Planetary Science News

Changes in Our Planet’s Orbit May Have Allowed Life to Survive during ‘Snowball Earth’ Glaciations

An artist’s impression of a ‘Snowball Earth.’ Image credit: NASA.
Jul 8, 2021 by News Staff

A team of researchers led by Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Professor Ross Mitchell has studied a succession of rocks laid down when most of Earth’s surface was covered in ice during severe ‘snowball Earth’ glaciations, about 720 to 635 million years ago (Cryogenian period). An artist’s impression of a ‘snowball Earth.’ Image credit: NASA. Professor Mitchell and colleagues ventured into the South Australian outback where they targeted...

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Enceladus’ tiger stripes are known to be spewing ice from the moon’s icy interior into space, creating a cloud of fine ice particles over the moon’s south pole and creating Saturn’s mysterious E-ring. Evidence for this has come from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft that orbited Saturn from 2004 to 2017. Pictured here, a high resolution image of Enceladus is shown from a close flyby. Tiger stripes are visible in false-color blue. Image credit: NASA / ESA / JPL / SSI / Cassini Imaging Team.

New Modeling Study Points toward Biological Origin of Enceladus’ Methane

Jul 7, 2021 by News Staff

Observations from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft established that Enceladus, the sixth-largest of Saturn’s moons, has a global subsurface ocean. An analysis...

Hubble’s image of the Orion Nebula with proplyd highlights. Image credit: NASA / ESA / M. Robberto, Space Telescope Science Institute & ESA / Hubble Space Telescope Orion Treasury Project Team / L. Ricci, ESO.

Massive Stars near Solar System’s Parent Molecular Cloud Affected Composition of Its Building Blocks

Jul 6, 2021 by News Staff

In 2011, planetary researchers using samples of the solar wind collected by NASA’s Genesis spacecraft found that solar system planetary bodies have a...

Proximity to Sun’s Magnetic Field Determines Composition of Rocky Planets, Study Says

Jul 2, 2021 by News Staff

Terrestrial planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars) are differentiated into three layers: a metallic core, a silicate shell (mantle and crust), and a...

Mosaic of the Valles Marineris hemisphere of Mars projected into point perspective, a view similar to that which one would see from a spacecraft. The distance is 1,550 miles (2,500 km) from the surface of the planet. The mosaic is composed of 102 Viking Orbiter images of Mars. The center of the scene shows the entire Valles Marineris canyon system, over 1,240 miles (2,000 km) long and up to 5 miles (8 km) deep, extending form Noctis Labyrinthus, the arcuate system of graben to the west, to the chaotic terrain to the east. Many huge ancient river channels begin from the chaotic terrain from north-central canyons and run north. The three Tharsis volcanoes (dark red spots), each about 15.5 miles (25 km) high, are visible to the west. South of Valles Marineris is very ancient terrain covered by many impact craters. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Curiosity Sheds New Light on Martian Methane Mystery

Jul 1, 2021 by News Staff

The Tunable Laser Spectrometer (TLS) in the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) chemistry lab onboard NASA’s Curiosity rover has detected atmospheric methane...

PAH molecules overlaid on the Taurus Molecular Cloud, a large blue-white cloud made of gas and dust with large and small stars of varying luminosities interspersed throughout. Aromatic molecule structures shown in order from left to right: 1-cyanonaphthalene, 1-cyano-cyclopentadiene, HC11N, 2-cyanonaphthalene, vinylcyanoacetylene, 2-cyano-cyclopentadiene, benzonitrile, E-cyanovinylacetylene, HC4NC, propargylcyanide. Image credit: M. Weiss / Harvard & Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

Meteoritic Polymers of Glycine Shed Light on Pre-Solar Space Chemistry

Jun 30, 2021 by News Staff

Asteroid material in chondritic Vigarano class alteration type 3 (CV3) meteorites provide a good record of complex chemistry present when or before our...

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

Clouds of Venus Too Dry to Sustain Even Extremophile Life Forms, Study Says

Jun 29, 2021 by News Staff

The recent suggestion of phosphine gas in the atmosphere of Venus has regenerated interest in the idea of life in clouds; however, such analyses usually...

The largest crustal block Byrne et al. identified in the Venus lowlands: (A) Magellan radar image mosaic of the block; named landforms are shown; the black and white arrows mark impact craters and prominent lava flows, respectively; the approximate outline of the campus is marked by a dashed yellow line; (B) radar image (left) and structural sketch (right) of extensional faults curving into the main groove belt that delineates the southwestern margin of this campus, here with a right-lateral sense of slip; (C) sigmoidal, positive-relief landforms we interpret as right-lateral transpressive structures; (D) another example of sigmoidal, positive-relief ridges we regard as denoting right-lateral transpression, with a different strike from those structures in (C); in these and subsequent structural sketches, prominent extensional structures are in purple (with ball-and-bar symbols shown on example down-thrown blocks), and prominent shortening structures are in teal (with sawtooth symbols on example upper blocks); minor and/or poorly expressed fractures of various types are shown as thin, black lines; wrinkle ridges are generally not recorded; exemplar extensional and shortening landforms are marked with gold and red arrows, respectively; the radar look direction is from the left in (A), and from the right in (B-D). All images are in azimuthal equidistant projection, centered at 24.5°S, 146.5°E (A); 20.0°S, 138.3°E (B); 27.2°S, 141.1°E (C); and 18.0°S, 145.0°E (D). Image credit: Byrne et al., doi: 10.1073/pnas.2025919118.

Planetary Scientists Find Evidence for Crustal Block Tectonics on Venus

Jun 22, 2021 by News Staff

Using data collected by the synthetic aperture radar on NASA’s Magellan spacecraft, a team of planetary researchers has identified a pattern of tectonic...

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.

NASA’s Juno Orbiter Completes Close Flyby of Ganymede

Jun 9, 2021 by News Staff

Juno’s June 7, 2021 flyby of Ganymede is the closest a spacecraft has come to Jupiter’s largest moon since NASA’s Galileo spacecraft made its close...

This artist’s concept shows NASA’s VERITAS spacecraft using its radar to produce high-resolution maps of Venus’ topographic and geologic features. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

NASA Selects Two New Missions to Venus

Jun 3, 2021 by News Staff

NASA has selected two new Discovery Program missions — the Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging (DAVINCI+)...

Curiosity captured these clouds just after sunset on March 19, 2021, the 3,063rd Martian day, or sol, of the rover’s mission. The image is made up of 21 individual images stitched together and color corrected so that the scene appears as it would to the human eye. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS.

Curiosity Spots Carbon Dioxide-Ice Clouds in Martian Skies

May 28, 2021 by News Staff

In March 2021, NASA’s Curiosity rover observed clouds made of carbon dioxide (CO2) ice at high altitudes in the atmosphere of Mars. Curiosity captured...

An artist’s impression of the ultra-short-period sub-Neptune exoplanet TOI-1634b. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Helium Rain is Possible inside Jovian Planets, New Experiments Suggest

May 27, 2021 by News Staff

Jupiter, Saturn and numerous giant exoplanets discovered to date consist mostly of hydrogen and helium. In 1977, planetary scientists predicted the existence...

The surface of Europa looms large in this newly-reprocessed color view; image scale is 1.6 km per pixel; north on Europa is at right. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SETI Institute.

Europa Has Volcanoes on the Floor of Its Subsurface Ocean, Study Suggests

May 26, 2021 by News Staff

Jupiter’s moon Europa harbors underneath a tectonically modified ice shell a salty ocean in direct contact with its rocky interior. Such an oceanic environment...

Mars is kept company by two cratered moons -- an inner moon named Phobos and an outer moon named Deimos. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Malin Space Science Systems / Texas A&M University.

Phobos and Deimos are Fragments of Larger Martian Moon, Study Suggests

May 19, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

Phobos and Deimos, two satellites of Mars, originated from disintegration of a much larger moon between 1 and 2.7 billion years ago, according to new computer...

Perseverance used its dual-camera Mastcam-Z imager to capture this (enhanced) image of Santa Cruz, a hill within Jezero Crater, on April 29, 2021, the 68th Martian day of the mission. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / ASU / MSSS.

Perseverance Begins to Study Floor of Jezero Crater

May 13, 2021 by News Staff

NASA’s Perseverance rover is focusing its science instruments on rocks that lay on the floor of Jezero Crater, which is located on the western edge of...

This image of the near-Earth asteroid Bennu was captured on April 9, 2021, by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft. Image credit: NASA / NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / University of Arizona.

OSIRIS-REx Is On Its Way Back to Earth with Sample of Asteroid Bennu’s Regolith

May 12, 2021 by News Staff

On May 10, 2021, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft fired its main engines full throttle for seven minutes; this burn thrust the spacecraft away from the asteroid...

Horvath et al. found strong evidence for geologically recent volcanic activity in Elysium Planitia, Mars. Image credit: NASA / JPL / MSSS / Murray Lab.

Mars Could Still Be Volcanically Active, Planetary Scientists Say

May 11, 2021 by News Staff

Volcanic activity on Mars peaked during the Noachian and Hesperian periods, between 3 and 4 billion years ago, with smaller eruptions in isolated locations...

NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter was captured after landing on May 7, 2021, by the Mastcam-Z imager aboard the Perseverance rover. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / ASU / MSSS.

Ingenuity Completes Its Fifth Flight on Mars

May 10, 2021 by News Staff

On May 7, 2021, NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter successfully completed its fifth flight with one-way journey from the ‘Wright Brothers Field’ to a new...

NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter (above center to the right) is viewed by one of the hazard cameras aboard the Perseverance rover during the helicopter’s fourth flight on April 30, 2021. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Listen to NASA’s Ingenuity Helicopter in Flight

May 7, 2021 by News Staff

NASA’s Perseverance rover used a microphone on its SuperCam laser instrument to listen as the Ingenuity helicopter flew for the fourth time on April...

Saturn’s interior with a stably stratified helium insoluble layer (HIL). Image credit: Yi Zheng, HEMI / MICA Extreme Arts Program.

Helium Rain Layer Influences Unique Magnetic Field of Saturn, Study Suggests

May 6, 2021 by News Staff

Detailed measurements from the Grand Finale phase of NASA’s Cassini mission revealed distinctive features of Saturn’s magnetic field. These features...

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