Venus Has Ongoing Active Volcanism, New Study Confirms
Planetary scientists have examined volcanic areas on Venus that were imaged two or three times by NASA’s Magellan spacecraft and identified a 2.2-km2 volcanic vent that changed shape in the…
Rotation of Europa’s Ice Shell May Be Controlled By Dynamics of Subsurface Ocean: Study
The subsurface ocean of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa is heated from below via tidal heating and radioactive decay of the rocky interior, while being cooled from above by its frozen…
Curiosity Rover Images Sun Rays and Feather-Shaped Clouds on Mars
‘Sun rays’ are also known as crepuscular rays, from the Latin word for twilight. It was the first time sun rays have been so clearly viewed on Mars. This feather-shaped…
DART Offers Insight into How Deflection Missions Can Protect Earth from Hazardous Asteroids
On September 26, 2022, NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) intentionally slammed into the 160-m-wide asteroid moonlet Dimorphos — which orbits the larger, 780-m-wide asteroid Didymos — for the first…
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…