AMS Detector Reveals Surprising Surplus of Cosmic Rays Made of Deuterons
Deuterons — atomic nuclei made up of a proton and a neutron — are thought to form in the same way as helium-3 nuclei, in collisions between primary helium-4 nuclei…
Ancient Mars was Cool and Relatively Wet, New Study Suggests
In a new study, planetary scientists found strong similarities between soils found in Gale Crater on Mars and those of Canada’s Newfoundland, a cold subarctic climate. X-ray amorphous material comprises…
Study: Active, Seafloor Hydrothermal Systems on Small Ocean Worlds Could Support Life
Ocean worlds are planetary bodies that have a liquid ocean, often under an icy shell or within the rocky interior. In our own Solar System, several moons of Jupiter and…
Freshwater Appeared on Earth About 4 Billion Years Ago, Study Suggests
Analyzing 4-billion-year-old zircon crystals from the Jack Hills in Western Australia’s Mid West region, geoscientists have pushed back the timeline for the emergence of freshwater to just a few hundred…
Mars Drives Deep-Ocean Circulation in Earth’s Oceans, Study Suggests
Geoscientists from Australia and France have used the geological record of Earth’s deep oceans to discover a connection between the orbits of our home planet and Mars. They’ve discovered a…
NASA Scientists Unveil Design for Europa Clipper’s ‘Golden Record’
NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft will carry a triangular metal plate with a special message when it launches in October 2024 and heads toward Jupiter’s moon Europa. This side of a…
Earth’s Moon is Shrinking, New Modeling Study Suggests
Earth’s Moon shrank more than 46 m (150 feet) in circumference as its core gradually cooled over the last few hundred million years, according to a paper published in the…
Scientists Solve Major Puzzle in Moon’s Geology
New research from the University of Bristol sheds light on the origin of titanium-rich basaltic magmas on the Moon. A map of the titanium abundances of the Moon’s surface, obtained…
Lunar Anthropocene: Are We in New Epoch of Moon’s History?
In a paper published in the journal Nature Geoscience, Kansas Geological Survey researcher Justin Holcomb and his colleagues argue the new epoch may have dawned in 1959, thanks to the…
ESA Astronaut Captures Stunning Images of Rare Thunder Phenomenon
As part of the Thor-Davis experiment on the International Space Station (ISS), ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen has captured images of a phenomenon called red sprite. Equipped with a specialized event-based…