Signs of Life on Venus? What This Means for Earthlings
University of Delaware professors from astronomy, international relations, and psychology say what signs of life on Venus means for earthlings. The planet Venus has arguably…
Planets
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…
Geologists Simulate Martian Soil Conditions to Figure Out How to Grow Plants on Mars
Geologists Dig Into Question of Martian Soil Fertility Humankind’s next giant step may be onto Mars. But before those missions can begin, scientists need to…
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…
BepiColombo Images Venus During Close Approach for Gravity Assist
The joint European-Japanese BepiColombo mission captured this view of Venus on October 15, 2020, as the spacecraft passed the planet for a gravity assist maneuver….
Opposite World: Pluto’s Ice Caps Made of Methane, Turns Earth’s Process Upside Down
The mountains discovered on Pluto during the New Horizons spacecraft’s flyby of the dwarf planet in 2015 are covered by a blanket of methane ice,…
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…
Evolutionary Origin of Flattened “Snowman” Kuiper Belt Object Arrokoth
The small Kuiper Belt object (486958) Arrokoth, encountered by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft on January 1, 2019, is so far the most distant and most…
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…
Cyclones at Jupiter’s North Pole Appear As Swirls of Striking Colors
Cyclones at the north pole of Jupiter appear as swirls of striking colors in this extreme false-color rendering of an image from NASA’s Juno mission….
Some Planets May Be Better for Life Than Earth: Researchers Identify 24 Superhabitable Exoplanets
Earth is not necessarily the best planet in the universe. Researchers have identified two dozen planets outside our solar system that may have conditions more…
New Clues to Earth’s Atmospheric Loss From Moon’s Origin From Planet Collision Supercomputer Simulations
Earth could have lost anywhere between ten and 60 percent of its atmosphere in the collision that is thought to have formed the Moon. New…
If It Wasn’t for Jupiter, Venus Might Be Habitable Today
Study shows the destabilizing effect of the giant gas planet. Venus might not be a sweltering, waterless hellscape today, if Jupiter hadn’t altered its orbit…
Mystery of Strange Storms on Jupiter With Unusual Geometric Pattern Solved With Help From 19th Century Physics
At the south pole of Jupiter lurks a striking sight—even for a gas giant planet covered in colorful bands that sports a red spot larger…
First Possible “Survivor” Planet Discovered by NASA Next to a Stellar Cinder
The violent events leading up to the death of a star would likely drive away any planets. The newly discovered Jupiter-size object may have arrived…
Hubble Captures Crisp New Portrait of Jupiter’s Turbulent Storms Raging Across the Planet
Turbulent Storms Rage Across The Giant Planet More massive than all the other planets combined, Jupiter truly is the king of our solar system. The…
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…
Astronomers Find Possible Signs of Life on Venus
Astronomers May Have Found a Signature of Life on Venus Evidence indicates phosphine, a gas associated with living organisms, is present in the habitable region…