All posts tagged: Planetary Science

NASA’s Perseverance Explores Mars’ Oldest Rocks in Krokodillen Region

NASA’s Perseverance Explores Mars’ Oldest Rocks in Krokodillen Region

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NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover is now exploring a new region on the lower slope of Jezero Crater’s rim. This region “Krokodillen,” named after a mountain ridge on the island of Prins Karls Forland, Norway, Krokodillen (which means “the crocodile” in Norwegian) is a 73-acre (about 30-hectare) plateau of rocky outcrops located downslope to the west and south of Witch Hazel Hill. Previous studies suggest that this region contains some of the oldest rocks from the Noachian period, the earliest geological era of Mars. This region gives a chance to study the environmental history of Mars because it marks a key boundary between ancient crater rim formations and younger plains. Minerals and the indication of water As per preliminary studies over this region, signs of clay, olivine, and carbonate minerals have been found. Krokodillen plateau contains rocky outcrops rich in clays, minerals that only form in the presence of water. Their discovery hints at a wetter ancient Mars and raises the potential for finding preserved organic compounds — the chemical signatures of life. These findings build …

New Study Uses AI to Reveal Dry Origins of Mars’ Mysterious Slope Streaks

New Study Uses AI to Reveal Dry Origins of Mars’ Mysterious Slope Streaks

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The origin of Recurring Slope Linea, the long, dark markings that stretches across the slopes of Martian surface for hundreds of feet, has been a topic of debate for a long time. They appear during warmer season and they were seen as one of the most compelling signs that liquid water might still exist on Mars, suggesting a rare pocket of habitability on an otherwise arid planet. However, this view has been challenged by a new study by a group of researchers Brown University and the University of Bern. Using machine learning and leveraging satellite images, they have found evidence about the dry processes being the origin of these streaks. Machine learning breakthrough brings new evidences According to Adomas Valantinas, a postdoctoral researcher at Brown who coauthored the research with Valentin Bickel, a researcher at Bern, a big focus of Mars research is understanding modern-day processes on Mars, including the possibility of liquid water on the surface. This study reviewed these features but found no evidence of water. Their model favours dry formation processes. Valantinas …

Asteroid Vesta May Be a Fragment of a Lost Planet, Say Scientists

Asteroid Vesta May Be a Fragment of a Lost Planet, Say Scientists

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Asteroid Vesta, long considered a stalled protoplanet, may actually be a massive fragment of a larger world that once existed in our solar system. New findings based on gravity-field mapping and spin-rate data suggest Vesta lacks the dense core typically found in differentiated planetary bodies. The discovery challenges previous assumptions, drawn from NASA’s Dawn mission in 2012, that classified Vesta as an embryonic planet. Now, scientists report that Vesta might have been ejected from a differentiated world in a massive collision 4.5 billion years ago, upending ideas about the development of planets and asteroids. New Gravity Data Suggests Vesta Is Debris from a Destroyed Planet, Not a Protoplanet As per a new study published in Nature Astronomy on April 23, 2025, Vesta does not quite match the former model. Refined calibration methods polished the radio Doppler signals, confirming the absence of a metal-rich core, which was inconsistent with earlier work. Seth Jacobson of Michigan State University, who led the research, stated the new interpretation marks a major shift in planetary science. While Vesta’s basaltic, volcanic surface still …

Juno Mission Sheds Light on Jupiter’s Storms and Volcanic Activity on Io

Juno Mission Sheds Light on Jupiter’s Storms and Volcanic Activity on Io

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NASA’s Juno mission has discovered a world of cyclones at Jupiter’s north Jovian pole, a region of cooler stratospheric haze. The cyclones drift to the pole through a process the researchers refer to as “beta drift” via JunoCam and Jovian Infrared Aurora Mapper. The cyclones oscillate around their centres and can drift clockwise around the pole. Juno has also been making recurring flybys of the innermost Jovian moon, Io, revealing evidence of subterranean magma flows below its surface. These cooling flows could explain how Io’s volcanoes erupt, as about 10% of the moon’s subsurface has these flows. Juno Spots Colliding Jupiter Cyclones and Magma Beneath Io’s Surface As per the data presented by NASA at the European Geosciences Union General Assembly on April 29, Juno has observed a large central cyclone over 1,800 miles wide, encircled by eight slightly smaller cyclones. These weather systems, blowing at speeds over 100 miles per hour, interact through a phenomenon called beta drifts — similar to Earth’s cyclones but progressing to Jupiter’s pole. Once enabled, researchers could visualise both visible …

New Study Reveals How Jupiter’s Storms Hide Ammonia

New Study Reveals How Jupiter’s Storms Hide Ammonia

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Jupiter’s weather just got even stranger. A new study published in the Journal Science Advances revealed that the gas giant’s turbulent thunderstorms create massive, softball-sized hailstones called “mushballs,” made of ammonia and water ice. These violent storms churn Jupiter’s atmosphere so deeply that they may explain a long-standing mystery among the scientists: the missing ammonia in the planet’s upper layers. For years, scientists were puzzled over why deep pockets of ammonia seemed absent across Jupiter’s atmosphere. Mushballs Shake Up Old Assumptions As per a report by LiveScience, Scientists believed Jupiter’s atmosphere was well mixed, much like a pot of boiling water. However, after analysing a massive 2017 storm captured by Juno, researchers found that even local storms can punch ammonia deep into the planet, shattering the old assumption. “The top of the atmosphere is actually a pretty poor representation of what the whole planet looks like,” explained study lead author Chris Moeckel from the University of California, Berkeley, told the publication. On April 15, 2025, as per EarthSky, his team’s findings suggest that the atmosphere …

Water on Ancient Mars? New Study Challenges the Cold Planet Theory

Water on Ancient Mars? New Study Challenges the Cold Planet Theory

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Despite being a vast and inhospitable planet today, scientists believe Mars, the Red Planet, used to look much like Earth, the Blue Planet. Over the last four years, NASA’s Perseverance rover has wandered across an area of Mars where researchers believe a powerful river once poured into a crater, forming a sizable delta. According to computer models, ancient Mars most likely had frequent snowfall and rain, which shaped the enormous networks of lakes and river basins. In the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, a recent study found that the distribution of these land characteristics is more consistent with precipitation models than with only the consequences of melting ice caps. Investigating Early Martian Climate Through Modeling The researchers published their findings April 21 in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets. According to the research by geologists at the University of Colorado in Boulder, our planetary neighbour, on average 140 million miles away in space, was warm and wet billions of years ago. This challenges a long-held belief that early Mars was mostly cold and icy. However, there’s a …

Scientists Finally Discover How Long a Day Lasts on Uranus

Scientists Finally Discover How Long a Day Lasts on Uranus

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Scientists have finally found how about Uranus day length using the most recent analysis of a decade’s worth of Hubble Space Telescope data. As per the scientists, the Uranus holds 17 hours, 14 minutes, and 52 seconds to finish a complete rotation—that is, 28 seconds more than the estimation served by NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft. This estimation was made possible through the measurement of the magnetic fields and the radio waves coming from the auras of the planet. This understanding helps one derive surface mapping and alignment estimation in perplexing surroundings. Some of those maps may need to be reconsidered based on the most recent research. Hubble Refines Uranus’ Spin and Orbit Time According to reports, the Hubble Space Telescope study verified Uranus completed a revolution in 17 hours, 14 minutes, and 52 seconds. That is 28 seconds more than the NASA mission Voyager 2, from the 1980s. The report further mentions that through examination of a ten-year record of aurora observations, a team headed by Laurent Lamy at the Paris Observatory in France revealed the …

James Webb Telescope Captures Neptune’s Auroras in Stunning Detail

James Webb Telescope Captures Neptune’s Auroras in Stunning Detail

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Neptune’s elusive auroras have been captured for the first time in newly released images. It offers an unprecedented look at the ice giant’s atmospheric activity. After decades of conjecture, the occurrence of these auroras has been confirmed by direct visual evidence from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Their presence had been hinted at by earlier observations, such as the Voyager 2 flyby data, but photographing them had proven difficult. The telescope’s near-infrared capabilities, which allowed for the remarkably clear detection of these emissions, have been credited with the breakthrough. Results of the Research Reportedly, according to research conducted at Northumbria University and the University of Leicester,Neptune’s auroras are said to be very different from those seen on other planets. Neptune’s auroras can be seen in unexpected places, in contrast to Earth, Jupiter, and Saturn, where auroral activity is usually focused near the poles. This anomaly has been linked to the planet’s highly tilted and offset magnetic field, which directs charged particles from the solar wind in unpredictable ways. Henrik Melin, a planetary scientist at …

Scientists Observe Rare Plastic Ice, A Hybrid Form of Ice and Water, Under Extreme Pressure and Heat

Scientists Observe Rare Plastic Ice, A Hybrid Form of Ice and Water, Under Extreme Pressure and Heat

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A rare phase of ice, believed to exist deep within icy exoplanets and moons, has been observed in laboratory conditions for the first time. Scientists have identified a hybrid form of water called plastic ice, which exhibits characteristics of both solid ice and liquid water under extreme pressure and temperature. The discovery is expected to provide new insights into the internal composition of celestial bodies such as Neptune and Jupiter’s moon Europa, potentially influencing studies on planetary habitability. Properties of Plastic Ice Identified Under Extreme Conditions According to a study published in Nature, plastic ice forms when ice is subjected to temperatures above 177 degree Celsius and pressures exceeding 30,000 bars. This phase retains a cubic crystal lattice, similar to Ice VII, but allows water molecules to rotate while remaining fixed in position. Livia Bove, a physicist at Sapienza University of Rome, explained to Science News that the material exhibits plasticity, meaning it can be deformed while maintaining its structure. Experiments were conducted at the Institut Laue-Langevin in France, where a neutron beam was used …

NASA’s Juno Detects Io’s Most Powerful Volcanic Eruption Yet

NASA’s Juno Detects Io’s Most Powerful Volcanic Eruption Yet

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A volcanic eruption of unprecedented scale has been observed on Jupiter’s moon Io, with a massive hotspot detected in the southern hemisphere. The discovery was made by NASA’s Juno spacecraft during a flyby on 27 December 2024. The heat energy released from this eruption has been estimated at around 80 trillion watts, surpassing the total energy output of all power plants on Earth by six times. Io, the most volcanically active body in the solar system, experiences extreme geological activity due to the gravitational forces exerted by Jupiter. This tidal flexing causes internal heating, leading to continuous volcanic eruptions across its surface. New Hotspot Revealed by NASA’s Juno Spacecraft According to NASA, data from the Juno spacecraft’s Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper (JIRAM) instrument has confirmed the presence of a massive new volcanic hotspot on Io. The eruption site appears to be fueled by a single, extensive magma chamber, covering an estimated 105,000 square kilometres. This newly detected feature is believed to be the largest volcanic structure on Io, exceeding the well-documented Loki Patera lava lake, …