Ceres is Former Ocean World, Planetary Scientists Say
Ceres is a key object in understanding the evolution of small bodies and is the only dwarf planet to have been orbited by a spacecraft, NASA’s Dawn mission. Dawn data…
Early Martian Atmosphere Could Be Locked Up in Planet’s Clay Surface
Geological observations of Mars indicate a dense early atmosphere ranging from 0.25 to 4 bar of carbon dioxide. But 3.5 billion years ago, the Martian atmosphere thinned rapidly to approximately…
X-ray Pulses from Nuclear Explosions Can Deflect Dangerous Asteroids, Researchers Say
Around 66 million years ago, the Chicxulub asteroid impact triggered mass extinction, mega-tsunamis and a spell of global warming that lasted for around 100,000 years. Although NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test…
Planetary Scientists Create Global Map of Volcanic Hotspots on Io
Io is the most volcanically active body in the Solar System. Io’s volcanoes are powered by both the extreme tides from Jupiter and the gravitational interactions between it and Jupiter’s…
Earth Had Ring System 466 Million Years Ago, New Research Suggests
Breakup of an asteroid passing within Earth’s Roche limit likely formed the debris ring during the middle Ordovician period, according to new research from Monash University. Tomkins et al. suggest…
NASA’s Juno Orbiter Discovers New Volcano on Io
Using images from the JunoCam instrument aboard NASA’s Juno spacecraft, planetary scientists have spotted a fresh volcano with multiple lava flows and volcanic deposits covering an area about 180 x…
Martian ‘Spiders’ Re-Created in Lab for First Time
Martian ‘spiders’ are small, dark, spider-shaped features up to 1 km (0.6 miles) across. The leading theory is that they form when spring sunshine falls on layers of carbon dioxide…
Planetary Researchers Create Cloud Atlas of Mars
The images in the Martian Cloud Atlas have been captured by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) instrument on ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft. Lee waves on Mars are created by…
MAVEN and Hubble Observations Shed New Light on Mars’ Water History
Mars’ water history is fundamental to understanding an evolution of Earth-like planets. Water escapes to space as atoms, and hydrogen (H) atoms escape faster than deuterium (D) — which is…
Study: There Were Volcanic Eruptions on Moon as Recently as 123 Million Years Ago
There is extensive geologic evidence of ancient volcanic activity on the Moon, but it is unclear how long that volcanism persisted. Magma fountains produce volcanic glasses, which have previously been…