We’re back! Today we’re bringing you all the latest news, from a fast radio burst in our galaxy to the first brown dwarf discovered using radio telescopes. And telescopes are the hot topic today: using them, renaming them, and sadly, breaking them. Plus the Atacama Desert and Martian life, Europa’s glow, and a roundup of recent planetary science stories.
Today’s top story brings us 39 new gravitational wave detections of black holes and neutron stars, courtesy of the LIGO and VIRGO detectors. Also, it’s Titan’s turn for interesting molecules in the atmosphere, and researchers examined impact craters to see what might lie beneath Titan’s surface. Plus, Hayabusa2’s impact on Ryugu and an updated origin story for Jupiter and Saturn.
New radio images from the ALMA telescope show the direct effects of Io’s volcanism on its atmosphere. Plus, we’ll take a look at the next NASA missions to small bodies that we have to look forward to now that OSIRIS-REx has completed the first touch-and-go sample. And you should smile and wave up at the sky because there are exoplanets that could see us, too
Join us as we take a look back two weeks’ worth of planetary stories, including solar system research on a binary trans-Neptunian object, diamonds in meteorites, the stratification of Titan’s lakes, and how Jupiter affected Venus’ habitability. Plus we go farther into space and see how super flares affect the chances for life on exoplanets and find an exoplanet with vaporized metal in its atmosphere.
Join us for this week’s Planetary Pandemonium as host Beth Johnson covers some of the planetary science news for the week, including metal hydrogen (WHAT), Galilean moons (IO), and a newly discovered asteroid, courtesy of a citizen scientist (WOW). Plus an update on Arecibo Observatory.
Join us today as we look at how fractures on Europa’s surface are leading scientists to reevaluate the geologic past of the Jovian moon. Speaking of Jovian moons, Sweden has finished an instrument for the JUICE mission that will measure electromagnetic fields and map the oceans of Ganymede. And finally, Comet NEOWISE continues to make headlines with new images from Hubble and Gemini.
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