Tag Archive for 'Solar System'

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.

Watch First-Ever Livestream from Mars

Jun 2, 2023 by News Staff

On June 2, 2023, to celebrate the 20th birthday of ESA’s Mars Express, you’ll have the chance to get as close as it’s currently possible get to a...

Akins et al. used microwave observations to spot the first polar cyclone on Uranus, seen here as a light-colored dot to the right of center in each image of the planet. The images use wavelength bands K, Ka, and Q, from left. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / VLA.

VLA Spots Polar Cyclone on Uranus

May 23, 2023 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array in New Mexico have observed a bright, compact spot centered at Uranus’ north pole at several wavelengths....

An artist’s impression of Quaoar and its two rings. Quaoar’s moon Weywot is shown on the left. Image credit: ESA / Sci.News.

Astronomers Discover Second Ring around Quaoar

May 23, 2023 by Natali Anderson

Quaoar is a classical trans-Neptunian object with an equivalent diameter of 1,100 km. An artist’s impression of Quaoar and its two rings. Quaoar’s...

Artist’s impression depicting the separation of the Schiaparelli module from the Trace Gas Orbiter, and heading for Mars. Image credit: D. Ducros / ESA.

Astronomers Simulate Message from Extraterrestrial Civilization to Earth

May 23, 2023 by News Staff

On May 24, 2023, as part of the A Sign in Space project, ESA’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) will transmit an encoded message to Earth to simulate...

This Hubble image heralds the start of Saturn’s ‘spoke season’ with the appearance of two smudgy spokes in the B ring, on the left in the image. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Amy Simon, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / Alyssa Pagan, STScI.

Saturn’s Rings are No More Than Few Hundred Million Years Old, Scientists Say

May 16, 2023 by News Staff

Saturn’s ring system may well have formed when dinosaurs were still walking on the Earth, and will last only another few hundred million years at most,...

This artist’s concept of shows the main-belt comet 238P/Read sublimating -- its water ice vaporizing as its orbit approaches the Sun. Image credit: NASA / ESA.

Webb Detects Water Vapor around Main-Belt Comet 238P/Read

May 16, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

The new observations from the Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) aboard the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope show that the main-belt comet 238P/Read...

An artist’s impression of how astronomical forces affect the Earth’s motion, climate, and ice sheets. Image credit: NAOJ.

Astronomical Forcings Shaped Timing of Glacial Cycles during Early Pleistocene, Study Says

May 15, 2023 by News Staff

Glacial cycles during the Early Pleistocene epoch are characterized by a dominant 41,000-year periodicity and amplitudes smaller than those of glacial...

This image from ESA’s Mars Express shows the southern flanks of Ascraeus Mons, the second-tallest volcano on Mars. This image comprises data gathered by Mars Express’ High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on January 15, 2023. Image credit: ESA / DLR / FU Berlin / CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.

ESA’s Mars Express Orbiter Sees Fissured Flanks of Mars’ Second-Tallest Volcano

May 15, 2023 by Natali Anderson

Ascraeus Mons is the northernmost and tallest of three prominent volcanoes found in the Tharsis region of Mars, a volcanic plateau in the planet’s western...

Inexpensive and easy to build, data collecting balloons capture infrasound signals in the Earth’s stratosphere. Image credit: NASA.

Enigmatic Infrasound Signals Detected in Earth’s Stratosphere

May 12, 2023 by News Staff

Low frequency sounds can travel vast distances across our planet, carrying information about the events that generated them as well as the medium through...

Castillo-Rogez et al. show that there likely is an ocean layer in four of Uranus’ major moons: Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, and Oberon; salty -- or briny -- oceans lie under the ice and atop layers of water-rich rock and dry rock; Miranda is too small to retain enough heat for an ocean layer. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Four Uranian Moons Host Subsurface Oceans, New Research Suggests

May 5, 2023 by News Staff

The five large moons of Uranus — Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, and Oberon — are important targets for future spacecraft missions. Studying...

Zhang et al used artificial intelligence to search through radio signals recorded from FRB 121102. Image credit: Breakthrough Listen Initiative.

Study: Earth’s Mobile Tower Leakage Could Not Be Detected by Nearby Earth-Like Civilizations

May 3, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Mobile communication towers represent a relatively new but growing contributor to the total radio-leakage associated with planet Earth. In new research,...

An artist’s impression of the early Earth. Image credit: NASA.

Energetic Particles from Young Sun May Have Kickstarted Life on Early Earth

May 2, 2023 by News Staff

Life most likely started during the Hadean Eon (4.5 to 4 billion years ago). However, the environmental conditions which contributed to the complexity...

The Monolith of the Stone of the Sun, also known as the Aztec calendar stone, in the National Museum of Anthropology and History, Mexico City, Mexico. Image credit: El Comandante / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Scholars May Have Finally Deciphered Secrets of Maya 819-Day Calendar

May 1, 2023 by News Staff

Arguably the most enigmatic of the Maya calendar cycles, the 819-day count has challenged modern scholars for decades. Even today it is not completely...

This image of Shackleton crater was captured by NASA’s ShadowCam instrument aboard the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter. Image credit: NASA / KARI / ASU.

ShadowCam Captures Spectacular Photos of Moon’s South Polar Region

May 1, 2023 by News Staff

NASA’s ShadowCam instrument is flying with five other instruments aboard KARI’s Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO), also known as Danuri, which...

Gann et al. show that in principle it is possible to grow rice plants in MMS1 but levels of (Mg(ClO4)2) can be critical to both germination and growth; moreover, they presented that editing SnRK1a could potentially provide an approach to develop as table rice line that can germinate and grow in MMS1 with (Mg(ClO4)2). Image credit: Gann et al.

Genetically Modified Rice Could Actually Grow in Martian Regolith, New Study Suggests

Apr 27, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

One of the biggest challenges to growing food on Mars is the presence of perchlorate salts, which have been detected in the Martian regolith (soil) and...

This illustration depicts the asteroid Phaethon being heated by the Sun. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / IPAC.

Comet-Like Tail of Near-Earth Asteroid Phaethon is Not Made of Dust, Astronomers Say

Apr 25, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

New research shows that Phaethon’s comet-like activity cannot be explained by any kind of dust. This illustration depicts the asteroid Phaethon being...

This artist’s concept shows a cutaway of Mars, along with the paths of seismic waves from two separate marsquakes in 2021. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / University of Maryland.

InSight Detects Seismic Waves Traveling through Martian Liquid Core

Apr 25, 2023 by News Staff

Mars has a liquid iron alloy core at its center. Using seismic data gathered by NASA’s InSight lander, planetary scientists have made the first observations...

This image was taken by JUICE’s monitoring camera 1 (JMC1) at 14:42 CEST on April 14, 2023, following launch at 14:14 CEST. Image credit: ESA / JUICE / JMC / CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.

ESA’s JUICE Spacecraft Sends Its First Images from Space

Apr 19, 2023 by News Staff

ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) has taken its first monitoring camera images showing part of the spacecraft with our home planet as a stunning...

This view of Europa was captured by the JunoCam imager aboard NASA’s Juno spacecraft during the mission’s close flyby on September 29, 2022. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS / Kevin M. Gill.

Local Tectonic Activity Could Cause Landslides on Icy Satellites of Jupiter and Saturn

Apr 17, 2023 by News Staff

Intense tectonism is evident on many outer solar system satellites — such as Ganymede, Europa, and Enceladus — with some surface regions showing...

JUICE lifted off on an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana on April 14, 2023. Image credit: M. Pédoussaut / ESA.

ESA’s JUICE Spacecraft Launches to Study Jupiter’s Icy Moons

Apr 17, 2023 by News Staff

ESA’s latest interplanetary mission, the JUpiter ICy Moons Explorer (JUICE), lifted off on an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French...

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