Space Exploration News

Jupiter Accelerates Electrons to Near-Light Speed, Offering Clues to Cosmic Ray Origins

As planets and stars travel through the streams of charged particles flowing across space, their magnetic fields act like obstacles; incoming particles are slowed and deflected, forming a boundary called the bow shock; just ahead of this boundary lies the foreshock, a variable region where magnetic conditions can accelerate some particles to nearly the speed of light. Image credit: Ben C. Smith, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory.
Jun 5, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

The giant planet’s bow shock isn’t just deflecting the solar wind, it’s acting as a powerful particle accelerator, firing electrons to relativistic energies of at least 1 MeV, according to a new analysis of data from NASA’s Juno spacecraft. As planets and stars travel through the streams of charged particles flowing across space, their magnetic fields act like obstacles; incoming particles are slowed and deflected, forming a boundary called...

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This is an artist impression of the protoplanetary disk around HD 107146. Image credit: A. Angelich / NRAO / AUI / NSF.

Meteorite Found in Africa Preserves Evidence of Long-Lost Massive Protoplanet

Jun 2, 2026 by News Staff

The Northwest Africa (NWA) 12774, an angrite meteorite discovered in the Sahara Desert, likely in Mauritania, appears to be a fragment of a vanished protoplanet,...

An artistic representation of the Zwan-Wolf effect at Mars, as observed by NASA’s MAVEN mission. Image credit: LASP / CU Boulder.

MAVEN Detects Rare Atmospheric Effect on Mars

May 19, 2026 by News Staff

New observations from NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft reveal that the Zwan-Wolf effect — a phenomenon once thought...

This is an artist's impression of a water-vapor geyser on Europa. Image credit: University of Cologne.

Do Europa’s Water Plumes Really Exist? New Study Reopens Debate

May 18, 2026 by News Staff

New research led by planetary scientists from Southwest Research Institute and KTH Royal Institute of Technology suggests that evidence for vapor erupting...

In November 2025, 3I/ATLAS passed between ESA’s Juice spacecraft and NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Southwest Research Institute.

Europa Clipper and Juice Team Up to Observe Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS

May 13, 2026 by News Staff

When the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS passed between ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) spacecraft and NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft in November...

Space junk begins to fall down much faster once the Sun’s activity across the solar cycle reaches approximately 67% of its peak.

Space Junk Falls Faster When Sun Heats Up, New Study Finds

May 6, 2026 by News Staff

Space debris — ranging from defunct satellites and discarded rocket stages to fragments from collisions — poses an ever-increasing threat to...

Juno captured this view of Thebe during a close flyby on May 1, 2026. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Juno Snaps Rare Close-Up of Jupiter’s Shadowy Moon Thebe

May 6, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

NASA’s Juno spacecraft captured a new view of the irregular moon Thebe during a May 1 flyby, revealing the battered world from just 5,000 km away. Juno...

Hubble’s photo of Jupiter displays the ever-changing landscape of its turbulent atmosphere. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / Amy Simon, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / Michael H. Wong, University of California, Berkeley / Joseph DePasquale, STScI.

Jupiter is Little Smaller Than We Thought

May 4, 2026 by News Staff

Using data from NASA’s Juno spacecraft, planetary scientists have produced the most precise measurements of Jupiter’s size in half a century and found...

A close-up of three holes Curiosity drilled into Martian rock at a location nicknamed Mary Anning in October 2020. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS.

Curiosity Reveals Richest Trove of Organic Molecules Yet on Mars

Apr 22, 2026 by News Staff

NASA’s Curiosity rover has detected more than 20 carbon-containing compounds — including seven never before seen on Mars — in a sample collected...

This image shows the Amapari Marker Band, a winding region where NASA’s Curiosity rover discovered unexpected signs of an ancient lake. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Curiosity Finds Chemical Traces of Ancient Shallow Lake in Gale Crater

Apr 22, 2026 by News Staff

Using data from the ChemCam instrument on NASA’s Curiosity rover, planetary scientists found minerals with high amounts of iron, manganese, and zinc...

Illustration taken from orbiter data identifying the coastal shelf region on Mars; analogous features on Earth are signatures of our global oceans, and only form over long periods of time. Image credit: A. Zaki.

Newly-Identified Geological Feature Points to Vast, Long-Dried Up Ocean in Northern Plains of Mars

Apr 20, 2026 by News Staff

A continent-like shelf beneath the Martian surface hints that a vast ocean once covered up to a third of Mars, reshaping the long-running debate over its...

This colorful view of Mercury was produced by using images from the color base map imaging campaign during MESSENGER’s primary mission. These colors are not what Mercury would look like to the human eye, but rather the colors enhance the chemical, mineralogical, and physical differences between the rocks that make up the planet’s surface. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Carnegie Institution of Washington.

Mercury’s Sulfur-Rich Magma May Rewrite How Solar System’s Innermost Planet Formed

Apr 15, 2026 by News Staff

New research from Rice University suggests sulfur keeps Mercury’s interior molten at lower temperatures, offering new clues to how the planet’s strange...

Jupiter (lower left) has a strong magnetic field which creates a cavity in its circumplanetary disk; Saturn (upper right) lacks a strong magnetic field so its circumplanetary disk evolves without a cavity. Image credit: Yuri I. Fujii / L-INSIGHT / Kyoto University / Shinichiro Kinoshita.

Jupiter’s Strong Magnetic Field May Explain Why It Has So Many Large Moons

Apr 7, 2026 by News Staff

The Jovian system has four large moons, including the largest moon in the Solar System, Ganymede, whereas the Saturnian system is dominated by one giant...

This mosaic image of asteroid Bennu is composed of 12 images collected on December 2, 2018 by OSIRIS-REx’s PolyCam instrument from a range of 15 miles (24 km). Image credit: NASA / NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / University of Arizona.

Asteroid Bennu’s Minerals and Organic Matter Occur in Distinct Chemical Domains: Study

Apr 6, 2026 by News Staff

A new nanoscale analysis of the Bennu sample OREX-800066-3 returned by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission shows that organic compounds and minerals cluster into...

Illustration of the predicted hexagonal carbon hydride compound under Neptune-like interior conditions. In this structure, carbon forms the outer spiral chains (yellow) and hydrogen forms the inner spiral chains (blue), consistent with the quasi-one-dimensional superionic behavior identified in first-principles simulations. Image credit: Cong Liu.

New Form of Matter May Lurk Deep Inside Uranus and Neptune

Apr 6, 2026 by News Staff

New computational simulations suggest ice-giant planets like Uranus and Neptune harbor a quasi-one-dimensional superionic state of carbon hydride that...

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe approaching the Sun. Image credit: NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio.

Closer Look at the Sun Reveals More Chaotic Magnetic Heart

Apr 1, 2026 by News Staff

A new analysis of data from NASA’s Parker Solar Probe shows that protons and heavy ions react differently to solar magnetic reconnection events, suggesting...

A simple schematic of the configuration of the solar wind-driven Earth magnetosphere and the rapidly rotating Saturn magnetosphere. Image credit: Xu et al., doi: 10.1038/s41467-026-69666-9.

Saturn’s Magnetic Shield is Skewed, Offering Clues to Alien Worlds

Apr 1, 2026 by News Staff

Archival data from ESA’s Cassini mission reveal that Saturn’s protective magnetic bubble is lopsided, shaped not just by the solar wind but by its...

Nickel is present in bright magnesium-sulfate veins in Jezero crater on Mars, supporting an authigenic origin. Image credit: Manelski et al., doi: 10.1038/s41467-026-70081-3.

Nickel-Rich Rocks Discovered by Perseverance Hint at Complex Chemistry on Early Mars

Apr 1, 2026 by News Staff

New findings from Neretva Vallis, an ancient river channel that once transported water into Jezero crater on Mars, reveal unusually high nickel levels...

An artist’s impression of the asteroid 2025 MN45. Image credit: NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory / NOIRLab / SLAC / AURA / P. Marenfeld.

Earth’s Building Blocks Came from Close to Home, Planetary Scientists Say

Mar 31, 2026 by News Staff

A new analysis of isotopic signatures across planets and meteorite parent bodies suggests our home world formed entirely from inner solar system material,...

This image of 3I/ATLAS was captured by the Navigation Camera (NavCam) onboard Juice in November 2025. Image credit: ESA / Juice / NavCam.

How Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS Met Unlikely Observer

Mar 24, 2026 by News Staff

On its way to Jupiter, ESA’s Juice spacecraft briefly turned its gaze toward a rare interstellar visitor, 3I/ATLAS, capturing valuable data from an object...

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