Pluto's "icy heart" is a bright, two-lobed feature on its surface that has attracted researchers ever since its discovery by the NASA New Horizons team in 2015. Of particular interest is the heart's western lobe, informally ...
Space Exploration
Nov 30, 2016
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224
Around 3.8 billion years ago, an asteroid more than 150 miles across, roughly equal to the length of New Jersey, slammed into the Moon and created the Imbrium Basin—the right eye of the fabled Man in the Moon. This new ...
Space Exploration
Jul 20, 2016
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452
In 2013, Chang'e-3, an unmanned lunar mission, touched down on the northern part of the Imbrium basin, one of the most prominent of the lava-filled impact basins visible from Earth.
Space Exploration
Dec 22, 2015
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(Phys.org)—A trio of researchers from the University of London and King's College, studying the history of Lake Chad has found that the lake was reduced to its current size very quickly just 1,000 years ago. In their paper ...
The second largest sand sea in the world, the Takliman Desert in central Asia influences geology, the global climate, and has even shaped the development of global human culture—the two branches of the Silk Road along its ...
(Phys.org)—The Chinese Chang'e 3 mission to the moon successfully landed and deployed the Yutu rover in December 2013. Although the rover experienced operational difficulties after 14 days, it is still gathering and transmitting ...
For the first time, an international research team has provided direct evidence of the rate at which individual trees in the Amazonian basin 'inhale' carbon from the atmosphere during a severe drought. They measured the growth ...
Environment
Mar 4, 2015
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687
(Phys.org) —Climate scientists have long documented the strong control of Earth's orbital variations on the waxing and waning of the great ice ages, when huge "pluvial" lakes filled the valley floors of the Great Basin. ...
Earth Sciences
May 5, 2014
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0
Large river networks—such as those that funnel into the Colorado and Mississippi rivers—may seem to be permanent features of a landscape. In fact, many rivers define political boundaries that have been in place for centuries.
Earth Sciences
Mar 6, 2014
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(Phys.org) —A diverse group of researchers led by a team out of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center has dispelled the notion that the Amazon basin becomes greener during times of less rain. In their paper published in the ...
