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Categories: Space: Structures and Features, Space: The Solar System

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While most missions to the moon and other planets rely upon solar power, scientists have assumed that any extended surface mission involving humans would require a more reliable source of energy: nuclear power. Improvements in photovoltaics are upending this calculus. A new study concludes that a solar power system would weigh less than a nuclear system, and would be sufficient to power a colony at sites over nearly half the surface.

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An international team of researchers examined data for 25 exoplanets and found some links among the properties of the atmospheres, including the thermal profiles and chemical abundances in them. These findings will help establish a generalized theory of planet formation which will improve our understanding of all planets, including the Earth.

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The seismometer placed on Mars by NASA's InSight lander has recorded its two largest seismic events to date: a magnitude 4.2 and a magnitude 4.1 Mars-quake. The pair are the first recorded events to occur on the planet's far side from the lander and are five times stronger than the previous largest event recorded.

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Scientists have detailed a roadmap for untangling a key aspect of magnetic recognition that could deepen insight into the workings of the cosmos.

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Using a newly developed model, astrophysicists present a new theory to explain fast blue optical transients, a new class of transients that has boggled researchers since their discovery in 2018. In the new study, astrophysicists find that FBOTs could result from the actively cooling cocoons that surround jets launched by dying stars.

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Intermediate-mass black holes are notoriously hard to find but a new study indicates there may be some at the center of dense, star clusters located throughout the universe. A study now sheds new light on when and where black holes of about 100-100,000 solar masses could form and how they came into being.

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If not for the soupy, fast-moving atmosphere on Venus, Earth's sister planet would likely not rotate. Instead, Venus would be locked in place, always facing the sun the way the same side of the moon always faces Earth.

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Scientists have long wondered how Jupiter's innermost moon, Io, has meandering ridges as grand as any that can be seen in movies like 'Dune.' Now, a research study has provided a new explanation of how dunes can form even on a surface as icy and roiling as Io's.

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The MAGIC telescopes have observed the nova RS Ophiuchi shining brightly in gamma rays at extremely high energy. The Gamma rays emanate from protons that are accelerated to very high energies in the shock front following the explosion. This suggests that novae are also a source of the ubiquitous cosmic radiation in the universe which consists mainly of protons rich in energy, which race through space at almost the speed of light.

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Astronomers have identified a rapidly growing black hole in the early universe that is considered a crucial 'missing link' between young star-forming galaxies and the first supermassive black holes. They used data from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to make this discovery.

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When triggered by some external agent, shockwaves can propagate through molecular clouds of gas and dust to create pockets of dense material. At a certain limit, that dense gas and dust collapses and begins to form new stars. Researchers modeled this interaction using a high-power laser and a foam ball. The foam ball represents a dense area within a molecular cloud. The high-power laser creates a blast wave that propagates through a surrounding chamber of gas and into the ball, where the team observed the compression using X-ray images.

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New research has revealed how temperatures in Neptune's atmosphere have unexpectedly fluctuated over the past two decades.

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New research shows how the impact that created the Moon's South Pole -- Aitken basin is linked to the stark contrast in composition and appearance between the two sides of the Moon.

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Our universe is a chaotic sea of ripples in space-time called gravitational waves. Astronomers think waves from orbiting pairs of supermassive black holes in distant galaxies are light-years long and have been trying to observe them for decades, and now they're one step closer.

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Astronomers have discovered bloated Jupiter-sized worlds that are so precariously close to their parent star they are being roasted at seething temperatures above 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit. That's hot enough to vaporize most metals, including titanium. They have the hottest planetary atmospheres ever seen. Hubble astronomers are reporting on bizarre weather conditions on these sizzling worlds. It's raining vaporized rock on one planet, and another one has its upper atmosphere getting hotter rather than cooler because it is being 'sunburned' by intense ultraviolet (UV) radiation from its star.

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Researchers are investigating the psychological impact of social isolation in harsh environments, such as on the Moon.

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Scientists have built instruments to give humans eyes and a nose on Mars -- and now they are helping add ears as well.

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On November 8, 2020, NASA's Juno spacecraft flew through an intense beam of electrons traveling from Ganymede, Jupiter's largest moon, to its auroral footprint on the gas giant. Scientists used data from Juno's payload to study the particle population traveling along the magnetic field line connecting Ganymede to Jupiter while, at the same time, remotely sensing the associated auroral emissions to unveil the mysterious processes creating the shimmering lights.

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An international research team has discovered a new planet so young that it has yet to emerge from the womb of matter where it is forming. This is the youngest protoplanet discovered to date. It's location and the surrounding patterns of matter suggest that an alternative method of planet formation may be at work. This discovery could help to explain the histories and features of extrasolar planets seen around other stars.

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NASA's Perseverance rover, which has been surveying the surface of Mars since February 2021, has for the first time recorded the acoustic environment of the Red Planet.