Solar System News

November 12, 2024

Top Headlines

Swirling Polar Vortices Likely Exist on the Sun

Nov. 11, 2024 — Like the Earth, the Sun likely has swirling polar vortices, according to new research. But unlike on Earth, the formation and evolution of these vortices are driven by magnetic ...

Off-the-Shelf Thermoelectric Generators Can Upgrade CO2 Into Chemicals: The Combination Could Help Us Colonize Mars

Nov. 7, 2024 — Readily available thermoelectric generators operating under modest temperature differences can power CO2 conversion, according to a proof-of-concept study by chemists. The findings open up the ...

Asteroid Grains Shed Light on the Outer Solar System's Origins

Nov. 6, 2024 — Tiny grains from asteroid Ryugu are revealing clues to the magnetic forces that shaped the far reaches of the solar system over 4.6 billion years ago. The findings suggest the distal solar system harbored a weak magnetic field, which could have ...

NASA's Hubble, Webb Probe Surprisingly Smooth Disk Around Vega

Nov. 1, 2024 — Teams of astronomers used the combined power of NASA's Hubble and James Webb space telescopes to revisit the legendary Vega ...

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Scientists Discover Molecules That Store Much of the Carbon in Space

Oct. 24, 2024 — A distant interstellar cloud was found to contain an abundance of pyrene, a type of large carbon-containing molecules known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). This suggest pyrene may have ...

The Origin of Most Meteorites Finally Revealed

Oct. 16, 2024 — An international team has successfully demonstrated that 70% of all known meteorite falls originate from just three young asteroid families. These families were produced by three recent collisions ...

Simulated Mission to Mars: Survey of Lichen Species

Oct. 11, 2024 — A collection-based survey of lichen species at the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah, USA and Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station in Nunavut, Canada was conducted as part of the Mars-160 ...

Liftoff! NASA's Europa Clipper Sails Toward Ocean Moon of Jupiter

Oct. 14, 2024 — NASA's Europa Clipper has embarked on its long voyage to Jupiter, where it will investigate Europa, a moon with an enormous subsurface ocean that may have conditions to support life. The largest ...

NASA's Hubble, New Horizons Team Up for a Simultaneous Look at Uranus

Oct. 11, 2024 — NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and New Horizons spacecraft simultaneously set their sights on Uranus recently, allowing scientists to make a direct comparison of the planet from two very different ...

How Did the Building Blocks of Life Arrive on Earth?

Oct. 11, 2024 — Researchers have used the chemical fingerprints of zinc contained in meteorites to determine the origin of volatile elements on Earth. The results suggest that without 'unmelted' asteroids, there may ...

NASA's Hubble Watches Jupiter's Great Red Spot Behave Like a Stress Ball

Oct. 9, 2024 — Astronomers have observed Jupiter's legendary Great Red Spot (GRS), an anticyclone large enough to swallow Earth, for at least 150 years. But there are always new surprises -- especially when NASA's ...

New Insights Into How Mars Became Uninhabitable

Oct. 7, 2024 — NASA's Curiosity rover, currently exploring Gale crater on Mars, is providing new details about how the ancient Martian climate went from potentially suitable for life -- with evidence for widespread ...

Carbon Dioxide and Hydrogen Peroxide on Pluto's Moon Charon

Oct. 1, 2024 — Astronomers have detected carbon dioxide and hydrogen peroxide on the frozen surface of Pluto's largest moon, Charon, using observations from the James Webb Space Telescope. These discoveries add to ...

A New Birthplace for Asteroid Ryugu

Sep. 27, 2024 — Asteroid Ryugu possibly did not travel as far from its place of origin to its current near-Earth orbit as previously assumed. New research suggests that Ryugu was formed near Jupiter. Earlier studies ...

Asteroid Ceres Is a Former Ocean World That Slowly Formed Into a Giant, Murky Icy Orb

Sep. 27, 2024 — A crater-rich dwarf planet named Ceres located in the main asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter was long thought to be composed of a materials mixture not dominated by water ice. ...

This Rocky Planet Around a White Dwarf Resembles Earth -- 8 Billion Years from Now

Sep. 26, 2024 — A 2020 microlensing event was caused by a planetary system with an Earth-like planet and brown dwarf. The star type was uncertain. The team has determined that the star is a white dwarf, a system ...

Mars' Missing Atmosphere Could Be Hiding in Plain Sight

Sep. 25, 2024 — New research suggests Mars' missing atmosphere -- which dramatically diminished 3.5 billion years ago -- could be locked in the planet's clay-covered crust. Water on Mars could have set off ...

Astronomers Catch a Glimpse of a Uniquely Inflated and Asymmetric Exoplanet

Sep. 24, 2024 — Astronomers have observed the atmosphere of a hot and uniquely inflated exoplanet using NASA's James Webb Space ...

Volcanoes May Help Reveal Interior Heat on Jupiter Moon

Sep. 19, 2024 — By staring into the hellish landscape of Jupiter's moon Io -- the most volcanically active location in the solar system -- astronomers have been able to study a fundamental process in planetary ...

Organic Matter on Mars Was Formed from Atmospheric Formaldehyde

Sep. 19, 2024 — Researchers have developed a Martian atmospheric evolution model to propose a new theory about Mars's ...

A Wobble from Mars Could Be Sign of Dark Matter

Sep. 17, 2024 — Watching for changes in Mars' orbit over time could be new way to detect passing dark matter, according to ...

Gigantic Asteroid Impact Shifted the Axis of Solar System's Biggest Moon

Sep. 3, 2024 — Around 4 billion years ago, an asteroid hit the Jupiter moon Ganymede. Now, a researcher realized that the Solar System's biggest moon's axis has shifted as a result of the impact, which ...

How Bright Is the Universe's Glow? Study Offers Best Measurement Yet

Sep. 3, 2024 — Over billions of years, the universe's stars and galaxies shined their light into space, leaving behind an imperceptibly faint night light known as the cosmic optical background. NASA's New ...

Six New Rogue Worlds: Star Birth Clues

Aug. 27, 2024 — The James Webb Space Telescope has spotted six likely rogue worlds -- objects with planet-like masses but untethered from any star's gravity -- including the lightest ever identified with a ...

NASA's DART Impact Permanently Changed the Shape and Orbit of Asteroid Moon

Aug. 23, 2024 — A new study provides insights on the geophysics behind asteroid formation and ...

Meteor Showers Shed Light on Where Comets Formed in the Early Solar System

Aug. 22, 2024 — Researchers studying meteor showers have found that not all comets crumble the same way when they approach the Sun. In a new study, they ascribe the differences to the conditions in the ...

Spectacular Increase in the Deuterium/hydrogen Ratio in Venus' Atmosphere

Aug. 20, 2024 — Our understanding of Venus' water history and the potential that it was once habitable in the past is being challenged by recent ...

Tracking Down the Asteroid That Sealed the Fate of the Dinosaurs

Aug. 16, 2024 — The asteroid that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs 66 million years ago probably came from the outer solar ...

Rocks Collected on Mars Hold Key to Water and Perhaps Life on the Planet: Bring Them Back to Earth

Aug. 14, 2024 — Between July and November of 2022, NASA's Perseverance rover collected seven samples of sediment from an ancient alluvial fan in Jezero crater. While onboard analysis gave researchers some ...

SwRI-Led Team Finds Evidence of Hydration on Asteroid Psyche

Aug. 13, 2024 — Using data from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have confirmed hydroxyl molecules on the surface of the metallic asteroid Psyche. The presence of hydrated minerals suggests a ...

Measuring Martian Winds With Sound

Aug. 13, 2024 — Martian landers have been able capture measurements of wind speeds -- some gauging the cooling rate of heated materials when winds blow over them, others using cameras to image 'tell-tales' ...

Scientists Find Oceans of Water on Mars: It's Just Too Deep to Tap

Aug. 12, 2024 — Quakes and meteor impacts on Mars generate seismic waves that can help map the interior. A new study analyzed seismic waves detected by the Insight lander and concludes that 11-20 kilometers beneath ...

Scientists Lay out Revolutionary Method to Warm Mars

Aug. 7, 2024 — Ever since we learned that the surface of planet Mars is cold and dead, people have wondered if there is a way to make it friendlier to life. The newly proposed method is over 5,000 times more ...

Scientists Pin Down the Origins of the Moon's Tenuous Atmosphere

Aug. 2, 2024 — Scientists say they have identified the main process that formed the moon's atmosphere and continues to sustain it today. The team reports that the lunar atmosphere is primarily a product of ...