Topic: Solar Systems
Mapping the Solar System

Mapping the Solar System

Here in the inner solar system, we live in the land of rocky objects and cratered planets. While the largest concentration of rocky objects are gathered up in the Asteroid Belt, the entire inner solar system has swarming rocky objects of various sizes. At the most basic level an asteroid is just something that doesn't have ices on its surface that are causing it to grow a tail when temperatures rise and reflect lots of light when it’s fully frozen.  As we move out past Mars and into the asteroid belt, temperatures drop, and we transition from objects like Vesta that formed in wet...

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JWST measures alien weather

JWST measures alien weather

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

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

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

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!...

Catch the (Alien) Rainbow

Catch the (Alien) Rainbow

Each glory is unique, depending on the composition of the planet’s atmosphere and the colors of the light from the star that illuminates it. WASP-76 (the «Sun» of WASP-76b) is a yellow and white main sequence star like our Sun, but different stars create glories with...

Can Radar Protect Us From the Earth-Killer?

Can Radar Protect Us From the Earth-Killer?

Deep Space Station 13 at NASA’s Goldstone complex in California – part of the agency’s Deep Space Network – is an experimental antenna that has been retrofitted with an optical terminal. In a first, this proof of concept received both radio frequency and laser signals...

Using Radar to Watch Asteroid Rotation

Using Radar to Watch Asteroid Rotation

The day before asteroid 2008 OS7 made its close approach with Earth on Feb. 2, this series of images was captured by the powerful 230-foot (70-meter) Goldstone Solar System Radar antenna near Barstow, California. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech One of the most...