Tag Archive for 'Solar System'

The spatial distribution of cyanogen around 3I/ATLAS. Image credit: Cochran et al., doi: 10.3847/PSJ/aea086.

Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS is Spewing Gas Surprisingly Slowly, New Observations Show

Oct 5, 2026 by Natali Anderson

Using spectral data from the Hobby-Eberly Telescope in Texas, astronomers have traced gas from the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, only the third object of...

Map of the six north polar locations analyzed by P. Mohan & A.R. Khuller, where water ice is exposed at the Martian surface. Image credit: P. Mohan & A.R. Khuller, doi: 10.1038/s44453-026-00054-9.

Water Ice at Mars’ North Pole is Considerably Cleaner than Previously Believed

Sep 30, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new analysis of orbital and lander data from Mars suggests the exposed north-polar water ice contains less than 3% dust, far below earlier estimates...

Molecular hydrogen points to hydrothermal activity in an ocean beneath the icy surface of Enceladus. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Cassini Reveals Surprising Diversity in Salt Grains from Enceladus’ Ocean

Sep 25, 2026 by News Staff

A new analysis of nearly 1,000 ice grain measurements from Saturn’s E ring shows that Enceladus’ salty ocean spray freezes and fragments in a more...

The concentric feature in the East Margin of the Margin unit, Jezero crater, Mars. Image credit: Bedford et al., doi: 10.1038/s43247-026-03997-9.

Mysterious Rock Formation in Jezero Crater Reveals Mars’ Complex Watery Past

Sep 22, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

Using data collected by NASA’s Perseverance rover, planetary scientists have revealed that a geologically puzzling formation in Jezero crater experienced...

This close-up view of McGetchin crater was taken on December 5, 2025, by the Narrow-Angle Camera (NAC) onboard NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). Image credit: NASA Goddard / Intuitive Machines.

New Impact Crater Spotted on the Moon

Sep 18, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

Using images from the LROC instrument onboard NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), scientists have discovered the biggest newly formed impact crater...

The magnetogram recorded at Greenwich Magnetic Observatory (London) from 11:20 UT on 18 October 1848 to 00:20 UT on 19 October 1848. Powerful geomagnetic disturbances are apparent on the evening of 18 October 1848 from 21:20 UT. Image credit: Wild et al., doi: 10.1029/2026SW005239.

Study: Famous ‘Space Weather’ Train Delay Actually Happened Seven Years Later

Sep 16, 2026 by News Staff

Although the famous Carrington Event of 1859 is often described as the first major space weather event to affect technology, earlier incidents did occur....

NASA’s Mariner 10 spacecraft captured this view of Venus in February 1974. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

New Study Explains Why Venus Has No Moon

Sep 15, 2026 by Natali Anderson

Dr. Stephen Kane from the University of California, Riverside and colleagues offer a tidy explanation for one of the Solar System’s enduring puzzles:...

This color image of Mercury was generated from three MESSENGER images taken through filters sensitive to light in different wavelengths. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Carnegie Institution of Washington.

Mercury Has Shrunk Even More than Planetary Scientists Thought

Sep 14, 2026 by News Staff

The Solar System’s smallest planet has contracted by nearly 19 km (12 miles) across, as crater debris masked telltale wrinkles on its surface, according...

The distribution of dust (blue), gas (green) and ions (red) in the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS. Image credit: Lea Ferellec.

Study: Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS Formed in Cold, Nitrogen-Rich Environment

Sep 14, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers have found new evidence that 3I/ATLAS, only the third confirmed interstellar object ever detected entering the Solar System from beyond, formed...

This artist’s concept depicts a trans-Neptunian object. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Leah Hustak, STScI.

Hubble and Webb Team Up to Spy Tiny Frozen Worlds beyond Neptune

Sep 9, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

For the first time, astronomers combined Hubble and Webb space telescopes to hunt down some of the smallest, faintest objects ever spotted in the outer...

Meteoroids bombarded the Earth-Moon system 800 million years ago. Image credit: Murayama, Osaka University.

Could Scoop of Moon Dust Reveal Alien Technology?

Sep 8, 2026 by Sergio Prostak

A cubic meter of lunar soil might be one of our best bets for finding physical proof that another advanced civilization once existed somewhere in the Milky...

An artist’s impression of the ESA/JAXA BepiColombo spacecraft in cruise configuration, with Mercury in the background. On its 7.2 year journey to the innermost planet, BepiColombo will fly by Earth once, Venus twice and Mercury six times before entering into orbit. The MTM module is shown with ion thrusters firing, and with its solar wings extended, spanning about 100 feet (30 m) from tip-to-tip. The 24.6-foot (7.5 m) long solar array of the MPO orbiter in the middle is seen extending to the top. The Mio orbiter is hidden inside the sunshield in this orientation. Image credit: ESA / ATG Medialab / NASA / JPL.

BepiColombo Begins Final Approach to Mercury

Sep 6, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

After nearly eight years and billions of kilometers of travel, BepiColombo — a science mission led by ESA in close collaboration with JAXA —...

These Hubble images show Saturn and the gas giant’s southern pole with its 10-sided atmospheric wave. Image credit: NASA / ESA / STScI / Agustin Sánchez-Lavega, UPV / Amy Simon, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / Michael Wong, UC Berkeley / Alyssa Pagan.

Astronomers Discover Decagonal Wave circling Saturn’s South Pole

Sep 2, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

For almost five decades, Saturn’s north pole has been famous for hosting a bizarre, six-sided jet stream known as the hexagon, a feature first spotted...

This colorful view of Mercury was produced by using images from the color base map imaging campaign during MESSENGER’s primary mission. These colors are not what Mercury would look like to the human eye, but rather the colors enhance the chemical, mineralogical, and physical differences between the rocks that make up the planet’s surface. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Carnegie Institution of Washington.

Mercury’s Crust May Hide Metal beneath Its Surface

Aug 31, 2026 by Sergio Prostak

Using a novel laboratory calibration, planetary researchers in Germany have produced the most reliable map yet of silica (SiO2) concentrations across the...

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Telescope lifted off on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on August 30, 2026 at 7:26 a.m. EDT. Image credit: NASA.

NASA’s Roman Space Telescope Launches on Mission to Probe Hidden Universe

Aug 30, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope launched August 30, 2026 at 7:26 a.m. EDT (11:26 UTC) aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy from Launch Complex 39A at...

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

Something in Venus’ Clouds is Absorbing Astonishing Amount of Sunlight

Aug 27, 2026 by News Staff

New research puts stringent limits on the unknown ‘material’ responsible for Venus’ dark ultraviolet markings, suggesting it must absorb sunlight...

This image of Phobos in front of the Sun was captured by Perseverance’s Mastcam-Z camera on August 12, 2026. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / ASU / MSSS / SSI.

NASA’s Perseverance Rover Spots Phobos Crossing the Sun

Aug 24, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

Perseverance has caught the silhouette of Phobos, one of the two Martian moons, sweeping across the solar disk in a fresh transit video from Jezero crater. This...

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.

Liquid Nitrogen May Have Flowed on Pluto’s Surface in Recent Past

Aug 9, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

Planetary researchers analyzing images from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft have found evidence that liquid nitrogen may still be seeping up from beneath...

The highest-resolution image of the Sun’s surface (photosphere) ever captured, taken at 416 nm by the Inouye Solar Telescope; it reveals deformed boundaries of magnetic elements and ultra-fine scale stripes, both associated with Kelvin-Helmholtz instability. Image credit: NSF / NSO / AURA / MPS.

Inouye Solar Telescope Discovers Hidden Plasma Vortices on Sun

Aug 7, 2026 by News Staff

Astronomers using the 4-m Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope in Hawaii have detected tiny plasma vortices on the Sun’s surface (photosphere) for the first...

$The polygon fractures discovered by Curiosity in Gale crater, Mars. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS.$

Curiosity Finds Massive Field of Honeycomb-Shaped Fractures on Mars

Aug 5, 2026 by News Staff

NASA’s Curiosity rover has stumbled on the largest patch of polygon-shaped ground fractures it has ever seen on Mars, a discovery that could reveal more...

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