Planetary Science News

Scientists Discover New Type of Sand Dune — on Mars

Two sizes of ripples are evident in this December 13, 2015, view of a top of a Martian sand dune, from Curiosity. Sand dunes and the smaller type of ripples also exist on Earth. The larger ripples -- roughly 10 feet (3 m) apart -- are a type not seen on our planet nor previously recognized as a distinct type on Mars. Scale bar - 2 m (79 inches). Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS.
Jul 1, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

A team of planetary scientists led by researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) has discovered a type of dune on Mars intermediate in size between decimeter-wavelength ripples and hundred-meter- to km-wavelength dunes, and unlike anything seen on our planet. Two sizes of ripples are evident in this December 13, 2015, view of a top of a Martian sand dune, from Curiosity. Sand dunes and the smaller type of ripples also exist on...

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Occator crater (center) appears to be among the youngest features on Ceres. Dawn mission scientists estimate its age to be about 78 million years old. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA.

Hydrothermal Activity May Explain Mysterious Bright Spots on Ceres

Jul 1, 2016 by News Staff

Anomalously bright areas on the dwarf planet Ceres have the highest concentration of sodium carbonate ever seen outside our planet, says a new study published...

A false-color image of the narrow opal rim surrounding a bright metallic mineral inclusion in the Antarctic meteorite EET 83309; the circular holes in this image are spots where laser analyses have been performed. Image credit: Hilary Downes et al.

Scientists Find Tiny Pieces of Opal in Meteorite

Jun 29, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

Small pieces of the mineral opal have been found within a brecciated ureilite meteorite from Antarctica. According to a team of scientists led by Prof....

An illustration of the layer of dark hydrogen the team’s lab mimicry indicates would be found beneath the surface of gas giants like Jupiter. Image credit: Stewart McWilliams.

Gas Giant Planets May Contain Layers of ‘Dark Hydrogen,’ Say Physicists

Jun 24, 2016 by News Staff

On the surface of giant gaseous planets, hydrogen is a gas. But between this gaseous layer and the liquid metal hydrogen in the planet’s core lies a...

This New Horizons image shows Pluto’s small moon Nix. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.

Pluto’s Small Moon Nix is Covered in Relatively Pure Water Ice

Jun 23, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

The latest data from NASA’s New Horizons probe reveal a water-ice signature on the surface of Nix, one of Pluto’s five known moons. This New Horizons...

This Pluto mosaic was made from New Horizons LORRI images taken on July 14, 2015, from a distance of 49,700 miles (80,000 km). This view is projected from a point 1,118 miles (1,800 km) above Pluto’s equator, looking northeast over the dark, cratered Cthulhu Regio toward the bright, smooth expanse of icy plains called Sputnik Planum. Pluto’s North Pole is off the image to the left. This mosaic was produced with panchromatic images from the New Horizons LORRI camera, with color overlaid from the Ralph color mapper onboard New Horizons. Image credit: S.A. Stern et al, doi: 10.1126/science.aad1815.

Pluto Likely Has a Hidden Liquid Ocean

Jun 21, 2016 by News Staff

When NASA’s New Horizons robotic spacecraft flew by Pluto in July 2015, it revealed clues that the enigmatic dwarf planet might have – or had at...

Strong ‘Electric Wind’ Can Strip Terrestrial Planets of Atmospheres, Oceans

Jun 21, 2016 by News Staff

Solar System’s planet Venus has an ‘electric wind’ strong enough to remove the components of water from its upper atmosphere. This action may have...

Researchers Discover New Type of Meteorite: Ost 65

Jun 16, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

A ‘fossil’ meteorite discovered in a limestone quarry in Sweden is unique and distinct from other known meteorites, according to a team of researchers...

Sputnik Planum basin: this scene, which is about 250 miles (400 km) across, uses data from New Horizons’ Ralph/MVIC instrument. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.

Irregular Polygons in Pluto’s Heart-Shaped Region Finally Explained

Jun 1, 2016 by News Staff

According to members of NASA’s New Horizons science team, the icy surface of Pluto’s Sputnik Planum basin is being constantly renewed by a process...

This image, produced with the High Resolution Stereo Camera on ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft, shows spiral features that were used in interpreting the climate signal of ice age advancement and retreat. Image credit: ESA / DLR / FU-Berlin / Ralf Jaumann.

Planetary Scientists Find Evidence for Recent Ice Age on Mars

May 26, 2016 by News Staff

Researchers using data from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have found evidence of an ice age recorded in the Red Planet’s polar caps. This image,...

Dr. Mandt and co-authors discovered two geologically young craters - one (right) 16 million, the other (left) between 75 and 420 million, years old - in the Moon’s darkest regions. Image credit: NASA GSFC / SwRI / ASU.

Researchers Find Two ‘Fresh’ Impact Craters near Moon’s South Pole

May 25, 2016 by News Staff

A team of researchers using data from the Lyman-Alpha Mapping Project (LAMP) instrument on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has detected two geologically...

This artist’s impression shows how Mars may have looked about 4 billion years ago. Image credit: M. Kornmesser / ESO.

Mega-Tsunamis Resurfaced Shorelines of Early Mars’ Ocean, Researchers Say

May 19, 2016 by News Staff

Massive meteorite impacts triggered two mega-tsunamis in the early Martian ocean 3.4 billion years ago, according to scientists writing in the journal...

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.

Subsurface Ocean on Jupiter’s Moon Europa May Have Earthlike Chemical Balance

May 18, 2016 by News Staff

A new study modeling conditions in Europa’s global liquid ocean suggests that the necessary balance of chemical energy for life could exist there. Europa....

SOFIA/GREAT spectrum of oxygen [OI] superimposed on an image of Mars from NASA’ MAVEN mission. The amount of atomic oxygen computed from SOFIA data is about half the amount expected. Image credit: NASA / DLR / USRA / DSI / MPIfR / GREAT Consortium / MPIfS / Rezac et al / MAVEN.

NASA’s SOFIA Observatory Detects Atomic Oxygen in Upper Atmosphere of Mars

May 10, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), the largest airborne observatory in the world, has detected atomic oxygen in the upper...

Topographic map of Mercury with labeled features. Image credit: NASA / U.S. Geological Survey / Arizona State University / Carnegie Institution of Washington / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.

Scientists Create Global Topographic Map of Mercury

May 9, 2016 by News Staff

A team of scientists from NASA, the U.S. Geological Survey, Arizona State University, Carnegie Institute of Washington and Johns Hopkins University Applied...

This image of an impact crater in the Sirenum Fossae region of Mars was taken by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on March 30, 2015. The crater is approximately 3,300 feet (1-km) wide and appears relatively recent as it has a sharp rim and well-preserved ejecta. The steep inner slopes are carved by gullies and include possible recurring slope lineae on the equator-facing slopes. Image credit: NASA / JPL / University of Arizona / Alfred McEwen.

Mars’ Recurring Slope Lineae May Be Formed by Boiling Water

May 3, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

Seasonal dark streaks on Mars — called recurring slope lineae by planetary researchers — could be the result of water boiling whilst flowing...

Artist’s impression of C/2014 S3 (PanSTARRS). The comet’s current long orbital period (approximately 860 years) suggests that its source is in the Oort Cloud -- a large region surrounding the Sun like a giant, thick soap bubble -- and it was nudged comparatively recently into an orbit that brings it closer to the Sun. Image credit: M. Kornmesser / ESO.

Unique Rocky Comet from Oort Cloud May Provide Clues about Origin of Solar System

Apr 29, 2016 by News Staff

Observations of a tailless comet called C/2014 S3 (PanSTARRS), made with ESO’s Very Large Telescope and the Canada France Hawaii Telescope, show that...

Cassini caught the sunlight glinting off Titan's seas and lakes filled with liquid methane or ethane. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / University of Arizona / University of Idaho.

NASA’s Cassini Orbiter Explores Titan’s Ligeia Mare

Apr 28, 2016 by News Staff

Ligeia Mare, one of the largest seas on Saturn’s moon Titan, consists of pure methane and likely has a seabed covered by a sludge of organic-rich material,...

Beagle-2 landing site: original image (upper panel) and SRR from 5 input images (lower). The bright object in the upper centre portion is shown in the next figure. Map co-ordinates come from NASA’s HiRISE camera and are not in a global reference system. Image credit: Yu Tao & Jan-Peter Muller, University College London.

Novel Super-Resolution Restoration Technique Shows Mars in Incredible Detail

Apr 26, 2016 by News Staff

The Martian surface — including the location of ESA’s Beagle-2 lander, and the ancient lakebeds discovered by NASA’s Curiosity rover —...

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

ESA’s Venus Express Finds Atmospheric Gravity Waves in Venusian Polar Atmosphere

Apr 23, 2016 by News Staff

Strong atmospheric gravity waves dominate the polar regions of Venus’ atmosphere, according to measurements made by ESA’s Venus Express spacecraft...

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