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Categories: Energy: Fossil Fuels, Space: The Solar System
Published Advanced analysis of Apollo sample illuminates Moon’s evolution


Sophisticated analysis of a rock sample taken from the Moon during the Apollo 17 mission revealed new information about the complex cooling and evolutionary history of the Moon. The diffusion patterns preserved in the mineral grains were consistent with a rapid cooling history of no more than 20-million-years at high temperatures. The finding challenges previous estimates of a 100-million-year cooling duration and supports initial rapid cooling of magmas within the lunar crust.
Published A spacecraft has 'touched' the sun for the first time


On April 28, 2021, NASA's Parker Solar Probe reached the sun's extended solar atmosphere, known as the corona, and spent five hours there. The spacecraft is the first to enter the outer boundaries of our sun.
Published A young, sun-like star may hold warnings for life on Earth


Last year, scientists looked on as a star called EK Draconis ejected a massive burst of energy and charged particles many times more powerful than anything recorded on Earth's sun. Such explosive events may have been common in the early years of our solar system, the researchers say.
Published ESO telescope images planet around most massive star pair to date


The European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (ESO's VLT) has captured an image of a planet orbiting b Centauri, a two-star system that can be seen with the naked eye. This is the hottest and most massive planet-hosting star system found to date, and the planet was spotted orbiting it at 100 times the distance Jupiter orbits the Sun. Some astronomers believed planets could not exist around stars this massive and this hot -- until now.
Published Lunar radar data uncovers new clues about moon’s ancient past


The dusty surface of the moon -- immortalized in images of Apollo astronauts' lunar footprints -- formed as the result of asteroid impacts and the harsh environment of space breaking down rock over millions of years. An ancient layer of this material, covered by periodic lava flows and now buried under the lunar surface, could provide new insight into the Moon's deep past, according to a team of scientists.
Published Brief presence of water in Arabia Terra on Mars



Scientists recently discovered that water was once present in a region of Mars called Arabia Terra.
Published Mars seismic deployment lays groundwork for future planetary missions



About 1000 days after the Mars InSight mission deployed SEIS, the first seismometer on the red planet, researchers are analyzing new seismic data and reporting on instrument responses, using these data to plan for future planetary seismographs.
Published One year on this giant, blistering hot planet is just 16 hours long


Astronomers have discovered an ultrahot Jupiter with shortest orbit of any known gas giant planet.
Published Carbon dioxide cold traps on the moon are confirmed for the first time


After decades of uncertainty, researchers have confirmed the existence of lunar carbon dioxide cold traps that could potentially contain solid carbon dioxide. The discovery will likely have a major influence in shaping future lunar missions and could impact the feasibility of a sustained robot or human presence on the moon.
Published Near-earth asteroid might be a lost fragment of the moon


Near-Earth asteroid Kamo`oalewa could be a fragment of our moon.
Published Juno peers deep into Jupiter’s colorful belts and zones


A new study of data captured in orbit around Jupiter has revealed new insights into what's happening deep beneath the gas giant's distinctive and colorful bands.
Published A lab in the sky: Physics experiment in Earth’s atmosphere could help improve GPS performance


The Earth's atmosphere has been used as a 'laboratory' to carry out a physics experiment which could help to improve the performance of GPS.
Published Astronomers provide 'field guide' to exoplanets known as hot Jupiters


By combining Hubble Space Telescope observations with theoretical models, a team of astronomers has gained insights into the chemical and physical makeup of a variety of exoplanets known as hot Jupiters. The findings provide a new and improved 'field guide' for this group of planets and inform ideas about planet formation in general.
Published Titan’s river maps may advise Dragonfly’s 'sedimental' journey


With future space exploration in mind, a team of astronomers has published the final maps of Titan's liquid methane rivers and tributaries -- as seen by NASA's late Cassini mission -- so that may help provide context for Dragonfly's upcoming 2030s expedition.
Published NASA, ULA launch Lucy Mission to ‘fossils’ of planet formation


NASA's Lucy mission, the agency's first to Jupiter's Trojan asteroids, launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Over the next 12 years, Lucy will fly by one main-belt asteroid and seven Trojan asteroids, making it the agency's first single spacecraft mission in history to explore so many different asteroids. Lucy will investigate these 'fossils' of planetary formation up close during its journey.
Published Evidence of superionic ice provides new insights into unusual magnetic fields of Uranus and Neptune


Not all ice is the same. The solid form of water comes in more than a dozen different - sometimes more, sometimes less crystalline - structures, depending on the conditions of pressure and temperature in the environment. Superionic ice is a special crystalline form, half solid, half liquid - and electrically conductive. Its existence has been predicted on the basis of various models and has already been observed on several occasions under - very extreme - laboratory conditions. New results provide another piece of the puzzle in the spectrum of the manifestations of water. And they may also help to explain the unusual magnetic fields of the planets Uranus and Neptune, which contain a lot of water.
Published Did Venus ever have oceans?


Astrophysicists have investigated the past of Venus to find out whether Earth's sister planet once had oceans.
Published To watch a comet form, a spacecraft could tag along for a journey toward the sun


A new article proposes that space probes could hitch a ride with 'centaurs' as they become comets. Along the way, the spacecraft would gather data that would otherwise be impossible to record -- including how comets, Earth-like planets, and even the solar system formed.
Published A 5-sigma standard model anomaly is possible


One of the best chances for proving beyond-the-standard-model physics relies on something called the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa (CKM) matrix. The standard model insists that the CKM matrix, which describes the mixing of quarks, should be unitary. But growing evidence suggests that during certain forms of radioactive decay, the unitarity of the CKM matrix might break.
Published Radio signals from distant stars suggest hidden planets


Using the world's most powerful radio antenna, scientists have discovered stars unexpectedly blasting out radio waves, possibly indicating the existence of hidden planets.