Planets/Moons

New observations reveal that Mars could still be volcanically active, raising the possibility for habitable conditions below the surface of Mars in recent historyCredit: NASA/JPL/MSSS/The Murray Lab Evidence of recent volcanic…

Student-led efforts preserve iconic campus landmark for future generations of education and research. Perched atop the MIT Cecil and Ida Green Building (Building 54), MIT's tallest academic building, a large, golf ball-like structure…

Rice scientists attribute Earth's nitrogen to rapid growth of moon- to Mars-sized bodiesCredit: Illustration by Amrita P. Vyas/Rice University HOUSTON - (May 10, 2021) - The prospects for life on a given planet depend not…

The prestigious scientific prize to Michaël Gillon for his pioneering research in exoplanetology and astrobiologyCredit: University of Liège - Michel Houet The Belgian Francqui 2021 Prize in Exact Sciences will be awarded to…

Researchers simulate conditions necessary for planet's unique magnetic fieldCredit: Ankit Barik/Johns Hopkins University New Johns Hopkins University simulations offer an intriguing look into Saturn's interior, suggesting that…

The map, along with proposed paths for robotic rovers, provides new details on a scientifically important region of the moon's south pole.Credit: Ellen Czaplinski FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - A new map including rover paths of the…

Findings will help better identify Earth-like planets that could sustain lifeCredit: Image Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center. Astronomers have identified more than 4,000, and counting, confirmed exoplanets -- planets…

Credit: Credits: NASA, ESA, STScI, Joseph Olmsted (STScI) NASA's Hubble Space Telescope is giving astronomers a rare look at a Jupiter-sized, still-forming planet that is feeding off material surrounding a young star. "We…

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Venus is an enigma. It's the planet next door and yet reveals little about itself. An opaque blanket of clouds smothers a harsh landscape pelted by acid rain and baked at temperatures that can liquify lead.…

Credit: Credit: E. Garboczi/NIST and A. Sharits/AFRL Like a chameleon of the night sky, the Moon often changes its appearance. It might look larger, brighter or redder, for example, due to its phases, its position in the solar…

NASA mission will study how Sun's corona transitions into the solar wind SAN ANTONIO -- April 27, 2021 -- The Polarimeter to UNify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH) mission has selected four early career scientists as associate…

Credit: HI-SEAS MUNICH -- Imagine trying to pick up a pebble or scrape microbes off a cave wall in a bulky spacesuit with puffy gloves on, under a time constraint because you don't want to run out of oxygen. That's what the…

Credit: Astrobiology Center An international collaboration of astronomers led by a researcher from the Astrobiology Center and Queen's University Belfast, and including researchers from Trinity College Dublin, has detected a new…

Simulation led by UChicago geoscientist finds missing piece to Martian climate puzzleCredit: NASA and JPL-Caltech. One of the great mysteries of modern space science is neatly summed up by the view from NASA's Perseverance, which…

The SEIS seismometer package from the Mars InSight lander has collected its first continuous Martian year of data, revealing some surprises among the more than 500 marsquakes detected so far. At the Seismological Society of America…

Credit: Sagiv Shiber, LSU A breakthrough astrophysics code, named Octo-Tiger, simulates the evolution of self-gravitating and rotating systems of arbitrary geometry using adaptive mesh refinement and a new method to parallelize the code to…

Credit: Jesse Tarnas PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- As NASA's Perseverance rover begins its search for ancient life on the surface of Mars, a new study suggests that the Martian subsurface might be a good place to look for possible present-day…

Temperature of planets reveal new details, scientists say COLUMBUS, Ohio - In the continuing search for dark matter in our universe, scientists believe they have found a unique and powerful detector: exoplanets. In a new paper, two…

Understanding whether Mars was once able to support life has been a major driving force for Mars research over the past 50 years. To decipher the planet's ancient climate and habitability, researchers look to the rock record - a physical…

Discovery a 'coup' in astrophysics involving observations with nine instrumentsCredit: Credit: Roberto Molar Candanosa / Carnegie Institution for Science, NASA/SDO, NASA/JPL. Washington, DC-- A team of astronomers including…