Solar System News

April 18, 2024

Top Headlines

Astronomers Uncover Methane Emission on a Cold Brown Dwarf

Apr. 17, 2024 — Astronomers have discovered methane emission on a brown dwarf, an unexpected finding for such a cold and isolated world. The findings suggest that this brown dwarf might generate aurorae similar to those seen on our own planet as well as on Jupiter ...

'Tube Map' Around Planets and Moons Made Possible by Knot Theory

Apr. 17, 2024 — Scientists have developed a new method using knot theory to find the optimal routes for future space missions without the need to waste ...

How Pluto Got Its Heart

Apr. 15, 2024 — The mystery of how Pluto got a giant heart-shaped feature on its surface has finally been solved by an international team of astrophysicists. The team is the first to successfully reproduce the unusual shape with numerical simulations, attributing ...

Stellar Winds of Three Sun-Like Stars Detected for the First Time

Apr. 12, 2024 — An international research team has for the first time directly detected stellar winds from three Sun-like stars by recording the X-ray emission from their astrospheres, and placed constraints on the mass loss rate of the stars via their stellar ...

Latest Headlines

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CHEOPS Detects a 'Rainbow' on an Exoplanet

Apr. 5, 2024 — The CHEOPS space telescope is providing new information on the mysterious exoplanet WASP-76b. This ultra-hot giant is characterized by an asymmetry between the amount of light observed on its eastern ...

Distant 'Space Snowman' Unlocks Mystery of How Some Dormant Deep Space Objects Become 'Ice Bombs'

Mar. 27, 2024 — Researchers found that the double-lobed object, which is officially named Kuiper Belt Object 486958 Arrokoth and resembles a snowman, may have ...

Turbulence Within Solar Transients Imaged

Mar. 27, 2024 — Scientists captured images showing the development of turbulence as a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) interacted with the ambient solar wind in the circumsolar ...

James Webb Space Telescope Captures the End of Planet Formation

Mar. 22, 2024 — How much time do planets have to form from a swirling disk of gas and dust around a star? A new study gives scientists a better idea of how our own solar system came to ...

Signs of Life Would Be Detectable in Single Ice Grain Emitted from Extraterrestrial Moons

Mar. 22, 2024 — Could life be found in frozen sea spray from moons orbiting Saturn or Jupiter? New research finds that life can be detected in a single ice grain ...

Surprising Insights About Debris Flows on Mars

Mar. 14, 2024 — The period that liquid water was present on the surface of Mars may have been shorter than previously thought. Channel landforms called gullies, previously thought to be formed exclusively by liquid ...

Scientists Propose New Theory That Explains Sand Ripples on Mars and on Earth

Mar. 12, 2024 — Sand ripples are symmetrical. Yet wind -- which causes them -- is very much not. Furthermore, sand ripples can be found on Mars and on Earth. They ...

Juno Spacecraft Measures Oxygen Production on Jupiter's Moon, Europa

Mar. 5, 2024 — NASA's Juno spacecraft has directly measured charged oxygen and hydrogen molecules from the atmosphere of one of Jupiter's largest moons, Europa. These observations provide key constraints on the ...

Study Determines the Original Orientations of Rocks Drilled on Mars

Mar. 4, 2024 — Geologists determined the original orientation of many of the Mars bedrock samples collected by the Perseverance rover. The findings can give scientists clues to the conditions in which the rocks ...

Ice Shell Thickness Reveals Water Temperature on Ocean Worlds

Feb. 29, 2024 — Astrobiologists have devised a novel way to determine ocean temperatures of distant worlds based on the thickness of their ice shells, effectively conducting oceanography from ...

Biomolecules from Formaldehyde on Ancient Mars

Feb. 28, 2024 — Organic materials discovered on Mars may have originated from atmospheric formaldehyde, according to new research, marking a step forward in our understanding of the possibility of past life on the ...

Three Years Later, Search for Life on Mars Continues

Feb. 22, 2024 — Scientists suspect Mars once had long-lived rivers, lakes and streams. Today, water on Mars is found in ice at the poles and trapped below the Martian surface. Researchers now reveal that Mars also ...

New Realistic Computer Model Will Help Robots Collect Moon Dust

Feb. 22, 2024 — A new computer model mimics Moon dust so well that it could lead to smoother and safer Lunar robot ...

Little Groundwater Recharge in Ancient Mars Aquifer, According to New Models

Feb. 21, 2024 — Mars was once a wet world. The geological record of the Red Planet shows evidence for water flowing on the surface -- from river deltas to valleys carved by massive flash floods. But a new study ...

Under Pressure -- Space Exploration in Our Time

Feb. 16, 2024 — A new paradigm is taking shape in the space industry as the countries and entities accessing space continue to grow and diversify. This dynamic landscape creates both competition and potential for ...

Evidence of Geothermal Activity Within Icy Dwarf Planets

Feb. 15, 2024 — A team found evidence for hydrothermal or metamorphic activity within the icy dwarf planets Eris and Makemake, located in the Kuiper Belt. Methane detected on their surfaces has the tell-tale signs ...

Diverse Ancient Volcanoes on Mars Discovered by Planetary Scientist May Hold Clues to Pre-Plate Tectonic Activity on Earth

Feb. 15, 2024 — A geologist has revealed intriguing insights into the volcanic activity on Mars. He proposes that Mars has significantly more diverse volcanism than previously realized, driven by an early form of ...

Mimas' Surprise: Tiny Moon of Saturn Holds Young Ocean Beneath Icy Shell

Feb. 7, 2024 — Saturn's moon Mimas harbors a global ocean beneath its icy shell, discovered through analysis of its orbit by Cassini spacecraft data. This ocean formed just 5-15 million years ago, making Mimas ...

Understanding the Moon's History With Chang'e-5 Sample

Feb. 6, 2024 — China's Chang'e-5, the first lunar sample return mission since the Soviet Union's Luna 24 in 1976, delivered 1.73 kilograms of regolith from the Oceanus Procellarum, a plane named for ...

Neptune-Like Exoplanets Can Be Cloudy or Clear

Feb. 2, 2024 — Astronomers have shown new atmospheric detail in a set of 15 exoplanets similar to Neptune. While none could support humanity, a better understanding of their behavior might help us to understand why ...

Cosmic Building Blocks of Life Discovered Through the Electron Microscope

Jan. 29, 2024 — Meteorites are fragments of asteroids which find their way to Earth as shooting stars and provide information on the origins of our solar system. A team of researchers has examined the so-called ...

Astronomers Unravel Mysteries of Planet Formation and Evolution in Distant Planetary System

Jan. 26, 2024 — TOI-1136, a dwarf star located more than 270 light years from Earth, is host to six confirmed exoplanets and a seventh as yet unconfirmed candidate. The system has provided a rich source of ...

Atmospheric Pressure Changes Could Be Driving Mars' Elusive Methane Pulses

Jan. 24, 2024 — New research shows that atmospheric pressure fluctuations that pull gases up from underground could be responsible for releasing subsurface methane into Mars' atmosphere; knowing when and where ...

Discovery Changes Understanding of Water's History on the Moon

Jan. 16, 2024 — New research shows the early lunar crust which makes up the surface of the Moon was considerably enriched in water more than 4 billion years ago, counter to previously held ...

Astronomers Make Rare Exoplanet Discovery, and a Giant Leap in Detecting Earth-Like Bodies

Jan. 11, 2024 — Astronomers have made the rare discovery of a small, cold exoplanet and its massive outer companion -- shedding light on the formation of planets like ...

Potential Solvents Identified for Building on Moon and Mars

Jan. 11, 2024 — Researchers have taken the first steps toward finding liquid solvents that may someday help extract critical building materials from lunar and Martian-rock dust, an important piece in making ...

NASA's Webb Finds Signs of Possible Aurorae on Isolated Brown Dwarf

Jan. 9, 2024 — Astronomers have found a brown dwarf (an object more massive than Jupiter but smaller than a star) with infrared emission from methane, likely due to energy in its upper atmosphere. This is an ...

Meteorite Analysis Shows Earth's Building Blocks Contained Water

Jan. 9, 2024 — Analysis of iron meteorites from the earliest years of the solar system indicate that the planetary 'seeds' that ultimately formed Earth contained ...

Three Iron Rings in a Planet-Forming Disk

Jan. 8, 2024 — Astronomers have detected a three-ringed structure in the nursery of planets in the inner planet-forming disk of a young star. This configuration suggests two Jupiter-mass planets are forming in the ...

New Images Reveal What Neptune and Uranus Really Look Like

Jan. 4, 2024 — Neptune is fondly known for being a rich blue and Uranus green -- but a new study has revealed that the two ice giants are actually far closer in color than typically thought. The correct shades of ...