Due to Ice Loss
The loss of huge ice masses can contribute to the warming that is causing this loss and further risks. A new study now quantifies this…
Earth vs. Pluto: Snowy and Icy Peaks with Very Different Origins
Like Earth, the dwarf planet of Pluto has mountains. Like their earthly cousins, some of those peaks are covered in blankets of white. But the…
Who Is Driving Whom? Climate and Carbon Cycle in Perpetual Interaction and Changing Feedback Mechanisms
Bremen climate scientists disclose changing feedback mechanisms between climate and global carbon cycle over the last 35 million years. The current climate crisis underlines that…
Ancient Rocks Reveal New Clues About How Earth Got Its Oxygen
Innovative technique analyzes ancient rocks to understand role of iron. For much of Earth’s four and a half billion years, the planet was barren and…
Preserved Billion Year-Old Dune Fields on Mars Offer Insights Into Martian History
The discovery of Martian dune fields largely preserved in the rock record for up to a billion years offers new insights on past climatic conditions…
Remnants of an Ancient Asteroid Shake Up a Once Accepted Timeline for Cataclysmic Events in the Early Solar System
Researchers have shaken up a once accepted timeline for cataclysmic events in the early solar system. About 4.5 Ga (giga-anum, or billion years ago), as…
Interplanetary Storm Chasing – New Explanation for Mysterious Hexagonal Storm on Saturn
A new 3D model could explain the formation of a hexagon storm on Saturn. With its dazzling system of icy rings, Saturn has been a…
Ryugu’s Rocky Past: Different Kinds of Rocks on Ryugu Provide Clues to the Asteroid’s Turbulent History
Researchers find evidence that asteroid Ryugu was born out of the possible destruction of a larger parent asteroid millions of years ago. Thanks to the…
Colossal Stellar Explosion Near Earth Revealed by Layers of Manganese Crust
Discovery of iron-60 and manganese-53 substantiates supernova 2.5 million years ago. When the brightness of the star Betelgeuse dropped dramatically a few months ago, some…
Textbooks and Geoscientists May Be Wrong About How the Alps Were Formed
ETH researchers have used a computer model to test a new hypothesis about the formation of the Alps while simulating seismic activity in Switzerland. This…
Strange Precariously Balanced Rocks Provide Earthquake Forecasting Clues
Precariously balanced rocks (PBRs) are formations found throughout the world where a slender boulder is balanced precariously on a pedestal boulder. They form as blocks…
MIT Identifies Counteracting Effect: Antarctic Sea Ice May Not Cap Carbon Emissions As Much as Previously Thought
Study suggests sea ice blocks the flow of carbon both into and out of the ocean, in roughly equal measure. The Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica…
Deadly Surprise: Tiny Crystals Behind Unexpected Violent Volcanic Eruptions
In a new study of volcanic processes, Bristol scientists have demonstrated the role nanolites play in the creation of violent eruptions at otherwise ‘calm’ and…
Largest Extraterrestrial Diamonds Ever Discovered: Cosmic Diamonds Formed During Gigantic Planetary Collisions
International research team solves theory of how diamonds formed inside protoplanets. Geoscientists from Goethe University have found the largest extraterrestrial diamonds ever discovered – a…
Popular Theory About the Early Solar System Called Into Doubt by Meteorite Evidence
It is generally accepted that the inner region of the early solar system was subject to an intense period of meteoric bombardment referred to as…
Venus’ Ancient Layered, Folded Terrain Points to Volcanic Origin
An international team of researchers has found that some of the oldest terrain on Venus, known as tesserae, have layering that seems consistent with volcanic…