Tag Archive for 'Planet'

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.

Planetary Researchers Solve Mystery of How Pluto Got Its Pear-Shaped Feature

Apr 16, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Pluto’s surface is dominated by the huge, pear-shaped basin Sputnik Planitia. It appears to be of impact origin, but modeling has not yet explained its...

Schematic view of planetary material escaping through Venus magnetosheath flank; the red line and arrow show the region and direction of observations by BepiColombo when the escaping ions (C+, O+, H+) were observed. Image credit: Thibaut Roger / Europlanet 2024 RI / Hadid et al.

BepiColombo Detects Oxygen and Carbon Ions in Magnetosphere of Venus

Apr 15, 2024 by Natali Anderson

In August 2021, the ESA/JAXA Mercury-bound BepiColombo spacecraft performed its second flyby of Venus and provided a short-lived observation of its induced...

An artist’s impression of LTT 1445Ab in the triple-star system LTT 1445. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Scientists Discuss Physics and Mathematics behind ‘3 Body Problem’

Apr 10, 2024 by News Staff

Based on the book trilogy Remembrance of Earth’s Past by Chinese computer engineer Cixin Liu, Netflix’s sci-fi television series 3 Body Problem introduces...

Fawdon et al. created the most detailed geologic map of Oxia Planum, the landing site for ESA’s Rosalind Franklin rover on Mars. Image credit: Fawdon et al., doi: 10.1080/17445647.2024.2302361.

Scientists Create High-Resolution Geological Map of Oxia Planum

Mar 27, 2024 by News Staff

Using data from ESA’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter and NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, planetary scientists have created the 1:30000 scale geological...

This composite image, taken by JAXA’s Akatsuki spacecraft, shows Venus. Image credit: JAXA / ISAS / DARTS / Damia Bouic.

Clouds of Venus Could Be Hospitable for Some Forms of Life, New Research Suggests

Mar 20, 2024 by News Staff

Planetary scientists have long speculated about the potential habitability of Venus, not at its hot surface, but in the cloud layers located at 48-60 km...

Jupiter is revisited by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope in these images, taken on January 5-6, 2024, capturing both sides of the giant planet. Image credit: NASA / ESA / STScI / Amy Simon, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

Hubble Space Telescope Captures Beautiful New Images of Jupiter

Mar 14, 2024 by News Staff

The many large storms and small white clouds seen in the new Hubble images, taken on January 5 and 6, 2024, are evidence for a lot of activity going on...

Noctis Mons. Image credit: NASA / USGS / Lee et al.

Planetary Scientists Discover Giant Shield Volcano on Mars

Mar 13, 2024 by News Staff

Provisionally designated Noctis Mons, the newly-discovered volcano is located just south of Mars’ equator, in Eastern Noctis Labyrinthus, west of Valles...

This image from Mars Express’ High Resolution Stereo Camera shows the globe of Mars set against a dark background. The disk of the planet features yellow, orange, blue and green patches, all with an overall muted grey hue, representing the varying composition of the surface. Image credit: ESA / DLR / FU Berlin / G. Michael / CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.

Mars Drives Deep-Ocean Circulation in Earth’s Oceans, Study Suggests

Mar 13, 2024 by News Staff

Geoscientists from Australia and France have used the geological record of Earth’s deep oceans to discover a connection between the orbits of our home...

This image from ESA’s Mars Express shows an area close to Mars’ north pole. The image comprises data gathered by Mars Express’ High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on April 14, 2023. Image credit: ESA / DLR / FU Berlin.

Mars Express Spots Sand Dunes and Ice Layers at Martian North Pole

Mar 1, 2024 by News Staff

New images from the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft show the terrain surrounding the permanent north polar ice...

Jezero Crater, one of the paleolakes examined in the study, is a paleolake and potential landing site for NASA’s Mars 2020 rover mission to look for past life; the outlet canyon carved by overflow flooding is visible in the upper right side of the crater; ancient rivers carved the inlets on the left side of the crater. Image credit: NASA / Tim Goudge.

Ancient Mars May Have Had Hydrothermal Systems

Feb 22, 2024 by News Staff

The history of water on Mars is a puzzle that is of interest to planetary scientists as well as the general public. The Red Planet currently has water...

A topographic map of the Eridania region of Mars; volcanic structures described by Michalski et al. are classified by morphology and morphometrics. Image credit: Michalski et al., doi: 10.1038/s41550-023-02191-7.

Early Mars was Tectonically and Volcanically Active, Study Suggests

Feb 12, 2024 by News Staff

The relatively well-preserved ancient crust of Mars provides a natural window into early planetary evolution not available on Earth. Mars has generally...

The JunoCam instrument aboard NASA’s Juno spacecraft imaged Io, the most geologically active body in our Solar System, on February 3, 2024, from a distance of about 7,904 km (4,911 miles). Image credit: NASA / SwRI / MSSS.

NASA’s Juno Orbiter Captures Stunning Images of Jupiter’s Moon Io

Feb 9, 2024 by Natali Anderson

On February 3, 2024, NASA’s Juno spacecraft made a second close flyby of Io, the fifth of Jupiter’s moons and the third largest. Like the previous...

An artist’s impression of the ‘Snowball Earth.’ Image credit: Oleg Kuznetsov, http://3depix.com / CC BY-SA 4.0.

Low Volcanic Carbon Dioxide Emissions Triggered Sturtian ‘Snowball Earth’ Glaciation: Study

Feb 8, 2024 by News Staff

The Sturtian ‘Snowball Earth’ glaciation (717 to 661 million years ago) is regarded as the most extreme interval of icehouse climate in Earth’s history....

Mimas’ surface, like the surfaces of most of the other major Saturnian moons without atmospheres, is not pure ice but contains some dark impurities; the relatively dark markings appear along the lower portion of the walls of the 130-km-wide Herschel Crater (the peak in the middle of the crater is about as tall as Mount Everest; the impact that made it likely almost destroyed the moon) and some of the smaller craters; scientists interpret this darkening as evidence for the gradual concentration of impurities from evaporating icy materials in areas where the dark impurities slide slowly down the crater wall. Image credit: NASA / JPL / Space Science Institute.

Saturn’s Moon Mimas Harbors Global Ocean beneath Its Icy Shell, Study Suggests

Feb 7, 2024 by News Staff

From detailed analysis of Mimas’ orbital motion based on data from NASA’s Cassini mission, planetary researchers from Sorbonne Université, Nantes...

This enhanced color view of NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter was generated using data collected by the Perseverance rover on August 2, 2023. Image credit: NASA.

NASA Announces End of Ingenuity Mission

Jan 29, 2024 by News Staff

NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter made history by achieving the first powered, controlled flight on another planet on April 19, 2021. Despite initial plans...

This image shows a height map of the Martian surface, with lowest land in blue and highest in white. Image credit: ESA.

Mars Express Finds New Evidence for Ice-Rich Layered Deposits in Medusae Fossae

Jan 22, 2024 by News Staff

Over 15 years ago, ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft studied the Medusae Fossae Formation, revealing enigmatic deposits up to 2.5 km deep. From those early...

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

Combination of Two Minerals Can Explain Mysterious UV Absorber in Clouds of Venus

Jan 8, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

The clouds of Venus are believed to be composed of sulfuric acid and minor constituents including iron-bearing compounds. Respective concentrations of...

Voyager 2/ISS images of Uranus and Neptune released shortly after the Voyager 2 flybys in 1986 and 1989, respectively, compared with a reprocessing of the individual filter images in this study to determine the best estimate of the true colors of these planets. Image credit: Irwin et al., doi: 10.1093/mnras/stad3761.

Uranus and Neptune Are in Fact Similar Shade of Greenish Blue, New Color-Corrected Images Reveal

Jan 5, 2024 by News Staff

Uranus and Neptune, the so-called ice giants, are the most distant giant planets in our Solar System. Our knowledge of these worlds was revolutionized...

This Hubble image shows Saturn, its bright white rings, and its three moons: Mimas, Dione, and Enceladus; spoke features on the left and right sides of the rings appear like faint gray smudges against the rings’ bright backdrop, about midway from the planet to the rings’ outer edge. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / STScI / Amy Simon, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

Hubble Space Telescope Spots ‘Spokes’ in Saturn’s Rings

Dec 21, 2023 by News Staff

The gas giant Saturn is known for its iconic ring system. However, its B ring can have splotches and streaks of darker or lighter material, known as spokes,...

This Webb image exquisitely captures the seasonal north polar cap of Uranus, including the bright, white, inner cap and the dark lane in the bottom of the polar cap. Uranus’ dim inner and outer rings are also visible in this image, including the elusive Zeta ring -- the extremely faint and diffuse ring closest to the planet. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI.

Webb Captures New Images of Uranus, Its Enigmatic Rings and Moons

Dec 18, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

New images from the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) instrument onboard the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope shows Uranus, its ring system and some...

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