Space Exploration News

This image shows an artist’s impression of what nightglow might look like to an astronaut in the polar winter regions of Mars at night. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech /Cornell University / Arizona State University / E.W. Knutsen.

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

Nov 13, 2023 by News Staff

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...

This illustration depicts findings that Jupiter’s atmospheric winds penetrate the planet in a cylindrical manner and parallel to its spin axis. The most dominant jet recorded by NASA’s Juno is shown in the cutout: the jet is at 21 degrees north latitude at cloud level, but 3,000 km below that, it’s at 13 degrees north latitude. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SSI / SWRI / MSSS / ASI / INAF / JIRAM / Björn Jónsson / CC BY 3.0.

Atmospheric Winds Penetrate Jupiter in Cylindrical Manner, Planetary Researchers Say

Nov 9, 2023 by News Staff

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...

Venus in real colors, processed from Mariner 10 images. Image credit: Mattias Malmer / NASA.

Astronomers Directly Detect Atomic Oxygen on Venus

Nov 8, 2023 by News Staff

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...

This image, captured by the Lucy Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager (L’LORRI) onboard NASA’s Lucy spacecraft, shows the main-belt asteroid Dinkinesh and its moonlet. This image was taken at 12:55 p.m. EDT (16:55 UTC) on November 1, 2023, within a minute of closest approach, from a range of approximately 430 km (270 miles). Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / SwRI / Johns Hopkins APL / NOIRLab.

Lucy Shows Its Flyby Target Dinkinesh is Actually Binary Asteroid

Nov 4, 2023 by News Staff

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

Yuan et al. suggest that LLVPs are remnants of the ancient protoplanet Theia that violently collided with Earth billions of years ago in the same giant impact that created our Moon. Image credit: Hernán Cañellas.

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

Nov 1, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

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...

This image of Ganymede was obtained by the JunoCam imager aboard NASA’s Juno spacecraft during its June 7, 2021, flyby of the icy moon. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS.

Juno Detects Various Salts and Organic Compounds on Ganymede

Nov 1, 2023 by News Staff

Using data from the Jovian InfraRed Auroral Mapper (JIRAM) aboard NASA’s Juno spacecraft, planetary scientists have detected hydrated sodium chloride,...

This composite image, taken by JAXA’s Akatsuki spacecraft, shows Venus. Image credit: JAXA / ISAS / DARTS / Damia Bouic.

Venus May Have Once Had Earth-Like Plate Tectonics

Oct 26, 2023 by News Staff

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...

An artist’s depiction of a liquid silicate layer wrapped around the Martian core. Image credit: IPGP-CNES.

InSight Finds Evidence for Molten Silicate Layer above Martian Metallic Core

Oct 25, 2023 by News Staff

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...

Bench-and-slope morphology pictured on Mars (top) and nose morphology from the ground at Mars Mont Mercou outcrop (bottom). Image credit: NASA / Caltech-JPL / MSSS.

Ancient Mars was Planet of Rivers, Planetary Scientists Say

Oct 25, 2023 by News Staff

Ancient river deposits exist across Mars and can be identified in satellite data by erosional landforms called fluvial ridges. Fluvial ridges take the...

Greer et al. analyzed tiny zircon crystals inside lunar dust collected in 1972 by Apollo 17 astronauts. Image credit: Eugene A. Cernan / Eric Hartwell.

Moon is Nearly 40 Million Years Older than Previously Thought

Oct 24, 2023 by News Staff

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

An artist’s impression of the InSight lander on Mars. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

InSight’s Largest Marsquake Was Likely Caused by Geological Processes, Study Says

Oct 18, 2023 by News Staff

During its time on Mars, NASA’s InSight (Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport) lander recorded over 1,300 seismic...

This false-color image shows the dwarf planet Ceres. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA.

Planetary Researchers Probe Origin of Complex Organics on Ceres

Oct 17, 2023 by News Staff

How aliphatic organic compounds originated on the dwarf planet Ceres has been the subject of intensive research since their discovery by NASA’s Dawn...

The Paleolithic settlement at Abu Hureyra in what is now Syria may have been destroyed 12,800 years ago because of a comet. Image credit: Jennifer Rice, Comet Research Group.

Comet Airburst Initiated Transition to Agriculture 12,800 Years Ago, Scientists Say

Oct 16, 2023 by News Staff

Around 12,800 years ago, Earth collided with fragments of a disintegrating comet, triggering Younger Dryas climate change; this event created environmental...

A view of the outside of the OSIRIS-REx sample collector. Sample material from asteroid Bennu can be seen on the middle right. Image credit: NASA / Erika Blumenfeld / Joseph Aebersold.

Sample Material from Asteroid Bennu Contains Carbon and Water, NASA Scientists Say

Oct 11, 2023 by News Staff

The sample was collected by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification and Security, Regolith Explorer) spacecraft...

Space weather from the Sun, such as coronal mass ejections, disturbs Earth’s magnetic field, causing the aurorae and potentially decreasing the magnetic field’s reliability for migrating birds. Image credit: John Megahan.

Severe Space Weather Events Disrupt Nocturnal Bird Migrations, Researchers Find

Oct 11, 2023 by News Staff

Earth’s magnetic field is occasionally but regularly impacted by bursts of energy from the Sun (space weather), such as coronal mass ejections. Birds...

An artist’s illustration of a solar storm. Image credit: NASA.

Extreme Solar Storm Hit Our Planet 14,300 Years Ago, Subfossil Tree-Rings Show

Oct 9, 2023 by News Staff

In new research, scientists from the University of Leeds and elsewhere measured radiocarbon levels in ancient trees preserved within the eroded banks of...

New Horizons mosaics of Arrokoth (left) and the same observations overlain with geologic mapping (right). Image credit: Stern et al., doi: 10.3847/PSJ/acf317.

Kuiper Belt Object Arrokoth’s Large Mounds Have Common Origin, New Study Suggests

Oct 3, 2023 by News Staff

The 5-km-long mounds that dominate the appearance of the larger lobe of Kuiper Belt object (486958) Arrokoth are similar enough to suggest a common origin,...

Hubble observed Saturn on June 20, 2019 as the planet made its closest approach to Earth this year, at approximately 808 million miles away. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / A. Simon, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / M.H. Wong, University of California, Berkeley / OPAL Team.

Saturn’s Rings May Have Formed Following Massive Collision between Two Moons, Scientists Say

Oct 3, 2023 by News Staff

Saturn’s rings could have evolved from the debris of two progenitor icy moons that collided and shattered a few hundred million years ago; debris that...

An artist’s impression of the Gliese 414 system. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Novel AI Technique Reveals Sample’s Biological or Non-Biological Origin with 90% Accuracy

Sep 26, 2023 by News Staff

The search for definitive biosignatures — unambiguous markers of past or present life — is a central goal of paleobiology and astrobiology....