In Jessica Barnes' palm is an ancient, coin-sized mosaic of glass, minerals and rocks as thick as a strand of wool fiber. It is a slice of Martian meteorite, known as Northwest Africa 7034 or Black Beauty, that was formed ...
Space Exploration
Mar 30, 2020
1
356
Organic compounds called thiophenes are found on Earth in coal, crude oil and oddly enough, in white truffles, the mushroom beloved by epicureans and wild pigs.
Space Exploration
Mar 5, 2020
36
5483
Scientists have devised new analytical tools to break down the enigmatic history of Mars' atmosphere—and whether life was once possible there.
Space Exploration
Feb 26, 2020
5
269
The early solar system was a chaotic place, with evidence indicating that Mars was likely struck by planetesimals, small protoplanets up to 1,200 miles in diameter, early in its history. Southwest Research Institute scientists ...
Space Exploration
Feb 12, 2020
5
411
Asteroids come in all shapes and sizes, and now astronomers at MIT and elsewhere have observed an asteroid so heavily cratered that they are dubbing it the "golf ball asteroid."
Astronomy
Feb 11, 2020
0
359
A grand synthesis of Rosetta data has shown how its target comet repeatedly changed color during the two years it was watched by the spacecraft. The chameleon comet's nucleus became progressively less red as it made its close ...
Space Exploration
Feb 6, 2020
4
355
In 1966, two Caltech scientists were ruminating on the implications of the thin carbon dioxide (CO2) Martian atmosphere first revealed by Mariner IV, a NASA fly-by spacecraft built and flown by JPL. They theorized that Mars, ...
Astronomy
Jan 29, 2020
10
2349
An unusual chunk in a meteorite may contain a surprising bit of space history, based on new research from Washington University in St. Louis.
Astronomy
Jan 28, 2020
7
3890
If you wanted to narrow down the search for Earth-like worlds in a vast universe, how might you go about it?
Space Exploration
Dec 17, 2019
1
312
Today, a paper published in Science documents for the first time the global wind circulation patterns in the upper atmosphere of a planet, 120 to 300 kilometers above the surface. The findings are based on local observations, ...
Astronomy
Dec 12, 2019
1
808
