Space Exploration News

Juno’s Microwave Vision Peers beneath Surface of Jupiter’s Volcanic Moon Io

The north polar region of Io was captured by NASA’s Juno spacecraft on December 30, 2023. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS / Gerald Eichstädt.
Jul 23, 2026 by Natali Anderson

New data from NASA’s Juno spacecraft show temperatures spike more than 20 degrees Celsius just a few meters under Io’s surface, providing the first look at what’s happening below the crust of the Solar System’s most volcanic world. The north polar region of Io was captured by NASA’s Juno spacecraft on December 30, 2023. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS / Gerald Eichstädt. Jupiter’s moon Io is the most volcanically active...

read more...
These images from Mars Color Imager (MARCI) aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) show Mars before (left) and during (right) the June 2018 dust storm. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / University of Arizona.

Space Weather May Warp Martian Weather during Dust Storms, Planetary Scientists Suggest

Jul 22, 2026 by News Staff

Planetary researchers have found the first evidence that bursts of energetic particles from the Sun could warm the lower atmosphere of Mars during massive...

This painting depicts an asteroid slamming into tropical, shallow seas of the sulfur-rich Yucatan Peninsula in what is today southeast Mexico. The aftermath of this immense asteroid collision, which occurred approximately 65 million years ago, is believed to have caused the extinction of the dinosaurs and many other species on Earth. Shown in this painting are pterodactyls, flying reptiles with wingspans of up to 50 feet, gliding above low tropical clouds. Image credit: Donald E. Davis / NASA.

Dinosaurs May Have Been Wiped Out by ‘Oddball’ Space Rock

Jul 17, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

By analyzing nickel isotopes preserved in the 66-million-year-old debris left by the Chicxulub impact, researchers conclude that the asteroid responsible...

This impressive view of Charon was captured on July 14, 2015. Charon’s color palette is not as diverse as Pluto’s; most striking is the reddish north (top) polar region, informally named Mordor Macula. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.

Pluto’s Moon Charon May Still Be Slowing Its Spin, Study Suggests

Jul 15, 2026 by News Staff

New research indicates that Pluto’s largest moon, Charon, may continue to lose rotational energy despite the pair’s long-standing tidal lock, offering...

This image of the near-Earth asteroid Torifune was captured with the ONC-T instrument aboard JAXA’s Hayabusa-2 spacecraft on July 5, 2026. Image credit: JAXA / University of Tokyo / Chiba Institute of Technology / Institute of Science Tokyo / AIST / Paris Observatory / IAC.

Hayabusa-2 Snaps Stunning Close-Up Images of Asteroid Torifune during Flyby

Jul 8, 2026 by Natali Anderson

On July 5, 2026, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Hayabusa-2 spacecraft completed the first asteroid encounter of its extended mission, flying past...

Tianwen-2 captured this image of 2016 HO3 on July 2, 2026 from a distance of about 20 km. Image credit: CNSA.

China’s Tianwen-2 Spacecraft Reaches Earth’s Quasi-Moon after One Billion-Kilometer Journey

Jul 7, 2026 by Natali Anderson

On July 2, 2026, the Tianwen-2 probe closed to within 20 km (12.4 miles) of the small near-Earth asteroid 2016 HO3, one of only seven Earth quasi-satellites...

This artist’s concept depicts NASA’s Mars rover Perseverance on the surface of the Red Planet. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Perseverance Finds Complex Organic Matter on Mars

Jun 30, 2026 by Natali Anderson

NASA’s Perseverance rover has uncovered the most extensive evidence yet of complex organic molecules on Mars, detecting macromolecular carbon in rocks...

The North Pole Dome crater: (A) simplified map of the East Pilbara Terrane (EPT, Western Australia), showing Paleoarchean granite domes (pink) and greenstone belts (greens and blues); the North Pole Dome (NPD) lies near the terrane center; (B) geological map of the NPD and the shatter-cone field (yellow star); (C) A quartz (Qtz)-carbonate vein cutting shatter-cone lineation. Image credit: Kirkland et al., doi: 10.1130/G54866.1.

Australia’s North Pole Dome Crater is Earth’s Oldest and Only Known Archean Impact Structure

Jun 25, 2026 by Natali Anderson

Zircon crystals and impact-altered minerals show that a massive asteroid slammed into what is now the Pilbara region of Western Australia about 3 billion...

The asteroid Donaldjohanson is composed of two heavily cratered lobes, connected by a smoother neck, with overall dimensions 8.8 km by 4.4 km by 3.1 km. Image credit: NASA / Goddard / SwRI / Dan Gallagher.

Asteroid Donaldjohanson is Wobbly, Peanut-Shaped Object with Watery Past, Scientists Say

Jun 22, 2026 by News Staff

The main-belt asteroid Donaldjohanson, a heavily cratered fragment born from a catastrophic breakup 155 million years ago, appears to wobble through space...

This artist’s impression shows radar waves from NASA’s Goldstone Solar System Radar pinging Europa; the radar waves penetrate Europa’s icy surface before bouncing back to be collected by NSF’s Green Bank Telescope on Earth. Image credit: NSF / AUI / NSF’s NRAO / P.Vosteen.

Radar Observations Reveal New Clues about Europa’s Hidden Interior

Jun 17, 2026 by News Staff

Using NASA’s Goldstone Solar System Radar and NSF’s Green Bank Telescope, astronomers from the University of California, Los Angeles, confirmed that...

XRF map of 7.53 g slice of NWA 12593: calcium (Ca) and iron (Fe) illustrate the location and diversity of clasts; sulfur (S) highlights the location of cracks and terrestrial weathering. Image credit: Crow et al., doi: 10.1130/G54386.1.

Lunar Meteorite Preserves Evidence of Colossal Asteroid Strike

Jun 10, 2026 by News Staff

Planetary scientists analyzing a lunar meteorite known as Northwest Africa (NWA) 12593 have uncovered evidence of an asteroid impact that occurred 3.5...

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.

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

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...

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...

© 2011-2026. Sci.News. All Rights Reserved. | Back to top