Tag Archive for 'Solar System'

Comet C/2019 Q4. Image credit: G. Borisov.

C/2019 Q4: Second Interstellar Object Spotted in Our Solar System

Sep 16, 2019 by News Staff

Astronomers have spotted what they believe is the second object of interstellar origin ever observed in the Solar System. Comet C/2019 Q4. Image credit:...

Hubble observed Saturn on June 20, 2019 as the planet made its closest approach to Earth this year, at approximately 808 million miles away. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / A. Simon, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / M.H. Wong, University of California, Berkeley / OPAL Team.

Hubble Snaps New Image of Saturn and Its Ring System

Sep 12, 2019 by News Staff

Saturn is so beautiful that astronomers cannot resist using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope to take yearly snapshots of the gas giant when it is at...

This artist’s concept of a lake at the north pole of Titan illustrates raised rims and rampartlike features such as those seen by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft around the moon’s Winnipeg Lacus. New research using Cassini radar data and modeling proposes that lake basins like these are likely explosion craters, which could have formed when liquid molecular nitrogen deposits within the crust warmed and quickly turned to vapor, blowing holes in the moon’s crust. This would have happened during a warming event (or events) that occurred in a colder, nitrogen-dominated period in Titan’s past. The study may provide evidence of these cold periods in Titan’s past, followed by a relative warming to conditions like those of today. Although Titan is frigid compared to Earth, methane in the atmosphere provides a greenhouse effect that warms the moon’s surface. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Titan’s Small Methane-Filled Lakes are Explosion Craters: Study

Sep 11, 2019 by News Staff

Small methane-filled lakes on the surface of Titan were likely formed by explosive, pressurized nitrogen just under the hazy moon’s surface, according...

The asteroid (6478) Gault is seen with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, showing two narrow, comet-like tails of debris that tell us that the asteroid is slowly undergoing self-destruction. The bright streaks surrounding the asteroid are background stars. Image credit: NASA / ESA / K. Meech & J. Kleyna, University of Hawaii / O. Hainaut, European Southern Observatory.

Astronomers Find Color-Shifting Asteroid

Sep 4, 2019 by News Staff

Astronomers using the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility have caught an active asteroid called (6478) Gault in the act of changing color — in the near-infrared...

A composite image of Venus as seen by JAXA’s Akatsuki spacecraft. Image credit: Institute of Space and Astronautical Science / Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

Unidentified ‘Absorbers’ Soak Up Solar Energy in Upper Cloud Layer of Venus

Sep 4, 2019 by News Staff

Venus’ surface has never been seen by the human eye because of opaque, highly reflective clouds which permanently cover the planet. What is curious about...

It’s raining on Titan. Image credit: David A. Hardy, AstroArt / NASA.

Astronomers Detect Propadiene on Saturn’s Moon Titan

Aug 26, 2019 by Sergio Prostak

Astronomers using the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) have spotted propadiene — a colorless, flammable gas, best known as a fuel for specialized...

Astronomers Peer Deep into Turbulent Atmosphere of Jupiter

Aug 23, 2019 by News Staff

An international team of astronomers has managed to peer deep into the Jovian atmosphere using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA)...

A 2016 artist’s concept of the Europa Clipper spacecraft. The design is changing as the spacecraft is developed. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

NASA Confirms Europa Clipper Mission

Aug 21, 2019 by News Staff

NASA’s Europa Clipper mission is moving toward completion of its final design, followed by the construction and testing of the solar-powered spacecraft...

The four MMS spacecraft -- shown here in an artist’s concept -- have made more than 4,000 trips through the boundaries of Earth’s magnetic field. Image credit: NASA / Goddard / Conceptual Image Lab.

NASA’s MMS Spacecraft Makes First High-Resolution Measurements of Interplanetary Shock

Aug 16, 2019 by News Staff

Interplanetary shocks are a type of collisionless shock — events where particles transfer energy through electromagnetic fields instead of directly...

An artist’s impression of a collision between the proto-Jupiter and a massive protoplanet in the early Solar System. Image credit: K. Suda & Y. Akimoto, Mabuchi Design Office / Astrobiology Center, Japan.

Massive Planetary Embryo Crashed into Jupiter 4.5 Billion Years Ago

Aug 15, 2019 by News Staff

An energetic head-on collision between a large planetary embryo and the proto-Jupiter about 4.5 billion years ago could explain puzzling gravitational...

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe approaching the Sun. Image credit: NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio.

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe Completes Two Orbits around Sun

Aug 15, 2019 by News Staff

Since the Parker Solar Probe launched on August 12, 2018, Earth has made a single trip around the Sun, while the spacecraft is well into its third orbit...

A view of Mars showing the planet’s northern polar ice cap. Image credit: ISRO / ISSDC / Emily Lakdawalla.

New Study Rules Out Wind Erosion of Rocks as Source of Methane on Mars

Aug 14, 2019 by News Staff

A new study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, has ruled out the possibility that the levels of methane detected in the Martian atmosphere could...

This new Hubble image of Jupiter, taken on June 27, 2019, reveals the giant planet’s Great Red Spot, and a more intense color palette in the clouds swirling in Jupiter's turbulent atmosphere than seen in previous years. The colors, and their changes, provide important clues to ongoing processes in Jupiter’s atmosphere. The bands are created by differences in the thickness and height of the ammonia ice clouds. The colorful bands, which flow in opposite directions at various latitudes, result from different atmospheric pressures. Lighter bands rise higher and have thicker clouds than the darker bands. Image credit: NASA / ESA / A. Simon, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / M.H. Wong, University of California, Berkeley.

Hubble Snaps Super-Sharp Image of Jupiter

Aug 9, 2019 by News Staff

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope obtained a detailed image of Jupiter on June 27, 2019, when the gas giant was approximately 400 million miles (644...

This image (colorized), taken by the International Scientific Optical Network (ISON), shows the near-Earth asteroid 2019 OK. Image credit: S. Schmalz / ISON.

Astronomers Snap Images of Near-Earth Asteroid 2019 OK

Aug 7, 2019 by News Staff

Using several telescopes of the International Scientific Optical Network (ISON), astronomers have captured a series of images of the recently-discovered...

Astronomers Create New 3D Map of Milky Way Galaxy

Aug 2, 2019 by News Staff

By measuring the distance from the Sun to thousands of classical Cepheid stars and the associated young stellar populations scattered across the Milky...

An illustration of an asteroid in space. Image credit: NASA / JPL / Caltech.

Big Asteroid Buzzed Past Earth Last Week: 2019 OK

Jul 31, 2019 by The Conversation

A 330-foot- (100 m) wide asteroid designated 2019 OK passed just 43,500 miles (70,000 km) from Earth on July 25, 2019. It was discovered by the Brazilian...

An artist’s impression of Jupiter’s moon Europa occulting a distant star. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / DLR / Sci-News.com.

Astronomers Observe Stellar Occultation by Jupiter’s Moon Europa

Jul 29, 2019 by News Staff

In March 2017, Brazilian National Observatory astronomer Bruno Morgado and colleagues took advantage of the beginning of the Jupiter passage through a...

A high-resolution free-air gravity map based on data returned from NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission, overlaid on terrain based on NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) altimeter and camera data. The view is south-up, with the south pole near the horizon in the upper left. The terminator crosses the eastern rim of the Schrödinger basin. Gravity is painted onto the areas that are in or near the night side. Red corresponds to mass excesses and blue to mass deficits. Image credit: NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio.

Solar Wind and Meteoroids Erode Water Frost in Lunar Polar Craters, Planetary Researchers Say

Jul 24, 2019 by News Staff

Lunar orbiters recently detected water frost on the floor of some of the south polar craters, regions that are known to be very cold and can trap water....

An artist’s impression of a terraformed Mars. Image credit: Daein Ballard / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Mars Terraforming: Silica Aerogel Could Warm Widespread Regions of Martian Surface

Jul 16, 2019 by News Staff

New research by scientists from Harvard University, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the UK Centre for Astrobiology shows that widespread regions...

Earth’s internal structure: dense solid metallic core, viscous metallic outer core, mantle and silicate based crust. Image credit: NASA.

Material from Earth’s Core Has Been Leaking into Mantle for Billions of Years

Jul 12, 2019 by The Conversation

Earth’s magnetic field protects and makes our planet habitable by stopping harmful high-energy particles from space, including from the Sun. The source...

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