Tag Archive for 'Solar System'

This illustration depicts ultraviolet polar aurorae on Jupiter and Earth. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / UVS / STScI / MODIS / WIC / IMAGE / University of Liège.

Jupiter’s Dawn Storms are Remarkably Similar to Earth’s Auroral Substorms

Mar 18, 2021 by News Staff

Dawn storms consist of short-lived but intense brightening and broadening of Jupiter’s main auroral oval near where the atmosphere emerges from darkness...

The map of Tharsis region of Mars from the Pocket Atlas of Mars 36. Image credit: NASA / JPL / GSFC / ESA / DLR / FU / H. Hargitai.

Planetary Scientists Create Pocket Atlas of Mars

Mar 17, 2021 by News Staff

The 84-page atlas of Mars, currently available in English, Hungarian and Czech, was developed as a part of a public outreach project supported by the Europlanet...

Computer model of the Antikythera Mechanism’s display: in the center, the dome of the Earth, the phase of the Moon and its position in the Zodiac -- then rings for Mercury, Venus, true Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Date, with ‘little sphere’ markers and smaller markers for oppositions. Scale marks and index letters for the synodic cycles of the planets are inscribed on the planet rings. Surrounding these, the Zodiac and the Egyptian Calendar. The true Sun ring has a ‘little golden sphere’ with ‘pointer.’ When the Moon and Sun pointers coincide, the Moon sphere shows black for New Moon; when the pointers are on opposite sides, the Moon sphere shows white for Full Moon. The Head of the Dragon Hand shows the ascending lunar node; the Tail the descending node. Small triangles on the true Sun ring, near the pointer, show wider and narrower eclipse limits. Eclipses are possible if the Dragon Hand is within these limits. When the Moon pointer is before the Head of the Dragon, the Moon is South of the node; after, it is North of the node -- conversely for the descending node. A Date pointer is attached to a narrow date ring, showing the date in the Egyptian Calendar. Image credit: Freeth et al., doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-84310-w.

Scientists Step Closer to Understanding Full Capabilities of Antikythera Mechanism

Mar 15, 2021 by News Staff

A team of researchers from University College London and the Cyprus Institute’s Science and Technology in Archaeology and Culture Research Center has...

This mosaic (upper right) shows a close-up view of the rock target named ‘Yeehgo’ from the SuperCam instrument on NASA’s Perseverance rover on Mars. The component images were taken by SuperCam’s Remote Micro-Imager (RMI) on March 7, 2021. To be compatible with the rover’s software, ‘Yeehgo’ is an alternative spelling of ‘Yéigo,’ the Navajo word for diligent. The target is 3.325 m (10.9 feet) from the rover. Each of the two images in the mosaic shows a field of view 6.2 cm (2.5 inches) in diameter. Perseverance’s Navigation Cameras (Nav Cam) and Mastcam-Z instrument also took images of that area at the same time to provide multiple views of the rock target. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / LANL / CNES / CNRS / ASU / MSSS.

Perseverance Records Sound of Its Rock-Zapping Laser Instrument

Mar 12, 2021 by News Staff

Early data from the SuperCam instrument aboard NASA’s Perseverance rover — including the first audio of laser zaps on another planet — are...

This is an artist's impression of a rocky and water-rich asteroid being torn apart by the strong gravity of the white dwarf star GD 61. Image credit: Mark A. Garlick, Space-art.co.uk / University of Warwick / University of Cambridge.

Relatively Large Near-Earth Asteroid to Fly Safely Past Our Planet on March 21

Mar 12, 2021 by News Staff

2001 FO32, a near-Earth asteroid discovered two decades ago, will fly safely past Earth on March 21, 2021, at a distance of about 2 million (1.25 million...

This photo shows the zodiacal light as it appeared on March 1, 2021, in Skull Valley, Utah, the United States; the Pleiades star cluster is visible near the top of the light column; Mars is just below that. Image credit: Bill Dunford / NASA.

Martian Storms May Be Responsible for Interplanetary Dust behind Zodiacal Light

Mar 10, 2021 by News Staff

The zodiacal light is sunlight reflected by interplanetary dust in the inner Solar System. Variations in the zodiacal light with ecliptic latitude reveal...

The inner core of our planet has an inner core of its own, with crystals aligned in a different direction. Image credit: Lachina Publishing Services.

Geoscientists Confirm Existence of Earth’s Innermost Inner Core

Mar 8, 2021 by News Staff

Earth’s inner core has an inner core of its own and its distinct properties may point to a dramatic event in the history of our planet, according to...

This image was captured while Perseverance drove on Mars for the first time on March 4, 2021. One of Perseverance’s Hazard Avoidance Cameras (Hazcams) captured this image as the rover completed a short traverse and turn from its landing site in Jezero Crater. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Perseverance Successfully Performs Its First Drive on Mars

Mar 8, 2021 by News Staff

On March 4, 2021, NASA’s Perseverance rover covered 6.5 m (21.3 feet) across the Martian landscape. This image was captured while Perseverance drove...

The S-type asteroid Itokawa. Image credit: JAXA.

Researchers Find Organic Matter and Water in Sample from Asteroid Itokawa

Mar 5, 2021 by News Staff

An international team of scientists has studied both the water and organic contents from a dust particle recovered from the surface of the near-Earth S-type...

Researchers Observe ‘Space Hurricane’ in Earth’s Ionosphere

Mar 2, 2021 by News Staff

Hurricanes in the Earth’s low atmosphere are well known; however, disturbances resembling hurricanes had never before been detected in the upper atmosphere. An...

Part of the first 360-degree panorama taken by the Mastcam-Z instrument aboard NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS / ASU.

Perseverance Snaps 360-Degree Panorama of Mars

Feb 25, 2021 by News Staff

The 360-degree panorama (high-resolution .tif image) was created from 142 individual images taken on February 21, 2021 (Sol 3) using Mastcam-Z, a mast-mounted...

When flying past Venus on July 11, 2020, the WISPR instrument onboard Parker Solar Probe detected a bright rim around the edge of the planet that may be nightglow. The prominent dark feature in the center of the image is Aphrodite Terra, the largest highland region on the Venusian surface. Bright streaks in WISPR, such as the ones seen here, are typically caused by a combination of cosmic rays, sunlight reflected by grains of space dust, and particles of material expelled from the spacecraft’s structures after impact with those dust grains. The number of streaks varies along the orbit or when the spacecraft is traveling at different speeds, and scientists are still in discussion about the specific origins of the streaks here. The dark spot appearing on the lower portion of Venus is an artifact from the WISPR instrument. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory / Naval Research Laboratory / Guillermo Stenborg / Brendan Gallagher.

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe Returns Spectacular Image of Venus

Feb 25, 2021 by News Staff

The new image was taken by the Wide-field Imager for Parker Solar Probe (WISPR) during the close flyby of the second planet from the Sun on July 11, 2020. When...

An artist’s impression of a water-world exoplanet. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Aquatic Planets are Common in Our Milky Way Galaxy, Study Suggests

Feb 23, 2021 by News Staff

In a study published in the journal Science Advances, a team of European astronomers shows that water can be delivered to a terrestrial planet in the form...

Perseverance’s Navcams captured this view of the rover’s deck on February 20, 2021. This view provides a good look at PIXL (the Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry), one of the instruments on the rover’s stowed arm. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Perseverance Team Releases New Images, Video of Rover’s Landing

Feb 22, 2021 by News Staff

NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance mission captured footage of its rover landing in Jezero Crater on February 18, 2021. The footage was captured by several...

This is the first high-resolution, color image to be sent back by the Hazard Cameras (Hazcams) on the underside of NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover after its landing on February 18, 2021. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Perseverance Sends Back Its First Color Photos, Status Reports from Mars

Feb 22, 2021 by News Staff

Mission controllers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory have received new images from the Perseverance rover as well as health reports from both the...

Perseverance’s first image (colorized) from Jezero Crater, Mars. Image credit: NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

NASA’s Perseverance Rover Successfully Lands on Mars

Feb 19, 2021 by News Staff

After a 203-day journey, NASA’s car-sized Perseverance rover successfully landed in Jezero Crater on Mars on February 18, 2021. Confirmation of the successful...

This illustration shows NASA’s Mars 2020 spacecraft carrying the Perseverance rover as it approaches Mars. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

NASA’s Perseverance Rover to Land on Mars Today: Watch Live

Feb 18, 2021 by News Staff

NASA’s Perseverance rover, with the Ingenuity helicopter attached to its belly, is on target to touch down gently in Jezero Crater on Mars around 3:55...

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

Trace Gas Orbiter Detects Hydrogen Chloride Gas in Atmosphere of Mars

Feb 17, 2021 by News Staff

The source of hydrogen chloride (HCl) in the atmosphere of Mars is recent surface volcanism, subsurface magmatic activity, or aerosol chemistry occurring...

The Chicxulub asteroid hit Earth at an angle of about 60 degrees, which is among the worst-case scenarios for the lethality of the impact by the production of climate-changing gases. Image credit: Chase Stone.

Novel Theory Explains Possible Origin of Dinosaur-Killing Chicxulub Impactor

Feb 16, 2021 by News Staff

At the end of the Cretaceous period, about 66 million years ago, a 10-km impactor crashed into Earth near the site of the small town of Chicxulub in what...

Solar system distances to scale, showing 2018 AG37 compared to other known solar system objects, including the previous record holder 2018 VG18. Image credit: Roberto Molar Candanosa / Scott S. Sheppard, Carnegie Institution for Science / Brooks Bays, University of Hawai’i.

Solar System’s Most Distant Object Confirmed

Feb 11, 2021 by News Staff

Nicknamed ‘Farfarout’ and officially designated 2018 AG37, the newly-confirmed planetoid has a very elongated orbit that takes it out to 175 AU (astronomical...

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