Stellar winds may electrify exoplanets

(Phys.org) —The strangest class of exoplanets found to date might be even stranger than astronomers have thought. A new model suggests that they are partially heated by electric currents linked to their host stars. Florida ...

Mapping the chemistry needed for life at Europa

(Phys.org) —A new paper led by a NASA researcher shows that hydrogen peroxide is abundant across much of the surface of Jupiter's moon Europa. The authors argue that if the peroxide on the surface of Europa mixes into the ...

Dawn is in silent pursuit of Ceres

In the depths of the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, far from Earth, far even from any human-made object, Dawn remains in silent pursuit of dwarf planet Ceres.

NASA and JPL contribute to European Jupiter mission

NASA has selected key contributions to a 2022 European Space Agency (ESA) mission that will study Jupiter and three of its largest moons in unprecedented detail. The moons are thought to harbor vast water oceans beneath their ...

Highly inflated Jupiters

There are currently 851 confirmed extra-solar planets. Of these, 289 were detected because their orbits (as seen from Earth) take them across the face of their host star, dimming the star's light in a transit event. The Kepler ...

Cassini finds a video gamers' paradise at Saturn

(Phys.org)—You could call this "Pac-Man, the Sequel." Scientists with NASA's Cassini mission have spotted a second feature shaped like the 1980s video game icon in the Saturn system, this time on the moon Tethys. (The first ...

What caused the recent explosion at Jupiter?

A bright flash was spotted on Jupiter early on the morning of September 10, 2012, and astronomers were hoping to later see an impact "scar" which would provide more information about the object that slammed into the giant ...

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