Planetary Science News

This mosaic (upper right) shows a close-up view of the rock target named ‘Yeehgo’ from the SuperCam instrument on NASA’s Perseverance rover on Mars. The component images were taken by SuperCam’s Remote Micro-Imager (RMI) on March 7, 2021. To be compatible with the rover’s software, ‘Yeehgo’ is an alternative spelling of ‘Yéigo,’ the Navajo word for diligent. The target is 3.325 m (10.9 feet) from the rover. Each of the two images in the mosaic shows a field of view 6.2 cm (2.5 inches) in diameter. Perseverance’s Navigation Cameras (Nav Cam) and Mastcam-Z instrument also took images of that area at the same time to provide multiple views of the rock target. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / LANL / CNES / CNRS / ASU / MSSS.

Perseverance Records Sound of Its Rock-Zapping Laser Instrument

Mar 12, 2021 by News Staff

Early data from the SuperCam instrument aboard NASA’s Perseverance rover — including the first audio of laser zaps on another planet — are...

This photo shows the zodiacal light as it appeared on March 1, 2021, in Skull Valley, Utah, the United States; the Pleiades star cluster is visible near the top of the light column; Mars is just below that. Image credit: Bill Dunford / NASA.

Martian Storms May Be Responsible for Interplanetary Dust behind Zodiacal Light

Mar 10, 2021 by News Staff

The zodiacal light is sunlight reflected by interplanetary dust in the inner Solar System. Variations in the zodiacal light with ecliptic latitude reveal...

A fragment of the Winchcombe meteorite. Image credit: Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London.

Rare Type of Meteorite Found in United Kingdom

Mar 9, 2021 by News Staff

Almost 300 g of the so-called Winchcombe meteorite, a space rock that fell from the fireball that lit up the sky over the United Kingdom and Northern Europe...

This image was captured while Perseverance drove on Mars for the first time on March 4, 2021. One of Perseverance’s Hazard Avoidance Cameras (Hazcams) captured this image as the rover completed a short traverse and turn from its landing site in Jezero Crater. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Perseverance Successfully Performs Its First Drive on Mars

Mar 8, 2021 by News Staff

On March 4, 2021, NASA’s Perseverance rover covered 6.5 m (21.3 feet) across the Martian landscape. This image was captured while Perseverance drove...

The S-type asteroid Itokawa. Image credit: JAXA.

Researchers Find Organic Matter and Water in Sample from Asteroid Itokawa

Mar 5, 2021 by News Staff

An international team of scientists has studied both the water and organic contents from a dust particle recovered from the surface of the near-Earth S-type...

Researchers Observe ‘Space Hurricane’ in Earth’s Ionosphere

Mar 2, 2021 by News Staff

Hurricanes in the Earth’s low atmosphere are well known; however, disturbances resembling hurricanes had never before been detected in the upper atmosphere. An...

Part of the first 360-degree panorama taken by the Mastcam-Z instrument aboard NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS / ASU.

Perseverance Snaps 360-Degree Panorama of Mars

Feb 25, 2021 by News Staff

The 360-degree panorama (high-resolution .tif image) was created from 142 individual images taken on February 21, 2021 (Sol 3) using Mastcam-Z, a mast-mounted...

An artist’s impression of a water-world exoplanet. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Aquatic Planets are Common in Our Milky Way Galaxy, Study Suggests

Feb 23, 2021 by News Staff

In a study published in the journal Science Advances, a team of European astronomers shows that water can be delivered to a terrestrial planet in the form...

Perseverance’s Navcams captured this view of the rover’s deck on February 20, 2021. This view provides a good look at PIXL (the Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry), one of the instruments on the rover’s stowed arm. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Perseverance Team Releases New Images, Video of Rover’s Landing

Feb 22, 2021 by News Staff

NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance mission captured footage of its rover landing in Jezero Crater on February 18, 2021. The footage was captured by several...

This is the first high-resolution, color image to be sent back by the Hazard Cameras (Hazcams) on the underside of NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover after its landing on February 18, 2021. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Perseverance Sends Back Its First Color Photos, Status Reports from Mars

Feb 22, 2021 by News Staff

Mission controllers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory have received new images from the Perseverance rover as well as health reports from both the...

Perseverance’s first image (colorized) from Jezero Crater, Mars. Image credit: NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

NASA’s Perseverance Rover Successfully Lands on Mars

Feb 19, 2021 by News Staff

After a 203-day journey, NASA’s car-sized Perseverance rover successfully landed in Jezero Crater on Mars on February 18, 2021. Confirmation of the successful...

This illustration shows NASA’s Mars 2020 spacecraft carrying the Perseverance rover as it approaches Mars. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

NASA’s Perseverance Rover to Land on Mars Today: Watch Live

Feb 18, 2021 by News Staff

NASA’s Perseverance rover, with the Ingenuity helicopter attached to its belly, is on target to touch down gently in Jezero Crater on Mars around 3:55...

Artist’s impression depicting the separation of the Schiaparelli module from the Trace Gas Orbiter, and heading for Mars. Image credit: D. Ducros / ESA.

Trace Gas Orbiter Detects Hydrogen Chloride Gas in Atmosphere of Mars

Feb 17, 2021 by News Staff

The source of hydrogen chloride (HCl) in the atmosphere of Mars is recent surface volcanism, subsurface magmatic activity, or aerosol chemistry occurring...

HiRISE camera view of Krupac crater on Mars featuring gullies along the rim and recurring slope lineae lower down the crater wall. Image credit: NASA / JPL / University of Arizona.

New Research Reveals What Causes Landslides on Mars

Feb 4, 2021 by News Staff

On Mars, seasonal features known as recurring slope lineae (RSL) are prevalent on Sun-facing slopes. Previous studies have suggested RSL are related to...

The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured this image of the larger of Mars’ two moons, Phobos, on March 23, 2008. The image was taken from a distance of about 6,800 km (about 4,200 miles). It is presented in color by combining data from the camera’s blue-green, red, and near-infrared channels. The illuminated part of Phobos seen in the image is about 21 km (13 miles) across. The most prominent feature is the large crater Stickney in the lower right. With a diameter of 9 km (5.6 miles), it is the largest feature on Phobos. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / University of Arizona.

Phobos May Contain Atmospheric Atoms from Ancient Mars

Feb 3, 2021 by News Staff

Martian atmospheric oxygen, carbon, nitrogen and argon ions have been escaping Mars for billions of years and could be preserved inside the uppermost hundreds...

An artistic rendering of Kraken Mare, a large liquid methane sea on Titan. Image credit: NASA’s John Glenn Research Center.

Titan’s Largest Methane Sea is Over 100 Meters Deep

Jan 21, 2021 by News Staff

Kraken Mare, a sea of liquid methane on Saturn’s moon Titan, is at least 100-m (330 feet) deep near its center, according to an analysis of data collected...

Hayabusa-2 image of the asteroid Ryugu as seen from a distance of 3.7 miles. A particularly large crater is visible near the center of the image. Image credit: JAXA / University of Tokyo / Kochi University / Rikkyo University / Nagoya University / Chiba Institute of Technology / Meiji University / University of Aizu / AIST.

Hayabusa-2 Reveals New Details about Asteroid Ryugu

Jan 6, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

The ancient parent body of the near-Earth ‘rubble pile’ asteroid Ryugu had likely dried out in some kind of heating event before the asteroid came...

Perspective view of chaotic terrain in Pyrrhae Regio, Mars. Image credit: ESA / DLR / FU Berlin / CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.

Mars Express Spots Chaotic Terrain near Valles Marineris

Dec 31, 2020 by News Staff

The High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) onboard ESA’s Mars Express orbiter has imaged a fascinating landscape near the major canyon system of Valles...

Hamilton et al. studied the composition of Almahata Sitta 202 to determine that it likely originated from a previously unknown parent asteroid. Image credit: Hamilton et al., doi: 10.1038/s41550-020-01274-z.

Almahata Sitta Meteorites Came from Ceres-Sized Asteroid, Study Shows

Dec 28, 2020 by News Staff

The parent body of the Almahata Sitta meteorites — space rocks that rained down on the Nubian Desert in Sudan in 2008 — is a 640 to 1,800 km-wide...