Solar System Archives - Page 8 of 15

ESA’s Trace Gas Orbiter Observes Green Atmospheric Nightglow on Mars

By News Staff November 13, 2023

The atmospheric nightglow is observed on Earth. On Mars, it was something expected, yet never observed in visible light until now. This image shows an artist’s impression of what nightglow…

Atmospheric Winds Penetrate Jupiter in Cylindrical Manner, Planetary Researchers Say

By News Staff November 9, 2023

The violent nature of Jupiter’s atmosphere has long been a source of fascination for scientists. NASA’s Juno spacecraft has had a ringside seat to the goings-on since it entered the…

Astronomers Directly Detect Atomic Oxygen on Venus

By News Staff November 8, 2023

Atomic oxygen is produced on the dayside of Venus by photolysis of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide. Atomic oxygen is a key species in the mesosphere and thermosphere of Venus.…

Lucy Shows Its Flyby Target Dinkinesh is Actually Binary Asteroid

By News Staff November 4, 2023

On November 1, NASA’s Lucy spacecraft flew by not just its first asteroid — the small main-belt asteroid (152830) Dinkinesh — but its first two. The first images returned by…

Two Fragments of Protoplanet Theia Lie Deep within Earth, Geoscientists Say

By Enrico de Lazaro November 1, 2023

A giant collision between the ancient protoplanet Theia and the proto-Earth about 4.5 billion years ago may have formed Earth’s Moon as well as two continent-sized regions — formally known…

Juno Detects Various Salts and Organic Compounds on Ganymede

By News Staff November 1, 2023

Using data from the Jovian InfraRed Auroral Mapper (JIRAM) aboard NASA’s Juno spacecraft, planetary scientists have detected hydrated sodium chloride, ammonium chloride and sodium/ammonium carbonate, as well as organic compounds…

Venus May Have Once Had Earth-Like Plate Tectonics

By News Staff October 26, 2023

Venus is the least understood of the terrestrial planets. Despite broad similarities to the Earth in mass and size, Venus has no evidence of plate tectonics recorded on its young…

InSight Finds Evidence for Molten Silicate Layer above Martian Metallic Core

By News Staff October 25, 2023

Mars’ liquid iron alloy core is surrounded by a layer of fully molten silicate (magma) about 150 km thick, according to a pair of papers published in the journal Nature.…

Ancient Mars was Planet of Rivers, Planetary Scientists Say

By News Staff October 25, 2023

Ancient river deposits exist across Mars and can be identified in satellite data by erosional landforms called fluvial ridges. Fluvial ridges take the shape of ancient river deposits, and are…

Moon is Nearly 40 Million Years Older than Previously Thought

By News Staff October 24, 2023

By analyzing tiny lunar zircon crystals gathered by Apollo 17 astronauts in 1972, planetary scientists recalculated the age of the Moon. Although previous assessments estimated the Moon as 4.425 billion…