Tag Archive for 'Deuterium'

This false-color four-image mosaic comprises images taken from a distance of 28.7 km from the center of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on 3 February 2015. The mosaic measures 4.2 x 4.6 km. Image credit: ESA / Rosetta / NAVCAM / CC BY-SA IGO 3.0.

Study: Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko’s Water Has Similar Molecular Signature to Earth’s Water

Dec 4, 2024 by NASA

Contradicting the results of several recent studies, the new findings reopen the case that Jupiter-family comets like 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko could have...

This is a far-ultraviolet Hubble image of Mars near its closest approach to the Sun, called perihelion, on December 19, 2016. Image credit: NASA / ESA / STScI / John T. Clarke, Boston University.

MAVEN and Hubble Observations Shed New Light on Mars’ Water History

Sep 9, 2024 by News Staff

Mars’ water history is fundamental to understanding an evolution of Earth-like planets. Water escapes to space as atoms, and hydrogen (H) atoms escape...

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

Venus Express Detects Unexpected Increase of Deuterium to Hydrogen Ratio in Venusian Mesosphere

Aug 26, 2024 by News Staff

Although Venus is sometimes referred to as Earth’s twin, its current surface conditions are drastically different, making it inhospitable to life. Not...

Aguilar et al. used the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) on board the International Space Station to measure the deuteron flux.

AMS Detector Reveals Surprising Surplus of Cosmic Rays Made of Deuterons

Aug 13, 2024 by News Staff

Deuterons — atomic nuclei made up of a proton and a neutron — are thought to form in the same way as helium-3 nuclei, in collisions between...

Glein et al. found evidence for hydrothermal or metamorphic activity deep within the icy dwarf planets Eris and Makemake. Image credit: Southwest Research Institute.

Webb Finds Evidence of Hydrothermal Processes in Interiors of Eris and Makemake

Feb 15, 2024 by News Staff

The icy dwarf planets Eris and Makemake have surfaces bearing methane ice of unknown origin. According to an analysis of data from the NASA/ESA/CSA James...

V883 Orionis is a unique protostar whose temperature is just hot enough that the water in its circumstellar disk has turned to gas, making it possible for radio astronomers to trace the water’s origins. Image credit: ESO / L. Calçada.

Deuterium-Enriched Water Ties Protoplanetary Disks to Comets and Protostars

Mar 9, 2023 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have detected gaseous water in the planet-forming disk around V883 Orionis, a...

A piece of the enstatite chondrite meteorite Sahara 97096. Image credit: Christine Fieni / Laurette Piani / French National Museum of Natural History.

Earth’s Water Came from Enstatite Chondrite-Like Asteroids, Study Suggests

Aug 28, 2020 by News Staff

A type of meteorite called an enstatite chondrite has similar isotopic composition to terrestrial rocks and thus may be representative of the material...

Heavy Water Has Sweet Taste, New Study Confirms

Jun 1, 2020 by Sergio Prostak

Highly purified heavy water has a distinctly sweeter taste than same-purity normal (light) water, according to a study conducted by researchers from the...

$Illustration showing the present-day hydrogen reservoirs in and on Mars. The mass fractions (pie chart) of Martian water are based on the mass of water in the bulk crust (C), the mantle (M) and the combined inventory (A) of the atmosphere and polar ice deposits (PID). The mantle mass fraction is the combination of depleted shergottites (DS) and enriched shergottites (ES). Image credit: Barnes et al, doi: 10.1038/s41561-020-0552-y.$

Early Mars Had Multiple Water Sources, New Study Shows

Mar 31, 2020 by News Staff

An analysis of two Martian meteorites — Northwest Africa (NWA) 7034 and Allan Hills (ALH) 84001 — shows that Mars likely received water from...

In this illustration, one photon (purple) carries a million times the energy of another (yellow). Image credit: NASA / Sonoma State University / Aurore Simonnet.

Scientists Find Way to Measure Quantum Entanglement in Chemical Reactions

Aug 7, 2019 by News Staff

A duo of researchers at Purdue University has modified a popular theorem — called Bell’s inequality — for identifying quantum entanglement...

Hubble captured this view of comet 46P/Wirtanen on December 13, 2018. Image credit: NASA / ESA / D. Bodewits, Auburn University / J.-Y. Li, Planetary Science Institute.

Hyperactive Comets Contain ‘Ocean-Like’ Water

May 31, 2019 by News Staff

NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) observed the hyperactive Jupiter-family comet 46P/Wirtanen as it made its closest approach...

Physicists Transform Liquid Metal into Dense Plasma

Mar 8, 2019 by News Staff

A team of physicists from the University of Rochester and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has found a way to turn liquid metallic deuterium...

Early Earth. Image credit: Christine Daniloff.

Study Shines New Light on Source of Earth’s Water

Nov 13, 2015 by News Staff

A new study in the journal Science suggests that water-soaked grains of dust present early in the Solar System are the source of Earth’s water. Early...

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

Ancient Ocean on Mars was Larger than Earth’s Atlantic Ocean, Say Scientists

Mar 6, 2015 by News Staff

An ancient ocean on the Red Planet covered a greater portion of the surface than the Atlantic Ocean does on our planet and held more water than Arctic...

This graph displays the different values of the deuterium/ hydrogen ratio in water observed in various objects in the Solar System: the data points are grouped by color as planets and moons (blue), chondritic meteorites from the asteroid belt (grey), comets originating from the Oort cloud (purple) and Jupiter family comets (pink). Rosetta’s Jupiter-family comet is highlighted in yellow. Diamonds represent data obtained in situ; circles represent data obtained by astronomical methods. Image credit: ESA / ATG medialab / Rosetta / NavCam / Altwegg et al.

Rosetta Data Suggest Earth’s Oceans Likely Came from Asteroids

Dec 11, 2014 by News Staff

The Rosetta Orbiter Sensor for Ion and Neutral Analysis (ROSINA) instrument aboard ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft has found that the composition of the...

An illustration of water in our Solar System through time from before the formation of the Sun through the creation of the planets. Image credit: Bill Saxton / NSF / AUI / NRAO.

Half of Water on Earth Older than Sun, Scientists Say

Sep 26, 2014 by News Staff

Half of the water on our planet predates the formation of the Sun, according to a groundbreaking study carried out by a team of researchers from the United...