Venus’ Outer Shell is Shaping Planet’s Surface, Study Suggests
Earth has a hot core that heats the surrounding mantle, which carries that heat up to the planet’s lithosphere. The heat is then lost to space, cooling the uppermost region…
Planetary Scientists Create Two New Forms of Extraterrestrial Ice
University of Washington researcher Baptiste Journaux and colleagues believe the newly-created substances could form at the surface and bottom of deep oceans on Jupiter’s icy moons Europa and Ganymede. This…
Electricity in Martian Dust Storms Could Be Major Driving Force of Planet’s Chlorine Cycle
Frictional electrification is a common process in the Solar System, with Martian dust activities known to be a powerful source of electrical charge buildup. Furthermore, the thin atmosphere on the…
Hubble Detects Start of New Saturn Ring Spoke Season
Saturn is known for its iconic, pristine rings. However, the main B ring can have splotches and streaks of darker or lighter material, known as spokes, that may be tied…
Charon’s Freezing Ocean Produced Huge Canyons on Its Surface, Modeling Study Suggests
When ocean-bearing moons begin to cool down, their oceans can freeze. As new ice accretes to the bottom of the existing ice shell, the added volume of the ice can…
Mimas Has an Expanding, Young Ocean, New Research Suggests
Mimas, a small moon of Saturn, is heavily cratered and lacks the typical characteristics of an ocean-bearing moon, such as the active surface of Enceladus. However, measurements of Mimas, made…
Scientists Find Various Organic Compounds in Martian Meteorite
An international team of researchers has detected abundant polyaromatic compounds, organic magnesium compounds, aliphatic branched carboxylic acids, aldehydes, and olefins in the Tissint meteorite, which landed near the city of…
Detecting Extraterrestrial Life on Enceladus Could Be Achieved without Landing: Study
Enceladus, the sixth-biggest moon of Saturn, is a top candidate in the search for extraterrestrial life in the Solar System. An artist’s impression of NASA’s Cassini spacecraft flying through plumes…
Trace Gas Detection Sheds New Light on Atmospheres of Jupiter and Its Volcanic Moon Io
Using data from NSF’s Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA), the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and NASA’s Juno spacecraft, two teams of astronomers have examined the distribution of…
Researchers Find Two Extraterrestrial Minerals in El Ali Meteorite
The El Ali meteorite, a 15.2-ton iron meteorite found in 2020 near the tiny town of El Ali in Somalia, contains at least two new minerals: elaliite and elkinstantonite. This…