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Planetary Sciences news
A new way to detect daisy worlds
The daisy world model describes a hypothetical planet that self-regulates, maintaining a delicate balance involving its biogeochemical cycles, climate, and feedback loops that keep it habitable. It's associated with the Gaia ...
Planetary Sciences
15 hours ago
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Solar wind power likely governs Uranus' thermosphere temperature
Uranus's upper atmosphere has been cooling for decades—and now scientists have shown why. Observations from Earth have shown Uranus' upper atmosphere has been cooling for decades, with no clear explanation.
Planetary Sciences
Nov 15, 2024
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Basalt samples from Chang'e-6 mission offer insights on lunar farside volcanism
Basalt samples returned by the Chang'e-6 mission have revealed volcanic events on the lunar farside at 2.8 billion years ago (Ga) and 4.2 Ga, according to research conducted by Prof. Li Qiuli's lab at the Institute of Geology ...
Planetary Sciences
Nov 15, 2024
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Chang'e-6 lunar samples reveal 2.83-billion-year-old basalt with depleted mantle source
The moon has a global dichotomy, with its near and far sides having different geomorphology, topography, chemical composition, crustal thickness, and evidence of volcanism. To better understand this dichotomy, Professor Xu ...
Planetary Sciences
Nov 15, 2024
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Astronomers discover ultra-dense 'super-Earth' with outer companion offering clues about its formation
An international team led by researchers in Japan and Europe has discovered a new multi-planet system around a sun-like star, including an ultra-short period planet with one of the highest densities ever measured. The findings, ...
Planetary Sciences
Nov 15, 2024
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Northern lights: How the aurora borealis captivated 18th-century minds
Since May this year, the aurora borealis (northern lights), has at times been visible further south than usual over Britain, sparking amazement and fascination. Social media has been alive with images of the skies glowing ...
Astronomy
Nov 14, 2024
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A new mission to Pluto could answer the questions raised by New Horizons
Pluto may have been downgraded from full-planet status, but that doesn't mean it doesn't hold a special place in scientist's hearts. There are practical and sentimental reasons for that—Pluto has tantalizing mysteries to ...
Space Exploration
Nov 14, 2024
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Sunspots and solar flares, created by the sun's magnetism, can affect the Earth's surface
Since ancient times, the sun has been known as a giver of light and heat, a source of life. Plants are coaxed from the Earth by its rays, bringing spring, followed by bountiful harvests.
Planetary Sciences
Nov 14, 2024
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Mapping changes in the ionosphere with smartphones
Aggregated measurements from millions of smartphones could be used to create a comprehensive map of the Earth's ionosphere, leading to better global positioning systems, according to a new paper published in Nature.
Planetary Sciences
Nov 14, 2024
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Student-led study reveals extraterrestrial explosions may blow hot and cold
Mount Vesuvius, Krakatoa, Mount St. Helens: Since the formation of Earth approximately 4.5 billion years ago, the convection and release of hot magma in its mantle layer has famously led to some of the deadliest eruptions ...
Planetary Sciences
Nov 14, 2024
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Scientists compile library for evaluating exoplanet water
By probing chemical processes observed in the Earth's hot mantle, Cornell scientists have started developing a library of basalt-based spectral signatures that not only will help reveal the composition of planets outside ...
Planetary Sciences
Nov 14, 2024
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Meteorite contains evidence of liquid water on Mars 742 million years ago
An asteroid struck Mars 11 million years ago and sent pieces of the red planet hurtling through space. One of these chunks of Mars eventually crashed into the Earth somewhere near Purdue University and is one of the few meteorites ...
Planetary Sciences
Nov 13, 2024
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Spacecraft completed for NASA's TRACERS mission, key milestone passed
The twin spacecraft of NASA's TRACERS (Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites) mission were recently completed, in preparation for launch in 2025.
Planetary Sciences
Nov 13, 2024
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Observations explore icy protoplanetary disk of the star PDS 453
Using ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT), an international team of astronomers has inspected an icy protoplanetary disk of a young star known as PDS 453. Results of the new study, published on the preprint server arXiv, yield ...
Philae's extraordinary comet landing relived
On 12 November 2014, after a 10-year journey through the solar system and over 500 million kilometers from home, Rosetta's lander Philae made space exploration history by touching down on a comet for the first time. On the ...
Planetary Sciences
Nov 12, 2024
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Team proposes new solar composition ratios that could reconcile longstanding questions
A Southwest Research Institute-led team combined compositional data of primitive bodies like Kuiper Belt objects, asteroids and comets with new solar data sets to develop a revised solar composition that potentially reconciles ...
Astronomy
Nov 12, 2024
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A mission to Triton and Neptune could unlock their mysteries
A town in the Austrian Alps might not seem like the most conducive place to come up with daring space missions. But, for the last 40 years, students and professors have been gathering to do just that in Alpbach, just north ...
Planetary Sciences
Nov 12, 2024
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Right now, the sun is far more active than predicted—and small satellites are paying the price
Last week, three tiny Australian satellites from Curtin University's Binar Space Program burned up in Earth's atmosphere. That was always going to happen. In fact, Binar means "fireball" in the Noongar language of the First ...
Planetary Sciences
Nov 12, 2024
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Happy New Year on Mars
12 November 2024 marks the start of a new year on Mars. At exactly 10:32 CET/09:32 UTC on Earth, the Red Planet begins a new orbit around our sun.
Planetary Sciences
Nov 12, 2024
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AI-enhanced model could improve space weather forecasting
"Killer electrons" that travel at nearly light speed inside Earth's Van Allen belts—the zone that surrounds the planet and traps energetic charged particles—pose a major threat to equipment in space by causing malfunctions ...
Planetary Sciences
Nov 11, 2024
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More news
Mining old data from NASA's Voyager 2 solves several Uranus mysteries
Powerful new US-Indian satellite will track Earth's changing surface
Chinese rover finds evidence of ancient Martian ocean
Proba-3 will constantly measure Sun's energy output
Scientists have figured out why Martian soil is so crusty
How many additional exoplanets are in known systems?
Moon waves goodbye to Hera
Carbon dioxide collapse: How water flowed on an icy Mars
International SWOT satellite spots planet-rumbling Greenland tsunami
This is what it sounds like when the Earth's poles flip
Other news
Selenoproteins open new strategies for treating certain cancers in children
Methylmercury: How microbes create the most toxic form of mercury
'Jekyll and Hyde' leaders do lasting damage, new study shows
Study challenges assumptions about how tuberculosis bacteria grow
Physicists create the first fully mechanical qubit
Scientists propose drug-free method to combat antibiotic-resistant bacteria
Sols 4350-4351: A whole team effort
Tiny fragments of a 4-billion-year-old asteroid reveal its history
Haunting whispers from the Martian landscape make for a spooky 'soliday'
Laser measurements help track space debris and observe water masses
Image: A particular lenticular cloud
Uranus' moon Miranda may have an ocean beneath its surface, study finds
NASA's Perseverance rover looks back while climbing slippery slope
