Tag Archive for 'Planet'

This artist’s concept depicts NASA’s Mars 2020 rover on the surface of the Red Planet. The mission takes the next step by not only seeking signs of habitable conditions on Mars in the ancient past, but also searching for signs of past microbial life itself. The rover introduces a drill that can collect core samples of the most promising rocks and soils and set them aside on the surface of Mars. A future mission could potentially return these samples to Earth. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

NASA’s Mars 2020 Rover Will Have 23 Cameras

Nov 2, 2017 by News Staff

According to NASA, the agency’s next Mars rover will have more cameras than any rover before it: a grand total of 23, to create sweeping panoramas, reveal...

Artist’s impression of the cool red star NGTS-1 above the hot-Jupiter NGTS-1b. Image credit: Mark Garlick, University of Warwick.

Discovery of Hot-Jupiter NGTS-1b Challenges Planet Formation Theories

Nov 1, 2017 by News Staff

Dr. Daniel Bayliss, an astronomer at the University of Warwick, and colleagues has discovered a giant gaseous planet orbiting a small M-dwarf star 600...

This image combines an image taken with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope in the optical and observations of the Jovian aurora in the ultraviolet. Image credit: NASA / ESA.

Jupiter’s Northern and Southern X-Ray Auroras Pulse Independently

Oct 31, 2017 by News Staff

High-energy X-ray emissions at Jupiter’s south pole consistently pulse every 11 minutes; meanwhile those at the gas giant’s north pole are erratic:...

Artist’s conception of the complex magnetic field environment at Mars. Yellow lines represent magnetic field lines from the Sun carried by the solar wind, blue lines represent Martian surface magnetic fields, white sparks are reconnection activity, and red lines are reconnected magnetic fields that link the surface to space via the Martian magnetotail. Image credit: Anil Rao / University of Colorado / MAVEN / NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

Mars Has a Twisted Magnetotail, NASA Research Reveals

Oct 20, 2017 by News Staff

According to new research using data from NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution Mission (MAVEN) spacecraft, the Red Planet has an invisible magnetic...

Artist’s concept of a colony on Mars. Image credit: NASA.

Plasma Technology Could Hold Key to Creating Oxygen Supply on Mars

Oct 19, 2017 by News Staff

A study published in the journal Plasma Sources Science and Technology argues that Mars, with its 96% carbon dioxide (CO2) atmosphere, has nearly ideal...

In this screenshot from the short animated film Cassini’s Grand Finale, the spacecraft is shown breaking apart after entering the atmosphere of Saturn. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

NASA Researchers Reconstruct Cassini’s Dive into Saturn’s Atmosphere

Oct 15, 2017 by News Staff

Analysis of science data from Cassini’s final plunge is ongoing, but NASA researchers already have a clear understanding of how the spacecraft behaved...

Artist’s impression of Planet Nine. Image credit: Tom Ruen / ESO.

Astronomers Say Evidence is Growing for Existence of Planet Nine

Oct 10, 2017 by News Staff

There are now five different lines of observational evidence pointing to the existence of Planet Nine, a super-Earth-sized world about 20 times farther...

This image of Jupiter, Io and Europa was taken by NASA’s Juno spacecraft on September 1, 2017 at 6:14 p.m. EDT (3:14 p.m. PDT), and then processed by citizen scientist Roman Tkachenko. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS / Roman Tkachenko.

NASA’s Juno Orbiter Observes Jupiter and Two Galilean Moons

Oct 8, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

Juno captured this color portrait of the edge of Jupiter and two of the gas giant’s largest moons — Io and Europa — as it performed its eighth...

Artist’s conception of MAVEN’s Imaging UltraViolet Spectrograph (IUVS) observing Martian aurora, which is similar to Earth’s Aurora borealis but has a different origin. Image credit: University of Colorado.

NASA: Recent Solar Storm Sparked Global Aurora on Mars

Oct 2, 2017 by News Staff

A solar event on September 11, 2017 sparked a global aurora on the Red Planet more than 25 times brighter than any previously seen by NASA’s MAVEN (Mars...

A young planetary system. Image credit: NASA / FUSE / Lynette Cook.

Research Sheds Light on Sequence of Events that Led to Creation of Earth and Mars

Sep 27, 2017 by News Staff

New research, reported in the journal Nature, changes scientists’ understanding of how terrestrial planets attain their physical and chemical characteristics. A...

This image was taken by NASA’s Juno spacecraft on September 1, 2017 at 5:58 p.m. EDT (2:58 p.m. PDT), and then processed by citizen scientist Gerald Eichstaedt. At the time the image was taken, the probe was 4,707 miles (7,576 km) from the tops of the clouds of the planet at a latitude of about minus 17.4 degrees. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS / Gerald Eichstaedt.

NASA’s Juno Probe Returns Stunning New Image of Jupiter

Sep 25, 2017 by News Staff

This striking image of Jupiter was captured by NASA’s Juno spacecraft as it performed its eighth flyby of the giant planet. This image was taken by NASA’s...

Deutsch et al found new evidence of ice sheets in permanently shadowed craters near the north pole of the planet Mercury. Image credit: Brown University.

Scientists Find New Evidence for Surface Water Ice at Mercury’s North Pole

Sep 21, 2017 by News Staff

A new study led by Brown University planetary researchers adds three new large members to the list of water ice-filled craters near Mercury’s north pole...

A ‘Blue Marble’ image of the Earth taken from the VIIRS instrument aboard NASA’s Earth-observing satellite Suomi NPP (named in honor of Verner E. Suomi of the University of Wisconsin). This composite image uses a number of swaths of the Earth’s surface taken on January 4, 2012. Image credit: NASA / NOAA / GSFC / Suomi NPP / VIIRS / Norman Kuring.

Researchers Produce Estimate of Earth’s Elemental Composition

Sep 20, 2017 by News Staff

A team of researchers at the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia, has produced the most comprehensive estimate yet of Earth’s composition...

Cassini entering Saturn’s atmosphere. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Cassini Completes Its Historic Journey with Plunge into Atmosphere of Saturn

Sep 15, 2017 by News Staff

Today, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft made its final approach to Saturn and dove into the gas giant’s atmosphere. Loss of contact with the orbiter took...

Cassini’s Final Dive into Saturn: Watch Live

Sep 15, 2017 by News Staff

After 20 years in space, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft is nearing the end of its remarkable journey of exploration. NASA will provide live coverage, commentary,...

A new map of the thickness of the Martian crust shows less variation between thicker regions (red) and thinner regions (blue), compared to earlier mapping. This view is centered on Valles Marineris, with the Tharsis Montes near the terminator to its west. The map is based on modeling of Mars’ gravity field by Goossens et al. Image credit: NASA / Goddard / UMBC / MIT / E. Mazarico.

Martian Crust is Relatively Porous, Planetary Scientists Find

Sep 15, 2017 by News Staff

A team of researchers led by Dr. Sander Goossens of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center has found evidence that the crust of the Red Planet is not as...

Hypothetical Planet 9. Image credit: R. Hurt, IPAC / Caltech.

Planet 9, Probably Not a Scooped Up Exoplanet

Sep 14, 2017 by James Romero

Suggestions that the hypothesized Planet 9 formed outside our solar system, or was even stolen from a rival solar system, have been dealt a blow by investigations...

Cassini is Ready for ‘Grand Finale’

Sep 14, 2017 by News Staff

On September 15, 2017, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft will make its final approach to Saturn, but this encounter will be like no other. This time, Cassini...

This series of enhanced-color images shows Jupiter up close and personal, as Juno performed its eighth flyby of the gas giant. From left to right, the sequence of images taken on September 1 from 6:03p.m. to 6:11p.m. EDT (3:03p.m. to 3:11p.m. PDT). At the times the images were taken, the spacecraft ranged from 7,545 to 14,234 miles (12,143 to 22,908 km) from the tops of the clouds of Jupiter at a latitude range of minus 28.5406 to minus 44.4912 degrees. ‘Points of Interest’ include ‘Dalmatian Zone/Eye of Odin,’ ‘Dark Eye/STB Ghost East End,’ ‘Coolest Place on Jupiter,’ and ‘Renslow/Hurricane Rachel; the final image in the series on the right shows Jupiter’s south pole coming into view. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS / Gerald Eichstaedt / Sean Doran.

Juno Completes Its Eighth Flyby of Jupiter

Sep 12, 2017 by News Staff

NASA’s Juno spacecraft successfully made its eighth flyby of the giant planet Jupiter on September 1, 2017, at 5:49p.m. EDT (2:49p.m. PDT, 21:49 UTC). This...

This image, created with data from Juno’s Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph, marks the path of Juno’s readings of Jupiter’s auroras, highlighting the electron measurements that show the discovery of discrete auroral acceleration processes indicated by the ‘inverted Vs’ in the lower panel. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / Randy Gladstone.

Juno Detects Vast Amounts of Energy over Jupiter’s Auroral Regions

Sep 11, 2017 by News Staff

In a paper published in the journal Nature, Dr. Barry Mauk of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and co-authors report observations...

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