Evidence Pluto Started Out With Liquid Oceans That Have Been Slowly Freezing Over Time
Evidence Supports ‘Hot Start’ Scenario and Early Ocean Formation on Pluto A new study suggests that Pluto and other large Kuiper belt objects started out…
Planets
Kepler Space Telescope Reveals as Many as Six Billion Earth-Like Planets in Our Galaxy
There may be as many as one Earth-like planet for every five Sun-like stars in the Milky Way Galaxy, according to new estimates by University…
How’s the Weather on Mars? Electrically Charged Dust Storms Drive Martian Chlorine Cycle
How’s the weather on Mars? Tough on rovers, but very good for generating and moving highly reactive chlorine compounds. New research from Washington University in…
Juno Spacecraft Captures Astonishing High-Altitude Hazes on Jupiter
NASA’s Juno mission captured this look at Jupiter’s tumultuous northern regions during the spacecraft’s close approach to the planet on February 17, 2020. Notable features…
What’s Mars Made Of? Simulating Martian Core to Investigate Its Composition and Origin
Earth-based experiments on iron-sulfur alloys thought to comprise the core of Mars reveal details about the planet’s seismic properties for the first time. This information…
Terrestrial Life Unlikely to Contaminate Mars According to Habitability Climate Model
Southwest Research Institute scientist modeled Mars climate to understand habitability. A Southwest Research Institute scientist modeled the atmosphere of Mars to help determine that salty…
Most Extensive System of Haze Layers in the Solar System Have Been Discovered on Saturn
High-resolution images obtained by the Cassini spacecraft were used for this purpose by the Planetary Science Group at the University of the Basque Country. A…
Amazing Look at Jupiter’s Incredible Storms Using Ground and Space Observations
Hubble and Gemini Watch From Afar, Capturing High-Resolution Global Views of Jupiter That Are Key to Interpreting Juno’s Close-Up Observations of the Planet. With thunderheads…
Reading Martian Rocks in Unparalleled Detail to Find Ancient Water on Mars
It was already known that there must have been water on Mars, but now the first evidence of rivers in long-term action preserved in exposed…
Top Five Mysteries About the Planet Mercury That BepiColombo Will Solve
Mercury is a desert world which scientists until recently considered quite uninteresting. NASA’s Mariner and MESSENGER missions, however, revealed that there is much more to…
Spacecraft Reveals Venus’ Super-Rotation Maintained by Atmospheric Tidal Waves
Images from the Akatsuki spacecraft unveil what keeps Venus’s atmosphere rotating much faster than the planet itself. An international research team led by Takeshi Horinouchi…
Stanford: Promising Signs for Past Martian Life at Jezero Crater, Mars
New research indicates river delta deposits within Mars’ Jezero crater — the destination of NASA’ Perseverance rover on the Red Planet — formed over time…
Venus’ Atmosphere Rotates Far Faster Than Its Surface Because of Thermal Tides
By tracking the thick clouds of Venus’ rapidly rotating atmosphere, researchers have gained new insight into the dynamic forces that drive atmospheric super-rotation — a…
A Planet Beyond Our Solar System Mysteriously Vanished – Here’s What Astronomers Say Now
What was thought to be an exoplanet in a nearby star system likely never existed in the first place, according to astronomers from the University…
Scientists Long Puzzled by Uranus’ Mysterious Oddities – Japanese Astronomers Find Answers
Uranus’ strange axis of rotation and the unusual properties of its moons and ring system are likely due to an ancient giant icy impact. The…
Saturn’s Great Atmospheric Mystery Explained by New Data From NASA’s Cassini
New mapping of the giant planet’s upper atmosphere reveals likely reason why it’s so hot. The upper layers in the atmospheres of gas giants —…
Missing-Link in Planet Evolution Found – Predicted to Exist More Than 70 Years Ago
For the first time ever, astronomers have detected a 1.3 km radius body at the edge of the Solar System. Kilometer sized bodies like the…
Using Martian Meteorites to Reconstruct Mars’ Chaotic History
University of Arizona researchers probed Martian meteorites to reconstruct Mars’ chaotic history. Their findings suggest that Mars might not have had a global magma ocean….