Planetary Science

  1. Planetary Science

    Giant polygon rock patterns may be buried deep below Mars’ surface

    A Chinese rover used radar to reveal long-buried terrain that might hint that Mars’ equator was once much colder and wetter.

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  2. Planetary Science

    50 years ago, the first probe to visit Mercury launched

    In the 1970s, NASA’s Mariner 10 became the first spacecraft to visit Mercury. Only one other probe has made the journey and another one is on its way.

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  3. Planetary Science

    JWST spotted a new speedy jet stream in Jupiter’s atmosphere

    Seen in images from the James Webb Space Telescope, the high-altitude feature may help untangle the inner workings of the giant planet’s atmosphere.

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  4. Planetary Science

    Marsquakes and meteorite hits show Mars has a dense liquid metal core

    Mars’ dense liquid iron core is wrapped in a layer of molten rock, which threw off previous measurements of the Red Planet’s heart.

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  5. Planetary Science

    Giant planet ‘destabilization’ may have coincided with the birth of Earth’s moon

    New meteorite data suggest the orbits of the giant planets abruptly changed about 60 million to 100 million years after the solar system started forming.

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  6. Planetary Science

    Here’s another strike against Venus having copious lightning

    Past data and the Parker Solar Probe’s new discovery of weird whistler waves overturn the idea that Venus’ hellish atmosphere has a lot of lightning.

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  7. Planetary Science

    In a first, astronomers spot the afterglow of an exoplanet collision

    A surge of infrared light from a remote star might have been a glow cast by the vaporized leftovers of an impact between Neptune-sized worlds.

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  8. Planetary Science

    How drones are helping scientists find meteorites

    Searching for fallen space rocks is labor intensive. A team of researchers in Australia is speeding things up with drones and machine learning.

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  9. Planetary Science

    Flashes in Venus’ atmosphere might be meteors, not lightning

    With upcoming missions planned for Venus, scientists are eager to figure out the origin of the mysterious flashes.

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  10. Earth

    50 years ago, mysterious glass hinted at Earth’s violent past

    Like Hansel and Gretel followed a trail of breadcrumbs, scientists have followed tektites to the sites of major meteorite impacts.

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  11. Planetary Science

    NASA’s DART mission lofted a swarm of boulders into space

    Hubble telescope images of the asteroid Dimorphos reveal a halo of 37 dim, newfound objects — most likely boulders shaken loose from the surface.

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  12. Planetary Science

    Granite likely lurks beneath the moon’s surface

    Without plate tectonics or water, granite is hard to make. But a 50-kilometer-wide hunk sits beneath the moon’s surface, lunar orbiter data suggest.

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