Solar System Archives - Page 2 of 14

Freshwater Appeared on Earth About 4 Billion Years Ago, Study Suggests

By Natali Anderson June 4, 2024

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…

Venus is Currently Volcanically Active, New Study Confirms

By News Staff May 28, 2024

Using radar data from NASA’s Magellan mission, planetary scientists have detected volcanic-related flow features in two different regions of Venus: on the western flank of Sif Mons and in western…

Pluto’s Subsurface Ocean is 8% Denser than Seawater on Earth, Study Suggests

By News Staff May 21, 2024

Planetary researchers from Washington University in St. Louis and the Lunar and Planetary Institute have used mathematical models and unprecedented high-resolution images from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft to take a…

Amalthea: Juno Captures Solar System’s Reddest Object

By News Staff May 15, 2024

NASA’s Juno orbiter captured these views of the tiny, red moon Amalthea and its parent planet and during a close flyby on March 7, 2024. These views of Jupiter, captured…

Planetary Scientists Create Map of Ceres’ Cold Traps

By News Staff May 13, 2024

The dwarf planet Ceres hosts permanently shadowed areas in its polar regions, and these regions are an interesting analog to Mercury and the Moon. Ceres’ permanently shadowed regions were mapped…

Cassini Observations Suggest Underground Ocean on Titan

By News Staff May 10, 2024

Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, harbors an internal low-density ocean of water or ammonia, according to an analysis of archival data from NASA’s Cassini mission. Representation of Cassini’s orbits…

New Study Explains Why Venus is Extremely Dry

By News Staff May 7, 2024

Despite its Earth-like size and source material, Venus is extremely dry, indicating near-total water loss to space. Using computer simulations, planetary scientists from the University of Colorado, Boulder and the…

Manganese-Rich Sandstones Point to Earth-Like Environment on Ancient Mars

By News Staff May 2, 2024

In May 2017, NASA’s Curiosity rover observed higher than usual amounts of manganese in the lakebed rocks within Gale crater, Mars. These sedimentary rocks have larger grain sizes than what…

Mars Express Spots ‘Spiders’ at Outskirts of Martian ‘Inca City’

By News Staff April 24, 2024

ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft have spotted the telltale traces of ‘spiders’ scattered across the southern polar region of Mars. This image of the Martian Inca City was captured by the…

Study: Jupiter’s Moon Io Has Been Volcanically Active for All of Its History