Planetary Science

An Enigmatic Unseen Influence Is Producing Water on the Moon.

Credit: PixaobayWhile we are aware of the existence of lunar ice, its origin remains somewhat uncertain. A recent investigation proposes that streams of electrons, which indirectly originate from both Earth and the Sun, are playing a role in the creation of frozen water on the Moon's surface.These electrons impact the Moon when it traverses...

Webb Unveils Previously Unseen Formations within the Renowned Supernova

Credit: PixaobayThe James Webb Space Telescope from NASA has initiated its examination of the famous supernova, SN 1987A, situated 168,000 light-years distant in the Large Magellanic Cloud. This supernova has been under extensive scrutiny for nearly four decades, spanning from gamma rays to radio waves, since its detection in February 1987. Fresh observations using...

NASA’s TESS Mission has Detected a Small Exoplanet Resembling Neptune in Size

The Target Pixel File (TPF) for TOI-332 (marked as a white cross) from TESS S1. Credit: Osborn et al., 2023.By employing NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), a group of astronomers from around the world has detected a fresh, substantial, and compact exoplanet. This recently discovered extraterrestrial planet, named TOI-332 b, ranks among the...

Recently identified Sun “Nanoflares” May Serve as the Origin of Solar Wind

Credit: PixaobayWhile outer space lacks traditional air, it experiences a unique form of wind known as solar wind, composed of charged particles emitted by the Sun. The precise process driving this phenomenon remains unclear, but the Solar Orbiter spacecraft from the European Space Agency (ESA) has recently detected hitherto undiscovered "small-scale" eruptions on the...

Recent Image Unveils the Mysteries Surrounding the Formation of Planets

At the center of this image is the young star V960 Mon, located over 5000 light-years away in the constellation Monoceros. Dusty material with potential to form planets surrounds the star. Observations obtained using the Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet REsearch (SPHERE - https://www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/paranal-observatory/vlt/vlt-instr/sphere/) instrument on ESO’s VLT (eso.org/public/teles-instr/paranal-observatory/vlt/), represented in yellow in this image, show...

Data From InSight Suggests Mars has an All-Liquid Core and Internal Mass Anomalies

Comparison between the classical model of rotation of Mars and the one proposed in this study. Temporal evolution of the 30-months solutions for the FCN period (a), the core amplification factor (b), and the precession rate (c), with the classical spin model (orange) and with the model with corrections on the rotation rate for the post-dust-storm period...

Hubble Captures Highly Energetic Galaxy NGC 547

Galaxy NGC 547. Credit: NASA, ESA, J. Blakeslee (NOIRLab - (AZ)), and W. Sparks (SETI Institute); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America).In the constellation Cetus, located about 250 million light-years from Earth, sits the elliptical galaxy NGC 547. This galaxy is the subject of a stunning image the NASA Hubble Space Telescope captured....

Cause Of Earth’s Magnetic Field Anomalies Identified

According to recent research, irregularities in the cooling process of molten iron in the Earth's core are responsible for variations in the planet's magnetic field.The swirling molten iron in the Earth's core controls the magnetic field /Credit: preparaenem.comWhy do satellite operations and compass readings experience interference that results in inaccurate directions not aligned with...

Planetary Scientist Argues for Sending a Dedicated Probe to Uranus

A panel of experts thinks that Nasa should send a spacecraft to Uranus Credito: NASAKathleen MandtKathleen Mandt, a planetary scientist at Johns Hopkins College's Applied Physics Research laboratory. In her Perspectives piece published in the journal Science, Kathleen Mandt highlights the scientific value of a dedicated Uranus probe. Uranus, one of the...

Using Minnesota Rocks To Illustrate How An Atmosphere Could Have Formed On Mars

Comparison between (proto-)serpentinites of the Duluth Complex and available samples from Mars. Credit: Science Advances (2023). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.add8472A pair of researchers, hailing respectively from the University of Calgary in Canada and the University of Cambridge in the UK, have found that analyzing rocks from Duluth, Minnesota, may yield understanding about the development of the ancient atmosphere...