Image: Saharan dust in the wind
The Suomi NPP satellite acquired this image of a plume of Saharan dust as winds lofted it over the Atlantic Ocean on Aug. 24, 2024.
Planetary Sciences
Aug 30, 2024
0
21
Planetary Sciences news
What type of excavator is most suitable for asteroids?
Digging in the ground is so commonplace on Earth that we hardly ever think of it as hard. But doing so in space is an entirely different proposition. On some larger worlds, like the moon or Mars, it would be broadly similar ...
Space Exploration
Aug 30, 2024
0
44
The Rubin observatory will unleash a flood of NEO detections, say researchers
After about 10 years of construction, the Vera Rubin Observatory (VRO) is scheduled to see its first light in January 2025. Once it's up and running, it will begin its Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), a decade-long ...
Astronomy
Aug 30, 2024
0
50
Mini lab secures NASA ride to the moon
A miniaturized laboratory developed by The Open University (OU) with support from RAL Space will fly to the lunar South Polar region in the European Space Agency's (ESA) Prospect package in search of volatiles, including ...
Planetary Sciences
Aug 30, 2024
0
25
Scientists discover a long-sought global electric field on Earth
Using observations from a NASA suborbital rocket, an international team of scientists, for the first time, has successfully measured a planet-wide electric field thought to be as fundamental to Earth as its gravity and magnetic ...
Planetary Sciences
Aug 28, 2024
0
307
NASA's Perseverance rover on Mars begins steep climb to rim of a crater
NASA's Perseverance rover is tackling a steep new challenge on Mars.
Space Exploration
Aug 28, 2024
0
16
In six new rogue worlds, Webb Telescope finds more star birth clues
The James Webb Space Telescope has spotted six likely rogue worlds—objects with planetlike masses but untethered from any star's gravity—including the lightest ever identified with a dusty disk around it.
Astronomy
Aug 27, 2024
0
208
Ice caps on Mars offer clues to ancient climates
As a first-year master's student in the Department of Earth Sciences, Katherine Lutz became fascinated by satellite images of Mars that showed spiraling shapes swirling across the planet's polar ice caps.
Planetary Sciences
Aug 27, 2024
0
17
Geologists discover hidden magmatism at the Chang'e-6 lunar landing site
Lunar igneous activities, including intrusive and extrusive magmatism, and their products contain significant information about the lunar interior and its thermal state. Their distribution is asymmetrical on the nearside ...
Planetary Sciences
Aug 27, 2024
0
58
X-ray telescopes could also study exoplanets, say astronomers
Exoplanets are often discovered using the transit method (more than three-quarters of those discovered have been found this way.) The same transit technique can be used to study them, often revealing details about their atmosphere.
Astronomy
Aug 27, 2024
0
39
