Planetary Science

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The galaxy’s coldest “stars” could actually be enormous structures built by aliens

Leave a Comment / Astronomy, Planetary Science /

Astronomers could potentially detect Dyson swarms by searching for unusually cool, smooth infrared emissions surrounding long-lived stars. Since physicist Freeman Dyson first proposed the concept in 1960, the “Dyson sphere” has become one of the most prominent hypothetical technosignatures in the search for advanced extraterrestrial intelligence. A highly advanced civilization might surround its star with […]

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NASA’s Psyche spacecraft used Mars’s gravity for a slingshot maneuver to adjust its path

Leave a Comment / Planetary Science, Space & Environment /

NASA’s Psyche spacecraft used Mars as a gravity slingshot while traveling toward a metal-rich world that may help uncover what lies inside planets like Earth. On May 15, NASA’s Psyche spacecraft flew just 2,864 miles (4,609 kilometers) above Mars in a successful close pass. The spacecraft used Mars’ gravity to gain speed and adjust its

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Sulfur-rich magmas on Mercury act differently from those on Earth

Astronomy, Planetary Science /

Mercury is a small, rocky world that scientists still understand only in limited detail. Data from two flyby missions show that its surface is made up of a crust low in iron but rich in sulfur. The planet is also in a reduced chemical state, meaning its materials have gained electrons—making it the most reduced

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Webb reshapes the boundary between planets and stars

Astronomy, Planetary Science /

Planets such as those in our solar system develop through a bottom-up process, where tiny fragments of rock and ice gradually stick together and grow. However, the more massive a planet becomes, the more difficult it is to account for its formation through this mechanism. Astronomers analyzed 29 Cygni b using NASA’s James Webb Space

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Scientists Crack the Mystery Behind Asteroid Bennu’s Baffling Surface

Astronomy, Planetary Science /

A detailed examination of Bennu’s rocks uncovered a surprising hint that altered the narrative. One of NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission’s most surprising discoveries was Bennu’s actual surface. Contrary to earlier Earth-based predictions of many smooth regions, the asteroid revealed itself as a rugged, uneven terrain strewn with massive boulders. “When OSIRIS-REx arrived at Bennu in 2018,

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Astronomers Stunned by the Unusual “Inside-Out” Structure of a Solar System

Astronomy, Planetary Science /

Astonished astronomers reported Thursday the discovery of a star whose planets are arranged in an unusual sequence that challenges established scientific understanding, indicating these distant worlds may have formed in a way never observed before. In our Solar System, the four planets nearest the Sun are small and rocky, while the four outer planets are

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New Radio Method Detects Hidden Dwarf Star Bursts, Hints at Exoplanets

Astronomy, Planetary Science /

An international team, including Cornell’s Jake Turner, developed a method to uncover hidden stellar and exoplanetary signals in archival radio data. Using this technique, scientists have identified new radio bursts from dwarf stars and potentially from exoplanets. The method, Multiplexed Interferometric Radio Spectroscopy (RIMS), reveals some signals linked to star–planet interactions. The findings appeared in

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BepiColombo Mio and GEOTAIL Observe Similar Magnetosphere Wave Frequencies

Astronomy, Planetary Science /

An international team from Kanazawa University (Japan), Tohoku University (Japan), LPP (France), and collaborators has shown that chorus emissions—natural electromagnetic waves well-known in Earth’s magnetosphere—also appear in Mercury’s magnetosphere, displaying similar chirping frequency patterns. BepiColombo’s Mio recorded audible plasma waves during six Mercury flybys from 2021 to 2025. Comparison with decades of GEOTAIL data showed

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Rocky Exoplanets Might be Shielded from Radiation by Magma Oceans

Astronomy, Planetary Science /

Far below the surface of distant super-Earth exoplanets, vast oceans of molten rock could be generating powerful magnetic fields capable of protecting the planets from hazardous cosmic radiation and other high-energy particles. Earth’s magnetic field arises from movements in its liquid iron outer core, a process called a dynamo. However, larger rocky planets like super-Earths

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Microgravity Spaceflight Causes Astronauts’ Brains to Shift and Deform

Astronomy, Planetary Science /

Spaceflight places significant physical strain on astronauts, leading to muscle loss, bone thinning, and fluid shifts. A new study in PNAS shows that microgravity also causes the brain to change shape. On Earth, gravity helps hold the brain in position, while surrounding cerebrospinal fluid cushions it. Scientists have long known that without gravity the brain

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