Space Exploration News

Haze Layers are Responsible for Different Blue Hues of Neptune and Uranus, Scientists Say

This diagram shows three layers of aerosols in the atmospheres of Uranus and Neptune. The height scale on the diagram represents the pressure above 10 bar. The deepest layer (Aerosol-1 layer) is thick and composed of a mixture of hydrogen sulfide ice and particles produced by the interaction of the planets’ atmospheres with sunlight. The key layer that affects the colors is the middle layer, which is a layer of haze particles (Aerosol-2 layer) that is thicker on Uranus than on Neptune. Irwin et al. suspect that, on both planets, methane ice condenses onto the particles in this layer, pulling the particles deeper into the atmosphere in a shower of methane snow. Because Neptune has a more active, turbulent atmosphere than Uranus does, the team believes Neptune’s atmosphere is more efficient at churning up methane particles into the haze layer and producing this snow. This removes more of the haze and keeps Neptune’s haze layer thinner than it is on Uranus, meaning the blue color of Neptune looks stronger. Above both of these layers is an extended layer of haze (Aerosol-3 layer) similar to the layer below it but more tenuous. On Neptune, large methane ice particles also form above this layer. Image credit: Gemini Observatory / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / J. da Silva / NASA / JPL-Caltech / B. Jónsson.
Jun 1, 2022 by News Staff

An international team of planetary researchers led by University of Oxford scientists has performed an analysis of visible/near-infrared observations of Uranus and Neptune made by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, NASA’s Infrared Telescope Facility (ITF), and the Gemini North telescope. This picture of Neptune was produced from the last whole planet images taken through the green and orange filters on the narrow angle camera of NASA’s Voyager...

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This image was taken by Mastcam onboard NASA’s Curiosity rover on Sol 3466 (May 7, 2022 at 07:58:16 UTC). Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS.

Did Curiosity Rover Find ‘Doorway’ on Mars?

May 30, 2022 by The Conversation

On May 7, 2022, the Mast camera (Mastcam) onboard NASA’s Curiosity rover took a photo which appeared to show a doorway carved into the Martian rock. This...

Billions of years ago, a river flowed across the Mawrth Vallis valley on Mars. Image credit: NASA / JPL Caltech / University of Arizona.

New Research Sheds Light on Cause of Mars’ Transition from Wet to Dry

May 27, 2022 by News Staff

Early Mars had rivers, but the cause of the transition from a wet planet to dry remains unknown. Past Martian climate can be probed using the distribution...

This illustration shows NASA’s Lucy spacecraft passing one of the Trojan asteroids near Jupiter. Image credit: Southwest Research Institute.

Lucy Observes Total Lunar Eclipse from 100 Million Kilometers Away

May 24, 2022 by News Staff

NASA’s Lucy spacecraft successfully observed the May 15-16, 2022 total lunar eclipse from a unique vantage point, 100 million km (64 million miles) from...

An artist’s impression of the early Solar System as the Solar Nebula begins to disappear, causing asteroids to accelerate and collide. Image credit: Tobias Stierli / Flaeck.

Early Inner Solar System was Very Chaotic, Research Suggests

May 24, 2022 by News Staff

Planetary scientists from the ETH Zürich and elsewhere have determined palladium-silver (Pd-Ag) and platinum (Pt) isotope compositions of 13 iron meteorites...

Solar Orbiter Sends Back Spectacular Images of the Sun

May 20, 2022 by News Staff

On March 26, 2022, the ESA/NASA Solar Orbiter spacecraft made the first of its close perihelion passages. The spacecraft flew closer to the Sun than the...

InSight captured this image of one of its dust-covered solar panels on April 24, 2022. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

InSight is Gradually Losing Solar Power, NASA Says

May 18, 2022 by News Staff

By December 2022, NASA expects its InSight (Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport) lander to have become inoperative,...

A polished section of the Martian meteorite Miller Range (MIL) 03346: (A) photograph of the interior of MIL 03346,230; note the yellow tint in the left region of the sample, marked by dotted lines; mineral grains in the yellow-tinted region are heavily affected by aqueous alteration; (B) BSE image of the same section as in (A); light gray olivine grains, marked with arrows, are situated in the altered areas; the white boxes show locations for detailed images in (C) to (F); (C) BSE image of the upper left olivine grain, marked with a box in (B); iddingsite veins are cutting through a fractured olivine grain; augite grains and a fine-grained mesostasis (dark gray) containing titanomagnetite (bright, skeletal grains) are also shown in the figure; (D) photograph of the upper left olivine grain, same as in (C); iddingsite veins have a dark red color; (E) BSE image showing details of the upper right olivine grain; the grain is fractured and crosscut by iddingsite veins that are predominantly oriented east to west in the image; (F) photograph of the same grain as in (E), where the dark red iddingsite veins have been outlined. Image credit: Martell et al., doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abn3044.

1.3-Billion-Year-Old Martian Meteorite Had Limited Exposure to Water, Study Finds

May 13, 2022 by News Staff

Using neutron and X-ray tomography, a team of planetary researchers from Lund University and elsewhere examined a section of Miller Range (MIL) 03346,...

This image, taken with the Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) instrument onboard NOAA’s GOES-18 weather satellite, shows the western hemisphere of Earth. Image credit: NOAA.

NOAA’s GOES-18 Satellite Provides Beautiful Image of Earth

May 13, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

GOES-18 (also known as GOES-T) is a new next-generation weather satellite of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). This image, taken...

Arabidopsis thaliana in the lunar regolith. Image credit: Paul et al., doi: 10.1038/s42003-022-03334-8.

Plants Can Germinate and Grow in Lunar Soil: Study

May 12, 2022 by News Staff

Using samples brought back from NASA’s Apollo 11, 12, and 17 missions, University of Florida biologists showed that a model terrestrial plant, Arabidopsis...

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

InSight Records Most Powerful Marsquake Yet

May 11, 2022 by News Staff

On May 4, 2022, NASA’s InSight lander detected a magnitude 5 quake on Mars — the strongest ever detected on another planet. The largest previously...

These dark slope streaks resulted from dust avalanches in Acheron Fossae, Mars. The HiRISE camera aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured them on December 3, 2006. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / University of Arizona.

Planetary Scientists Crack Mystery of Martian Dust Avalanches

May 9, 2022 by News Staff

In the 2000s, planetary researchers spotted ghostly, blue-white morning frost on the Martian surface in visible light images from NASA’s Mars Odyssey...

Yao et al. propose a potentially available extraterrestrial photosynthesis pathway on the Moon, which will help us to achieve a zero-energy consumption extraterrestrial life support system. Image credit: Yao et al., doi: 10.1016/j.joule.2022.04.011.

Lunar Soil Contains Active Compounds that Can Convert Carbon Dioxide into Oxygen and Fuels

May 5, 2022 by News Staff

In light of significant efforts being taken toward manned deep space exploration, it is of high technological importance and scientific interest to develop...

Solar Orbiter Reveals Sun’s Surface in Unprecedented Detail

May 5, 2022 by News Staff

One of the new images, taken by the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI) aboard the ESA/NASA Solar Orbiter spacecraft on March 7, 2022, is the highest resolution...

This image, taken on July 19, 2021 by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on board ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft, shows part of Tantalus Fossae on Mars. Image credit: ESA / DLR / FU Berlin / CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.

Mars Express Focuses on Tantalus Fossae

May 5, 2022 by News Staff

A new image from ESA’s Mars Express shows a network of long grooves and scratches in Tantalus Fossae, a large fault system in the Arcadia quadrangle...

This image, taken on December 17, 2012 by ESA’s Mars Express, shows the icy cap that covers Mars’ south pole, composed of frozen water and carbon dioxide. Image credit: ESA / DLR / FU Berlin / Bill Dunford.

Martian Deposits of Carbon Dioxide Ice Flow as Glaciers: Study

May 3, 2022 by News Staff

Carbon dioxide ice is found in a stack of deposits at the south pole of Mars. These deposits are situated in basins, where they reach more than 1 km thick....

This image of the backshell and supersonic parachute of NASA’s Perseverance rover was captured by the agency’s Ingenuity helicopter during its 26th flight on Mars on April 19, 2022. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Ingenuity Spots Perseverance Rover’s Landing Equipment on Mars

Apr 29, 2022 by News Staff

On April 19, 2022, NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter recently surveyed both the parachute that helped the Perseverance rover land on Mars and the cone-shaped...

Schematic view of the propagation of seismic waves in the Martian crust and seismic conversions at the base of the discontinuity, at a depth of 10 km (6.2 miles). Image credit: IPGP.

NASA’s InSight Mission Detects Two Far-Side Marsquakes

Apr 27, 2022 by News Staff

In 2021, the Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS) — the seismometer placed on the surface of Mars by NASA’s Interior Exploration using...

Conceptual image of meteoroids delivering nucleobases to ancient Earth. The nucleobases are represented by structural diagrams with hydrogen atoms as white spheres, carbon as black, nitrogen as blue and oxygen as red. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / CI Lab / Dan Gallagher.

Key Components of DNA and RNA Found in Three Meteorites

Apr 26, 2022 by News Staff

Using state-of-the-art analytical techniques, researchers have detected diverse suites of nucleobases — including canonical base pairs (e.g., adenine-uracil,...

This view of Titan is among the last images NASA’s Cassini spacecraft sent to Earth before it plunged into the giant planet’s atmosphere. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

Planetary Researchers Model Landscape Formation on Saturn’s Moon Titan

Apr 25, 2022 by News Staff

Alongside Earth and Mars, Titan is the third planetary body in the Solar System to show evidence for widespread and diverse sedimentary environments, including...

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