Tag Archive for 'Planetesimal'

New Horizons mosaics of Arrokoth (left) and the same observations overlain with geologic mapping (right). Image credit: Stern et al., doi: 10.3847/PSJ/acf317.

Kuiper Belt Object Arrokoth’s Large Mounds Have Common Origin, New Study Suggests

Oct 3, 2023 by News Staff

The 5-km-long mounds that dominate the appearance of the larger lobe of Kuiper Belt object (486958) Arrokoth are similar enough to suggest a common origin,...

A fragment of the Erg Chech 002 meteorite. Image credit: Steve Jurvetson / CC BY 2.0.

4.6-Billion-Year-Old Meteorite Provides New Insights into Early Solar Nebula

Aug 29, 2023 by News Staff

Scientists have determined a precise lead isotopic age of the andesitic achondrite meteorite Erg Chech 002. Their result, combined with published aluminum-26-magnesium-26...

Marchi et al. compared the early impact history of Venus and Earth, determining that Venus experienced higher-energy impacts creating a superheated core. Image credit: Southwest Research Institute.

Early, Energetic Collisions Could Have Fueled Venus Volcanism: Study

Jul 20, 2023 by News Staff

New research shows that long-lived volcanism, driven by early, energetic collisions on Venus, offers an explanation of its young surface age with stagnant-lid...

The dashed white line in this illustration shows the boundary between the inner and outer Solar System, with the asteroid belt positioned roughly in between Mars and Jupiter. A bubble near the top of the image shows water molecules attached to a rocky fragment, demonstrating the kind of object that could have carried water to Earth. Image credit: Jack Cook / Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

Study Offers New Insights into Extraterrestrial Origins of Earth’s Water

Mar 16, 2023 by News Staff

In new research, planetary scientists from the University of Maryland and elsewhere analyzed melted meteorites that had been floating around in space since...

This false-color image shows the dwarf planet Ceres. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA.

New Study Sheds Light on Origin and Evolution of Ceres-Like Asteroids

Feb 21, 2023 by News Staff

Astronomers using NASA’s Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) telescope at Mauna Kea Observatory have captured and analyzed visible and near-infrared reflectance...

The February 2021 fireball captured by the Global Fireball Observatory camera at Miquelon Lake Provincial Park, Alberta, Canada. Image credit: University of Alberta.

Meteoroid from Oort Cloud Was Made of Rock, Not Ice, Scientists Say

Dec 23, 2022 by News Staff

This decimeter-sized (2 kg) rocky meteoroid entered the atmosphere of our planet about 100 km north of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada at 13:23:17 UTC...

This illustration shows what WASP-39b could look like, based on the current understanding of the planet. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Webb / J. Olmsted, STScI.

Webb Reveals Atmospheric Composition of Hot-Saturn WASP-39b

Nov 22, 2022 by News Staff

While the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope and other space telescopes previously have revealed isolated ingredients of the atmosphere of WASP-39b,...

Bonsor et al. present distinct observational evidence from white dwarf planetary systems for planetesimal formation occurring during the first few hundred thousand years after cloud collapse in exoplanetary systems. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Stars and Building Blocks of Their Planets ‘Grow Up’ Together, New Study Suggests

Nov 15, 2022 by News Staff

The timing and locations of formation of planetesimals — the building blocks of planets — are crucial to the understanding of planet formation....

An artist’s impression of the white dwarfs WD J2147-4035 and WD J1922+0233 surrounded by orbiting planetary debris, which will accrete onto the stars and pollute their atmospheres. WD J2147-4035 is extremely red and dim, while WD J1922+0233 is unusually blue. Image credit: Mark Garlick / University of Warwick.

Planetary Debris Spotted around 11-Billion-Year-Old White Dwarf

Nov 7, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

WD J2147-4035, an 11-billion-year-old white dwarf located 91 light-years away in the constellation of Grus, is accreting debris from orbiting planetesimals,...

(A) the Milky Way Galaxy with superimposed spiral arms and geological events: the arm and the Solar System rotate clockwise at different rates; the ‘+’ number denotes the number of times Earth has passed through that arm; (B) model of the Oort cloud showing cometary nuclei; (C) schematic reconstruction of early Earth impact process; (D) early crustal nuclei development. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / ESO / R. Hurt / Kirkland et al., doi: 10.1130/G50513.1.

Transits through Milky Way’s Spiral Arms Helped Form Early Earth’s Continental Crust, Study Says

Aug 24, 2022 by News Staff

New research led by Curtin University geologists suggests that regions of space with dense interstellar clouds may send more high-energy comets crashing...

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...

This artist’s conception shows exocomets in a young planetary system. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Ukrainian Astronomers Spot Five New Exocomets around Beta Pictoris

Apr 18, 2022 by Sergio Prostak

Using data from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), a team of astronomers from Ukraine has detected the transits of five comets around...

Hubble’s photo of Jupiter displays the ever-changing landscape of its turbulent atmosphere. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / Amy Simon, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / Michael H. Wong, University of California, Berkeley / Joseph DePasquale, STScI.

Proto-Jupiter Underwent Significant Orbital Migration, Research Suggests

Apr 4, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

The atmosphere of Jupiter is enriched with heavy elements by a factor of about 3 compared to a protosolar composition. The origin of this enrichment and...

This illustration depicts the result of a collision between two large asteroid-sized bodies around a young star. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Spitzer Spots Enormous Debris Cloud around Young Star

Mar 18, 2022 by News Staff

The debris cloud in the terrestrial zone of the 10-million-year-old star HD 166191 was created by a large impact involving objects of several hundred kilometers...

An artist’s impression of the white dwarf star WD 1054-226 orbited by clouds of planetary debris and a major planet in the habitable zone. Image credit: Mark A. Garlick / www.markgarlick.com.

Astronomers Find Planetary Bodies in Habitable Zone of White Dwarf

Feb 11, 2022 by News Staff

Using the ULTRACAM instrument on ESO’s 3.5-m New Technology Telescope and NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), astronomers have observed...

This color image from the DECam Plane Survey shows TIC 400799224. Image credit: Powell et al., doi: 10.3847/1538-3881/ac2c81.

TESS Spots Mysterious Dust-Emitting Object in Binary Stellar System

Jan 4, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) have discovered a unique object of uncertain nature — possibly a disintegrating...

Fomalhaut b Doesn’t Exist, Astronomers Say

Apr 21, 2020 by News Staff

The directly-imaged massive exoplanet Fomalhaut b is actually a dispersing cloud of dust, produced by a catastrophic collision between two large planetesimals...

This composite image of Ultima Thule was compiled from data obtained by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft as it flew by the object on January 1, 2019. The image combines enhanced color data (close to what the human eye would see) with detailed high-resolution panchromatic pictures. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute / Roman Tkachenko.

Three New Studies Provide More Complete Picture of Physical Nature of Kuiper Belt Object Arrokoth

Feb 18, 2020 by News Staff

On January 1, 2019, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft flew past the Kuiper Belt object (KBO) Arrokoth — provisional designation 2014 MU69, previously...

An artist’s impression of ‘Oumuamua. Image credit: M. Kornmesser / ESO.

We Can Expect Few Large Interstellar Objects Showing Up Every Year, Astronomers Say

Oct 1, 2019 by News Staff

Yale University astronomers Gregory Laughlin and Malena Rice propose that interstellar objects such as the interstellar asteroid ‘Oumuamua and the interstellar...

Global map of the albedo from the 750 nm filter of the UV-VIS camera onboard NASA’s Clementine spacecraft. The image shows the near side and far side of the Moon in Lambert, equal-area projection. Image credit: NASA.

Moon’s Nearside-Farside Asymmetries are Result of Ancient Giant Impact, Says New Study

May 23, 2019 by News Staff

The Moon has striking asymmetries between its nearside and farside in topography, crustal thickness, and composition. A new study, published in the Journal...

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