Planetary Science News

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...

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....

Webb identified carbon dioxide on the icy surface of Europa that likely originated in the moon’s subsurface ocean. Image credit: Geronimo Villanueva, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / Samantha Trumbo, Cornell University / NASA / ESA / CSA / Alyssa Pagan, STScI.

Europa’s Carbon Dioxide Originates from Source within Its Subsurface Ocean, Planetary Scientists Say

Sep 22, 2023 by News Staff

Jupiter’s icy moon Europa has an ocean beneath a crust of water ice. Solid carbon dioxide has previously been observed on the surface, but the source...

If the Moon has enough water, and if it’s reasonably convenient to access, future explorers might be able to use it as drinking water or to convert it into hydrogen and oxygen for rocket fuel or oxygen to breathe. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

High-Energy Electrons from Earth’s Plasma Sheet May Be Forming Water on Lunar Surface

Sep 18, 2023 by News Staff

Planetary scientists from the University of Hawaii and elsewhere suggest that although they have confirmed the importance of the solar wind as a major...

A fragment of the Erg Chech 002 meteorite. Image credit: Steve Jurvetson / CC BY 2.0.

4.6-Billion-Year-Old Meteorite Provides New Insights into Early Solar Nebula

Aug 29, 2023 by News Staff

Scientists have determined a precise lead isotopic age of the andesitic achondrite meteorite Erg Chech 002. Their result, combined with published aluminum-26-magnesium-26...

This oblique perspective view of Lycus Sulci and Yelwa Crater on Mars was generated from the digital terrain model and the nadir and color channels of the High Resolution Stereo Camera on ESA’s Mars Express. It shows the large 8-km-wide Yelwa Crater in the background, while the wrinkled terrain of Lycus Sulci dominates the foreground. These features lie on the edge of the ‘aureole’ of Olympus Mons. Image credit: ESA / DLR / FU Berlin / CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.

ESA’s Mars Express Focuses on Surroundings of Olympus Mons Volcano

Aug 24, 2023 by News Staff

Lava flows on Olympus Mons probably melted ice in the ground, making the volcano flank unstable; rockfalls and landslides moved hundreds of km into the...

Polygonal ridges on Mars: (a) general view of bedrock surrounding the rover on sols 3,154 to 3,156 showing widespread polygonal ridges; (b) close-up showing ‘stepped’ exposure of polygons within large bedrock blocks; (c) view of bedrock with polygons and locations of ChemCam analysis on ridge (red rectangle) and APXS analysis on smooth host bedrock (dotted circle); (d) remote micro-image of cemented ridge with spots analyzed by ChemCam (reticles 1 to 5), highlighting details of nodular texture; (e, f) bedrock with polygonal pattern (e) and interpretative overlay (f) that shows prominent ridges (solid red lines), less certain ridges (dotted red lines) and cross-cutting later-stage Ca-sulfate-filled veins (white areas). Image credit: Rapin et al., doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-06220-3.

Early Mars Had a Sustained, Cyclic, Possibly Seasonal, Climate

Aug 10, 2023 by News Staff

New observations of mud cracks made by NASA’s Curiosity rover show that high-frequency, wet-dry cycling occurred in early Martian surface environments,...

Mars is Spinning Faster, Planetary Researchers Say

Aug 9, 2023 by News Staff

To track the Red Planet’s spin rate, planetary scientists relied on the Rotation and Interior Structure Experiment (RISE) onboard NASA’s InSight lander....

A spectroscopic map of Ganymede derived from Webb measurements shows light absorption around the poles characteristic of hydrogen peroxide; the circle outlines the surfaces of the moon. Image credit: Samantha Trumbo, Cornell University.

Webb Detects Hydrogen Peroxide on Ganymede

Jul 30, 2023 by News Staff

Jupiter’s moon Ganymede is the only satellite in the Solar System known to have an intrinsic magnetic field. Interactions between this field and the...

Marchi et al. compared the early impact history of Venus and Earth, determining that Venus experienced higher-energy impacts creating a superheated core. Image credit: Southwest Research Institute.

Early, Energetic Collisions Could Have Fueled Venus Volcanism: Study

Jul 20, 2023 by News Staff

New research shows that long-lived volcanism, driven by early, energetic collisions on Venus, offers an explanation of its young surface age with stagnant-lid...

An artist’s representation of BepiColombo flying through precipitating electrons that can trigger X-ray auroras on the surface of Mercury. Image credit: Thibaut Roger / Europlanet.

Auroral Mechanisms May Be Universal throughout Our Solar System

Jul 18, 2023 by News Staff

An analysis of data obtained during the ESA/JAXA BepiColombo spacecraft’s first Mercury flyby reveals that Mercury’s southern magnetosphere aurorae...

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

Perseverance Finds Diverse Organic Molecules in Jezero Crater

Jul 12, 2023 by News Staff

The Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman and Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals (SHERLOC) instrument onboard NASA’s Perseverance rover has...