Topic: Solar Systems
Chang’e 5 Returns Some Really Cool Science

Chang’e 5 Returns Some Really Cool Science

by | Sep 15, 2024 | ,

Change'e 5 landing site overview. Credit: Chinese National Space Agency's (CNSA) Lunar Exploration and Space Engineering Center On Dec 1, 2020, China landed the Chang’e 5 mission on the near side of the moon. Three days later, that little lander lifted back off with about 1.7 kg lunar rocks and soil.  On Dec 16 this mission would successfully return to Earth and analysis would begin. In this sample, researchers found tiny glass beads produced in Lunar Volcanoes. Analysis of their chemical composition indicates these beads were formed as recently as 120 million years ago. It is unclear...

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Mars Rover Finds Way To Ford Ancient River

Mars Rover Finds Way To Ford Ancient River

by | Jul 2, 2024 |

a map of Percy's path The Perseverance rover has been making its way along the coast line of a long dried up river that once allowed water to drain from Jezero Crater.  Today, the Neretva Vallis river channel isn’t just dry, it’s filled with sand dunes… And Sand Dunes...

Calculating Pluto’s Oceans

Calculating Pluto’s Oceans

by | Jun 20, 2024 |

While amazing data is the start of amazing research, it takes a lot of calculations and models to truly understand what the data mean.  Nine years after the New Horizons mission flew past Pluto and discovered it has mountains of ice, and a strangely cracked landscape,...

Lucy’s Discovered Dinkinesh Throws Rocks

Lucy’s Discovered Dinkinesh Throws Rocks

by | Jun 20, 2024 |

We often find ourselves saying that science moves at that rate of technology. With new telescopes and spacecraft we can get new views on the universe. And some of them are weirdly unexpected. Back in November 2023, the Lucy mission flew past the asteroid Dinkinesh on...

Mars was a badly made Earth 2

Mars was a badly made Earth 2

by | May 22, 2024 |

How a wet Mars may have appeared based on MOLA data. Credit: Ittiz When we look out across the Universe, or even just our Solar System, we are only seeing a moment in the fast history of space. We see a galaxy fully formed with spiral arms and a nice little bar. We...

JWST measures alien weather

JWST measures alien weather

by | May 22, 2024 |

Temperature map of WASP-43b provided by NASA's JWST One of JWST’s raison detres is studying the atmospheres of exoplanets - alien worlds orbiting far off stars. In a new paper in Nature Astronomy, we get spectacular evidence that JWST will achieve its goals. The...

Closer Look: Io and Juno Begin to Part Ways

Closer Look: Io and Juno Begin to Part Ways

by | May 8, 2024 |

Jupiter’s four largest satellites, the Galilean moons, are named after consorts of the Roman god Jupiter: Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. Credit: NASA/JPL/DLR In Roman mythology, Jupiter is not exactly a faithful god. Some would allege him willing to bed just...

The Dying Sun will Take Out the Earth

The Dying Sun will Take Out the Earth

by | Apr 24, 2024 | ,

Clumps of debris from a disrupted planetesimal are irregularly spaced on a long and eccentric orbit around the white dwarf. Individual clouds of rubble intermittently pass in front of the white dwarf, blocking some of its light. Because of the various sizes of the...

Watching Atoms Escape Venus

Watching Atoms Escape Venus

by | Apr 24, 2024 |

This image was processed from archived Mariner 10 data by JPL engineer Kevin M. Gill. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Atmospheres are what make a planet good or evil for life. One of the questions I get asked most often is, “Can we terraform Venus to be like Earth?” Sure!...