Planetary Science

  1. 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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  2. 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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  3. 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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  4. 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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  5. Planetary Science

    A rain of electrons causes Mercury’s X-ray auroras

    The first direct measurement of electrons raining down on Mercury suggests this particle precipitation causes most auroras in the solar system.

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  6. Astronomy

    Ryugu asteroid samples are sprinkled with stardust older than the solar system

    Slivers of the asteroid appear to be from the fringes of the solar system and could reveal bits of the history of the sun and its planets.

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  7. Astronomy

    ‘Under Alien Skies’ imagines what the sky looks like on other planets

    Astronomer Philip Plait’s new book takes readers on a thrilling ride to Mars, Pluto and even a black hole.

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  8. Astronomy

    Jupiter-sized planets are very rare around the least massive stars

    A six-year search of 200 nearby low-mass red dwarf stars found no Jupiter-like planets, boosting the standard theory for how such planets form.

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  9. Space

    A cyclone has been spotted swirling over Uranus’ north pole for the first time

    Voyager 2 hinted at a cyclone at Uranus’ south pole. Now Earth-based observations give the first direct evidence of a storm at the ice giant’s north pole.

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  10. Planetary Science

    JWST captured Enceladus’ plume spraying water nearly 10,000 kilometers into space

    NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope reveals the rate at which Saturn’s moon Enceladus spews water and where that water ends up.

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  11. Planetary Science

    A quake on Mars showed its crust is thicker than Earth’s

    Seismic data from NASA’s Insight lander reveal the crust is roughly 50 kilometers thick, with the northern crust being thinner than the south’s.

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  12. Planetary Science

    Jupiter’s lightning bolts contort the same way as Earth’s

    Jovian lightning extends in jagged steps as it does on Earth, data from NASA’s Juno spacecraft suggest. The finding might aid the search for life.

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