Astronomers Propose New Definition of Planet
Established in 2006 by the International Astronomical Union, the current definition specifies that to qualify as a planet, a celestial body must orbit the Sun within our Solar System. But…
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’s Psyche Spacecraft Beams Back Its First Images
Already 26 million km (16 million miles) from Earth, NASA’s Psyche spacecraft will arrive at its target asteroid Psyche in 2029. The Psyche team wanted to test all of the…
Severe Space Weather Events Disrupt Nocturnal Bird Migrations, Researchers Find
Earth’s magnetic field is occasionally but regularly impacted by bursts of energy from the Sun (space weather), such as coronal mass ejections. Birds and other animals depend on the geomagnetic…
Auroral Mechanisms May Be Universal throughout Our Solar System
An analysis of data obtained during the ESA/JAXA BepiColombo spacecraft’s first Mercury flyby reveals that Mercury’s southern magnetosphere aurorae are similar to those seen on Earth and Mars. An artist’s…
Parker Solar Probe Identifies Mechanism Driving Fast Solar Wind
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has flown close enough to the Sun to detect the fine structure of the solar wind close to where it is generated at the solar surface,…
Stars and Building Blocks of Their Planets ‘Grow Up’ Together, New Study Suggests
The timing and locations of formation of planetesimals — the building blocks of planets — are crucial to the understanding of planet formation. If we are to form larger planets…