Geoscience: Geomagnetic Storms Space: Exploration
Published

New model accurately predicts harmful space weather      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A new, first-of-its-kind space weather model reliably predicts space storms of high-energy particles that are harmful to many satellites and spacecraft orbiting in the Earth's outer radiation belt.

Space: The Solar System
Published

Saturn's rings coat tiny moons      (via sciencedaily.com) 

New findings have emerged about five tiny moons nestled in and near Saturn's rings. The closest-ever flybys by NASA's Cassini spacecraft reveal that the surfaces of these unusual moons are covered with material from the planet's rings -- and from icy particles blasting out of Saturn's larger moon Enceladus. The work paints a picture of the competing processes shaping these mini-moons.

Space: The Solar System
Published

Hubble captures birth of giant storm on Neptune      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope document the formation of a Great Dark Spot on Neptune for the first time, report researchers in a new study.

Space: The Solar System
Published

Icy giant planets in the laboratory      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Giant planets like Neptune may contain much less free hydrogen than previously assumed. Researchers drove shock waves through two different types of plastic to reach the same temperatures and pressures present inside such planets, and observed the behavior using ultra-strong X-ray laser pulses. Unexpectedly, one of these plastics kept its crystalline structure even at the most extreme pressures. Since the icy giant interiors are made up of the same components as the plastic, planetary models may need to be partially reconsidered.

Space: The Solar System
Published

ALMA observes the formation sites of solar-system-like planets      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers have spotted the formation sites of planets around a young star resembling our sun. Two rings of dust around the star, at distances comparable to the asteroid belt and the orbit of Neptune in our solar system, suggest that we are witnessing the formation of a planetary system similar to our own.

Geoscience: Geomagnetic Storms Space: The Solar System
Published

Researchers uncover additional evidence for massive solar storms      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Solar storms can be far more powerful than previously thought. A new study has found evidence for the third known case of a massive solar storm in historical times. The researchers believe that society might not be sufficiently prepared if a similar event were to happen now.

Space: The Solar System
Published

New surprises from Jupiter and Saturn      (via sciencedaily.com) 

The latest data from the giant planets has sent researchers back to the drawing board. Cassini orbited Saturn for 13 years before its dramatic final dive into the planet's interior, while Juno has been orbiting Jupiter for two and a half years; the data collected has been 'invaluable but also confounding,' said one of the researchers.

Space: The Solar System
Published

Crater counts on Pluto, Charon show small Kuiper Belt objects surprisingly rare      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Using New Horizons data from the Pluto-Charon flyby in 2015, scientists have indirectly discovered a distinct and surprising lack of very small objects in the Kuiper Belt. The evidence for the paucity of small Kuiper Belt objects (KBOs) comes from New Horizons imaging that revealed a dearth of small craters on Pluto's largest satellite, Charon, indicating that impactors from 300 feet to 1 mile (91 meters to 1.6 km) in diameter must also be rare.

Space: The Solar System
Published

New arguments in favor of a ninth planet in our solar system      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers are offering new details about the suspected nature and location of a ninth planet in the solar system.

Space: Exploration Space: The Solar System
Published

Tiny Neptune moon spotted by Hubble may have broken from larger moon      (via sciencedaily.com) 

After several years of analysis, a team of planetary scientists using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has at last come up with an explanation for a mysterious moon around Neptune that they discovered with Hubble in 2013.

Space: The Solar System
Published

LOFAR radio telescope reveals secrets of solar storms      (via sciencedaily.com) 

The team of scientist showed that solar storms can accelerate particles simultaneously in several locations by combining data from the Low Frequency Array, LOFAR, with images from NASA, NOAA and ESA spacecraft.

Geoscience: Geomagnetic Storms
Published

Earth's magnetic shield booms like a drum when hit by impulses      (via sciencedaily.com) 

The Earth's magnetic shield booms like a drum when it is hit by strong impulses, according to new research.

Space: The Solar System
Published

Dynamic atmospheres of Uranus, Neptune      (via sciencedaily.com) 

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has uncovered another mysterious dark storm on Neptune and provided a fresh look at a long-lived storm circling around the north polar region on Uranus.

Geoscience: Geomagnetic Storms
Published

Evidence for a new fundamental constant of the sun      (via sciencedaily.com) 

New research shows that the sun's magnetic waves behave differently than currently believed.

Geoscience: Geomagnetic Storms Space: The Solar System
Published

To catch a wave, rocket launches from top of world      (via sciencedaily.com) 

On Jan. 4, 2019, at 4:37 a.m. EST the CAPER-2 mission launched from Norway. The rocket flew through active aurora borealis, or northern lights, to study the waves that accelerate electrons into our atmosphere.

Space: The Solar System
Published

Missing-link in planet evolution found      (via sciencedaily.com) 

For the first time ever, astronomers have detected a 1.3 km radius body at the edge of the Solar System. Kilometer sized bodies like the one discovered have been predicted to exist for more than 70 years. These objects acted as an important step in the planet formation process between small initial amalgamations of dust and ice and the planets we see today.

Space: The Solar System
Published

Shedding light on Saturn's moon Titan's mysterious atmosphere      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A new study tackles one of the greatest mysteries about Titan, one of Saturn's moons: the origin of its thick, nitrogen-rich atmosphere. The study posits that one key to Titan's mysterious atmosphere is the 'cooking' of organic material in the moon's interior.

Space: The Solar System
Published

Mystery orbits in outermost reaches of solar system not caused by 'Planet Nine'      (via sciencedaily.com) 

The strange orbits of some objects in the farthest reaches of our solar system, hypothesized by some astronomers to be shaped by an unknown ninth planet, can instead be explained by the combined gravitational force of small objects orbiting the sun beyond Neptune, say researchers.

Space: The Solar System
Published

Waves in Saturn's rings give precise measurement of planet's rotation rate      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Saturn's distinctive rings were observed in unprecedented detail by NASA's Cassini spacecraft, and scientists have now used those observations to probe the interior of the giant planet and obtain the first precise determination of its rotation rate. The length of a day on Saturn, according to their calculations, is 10 hours 33 minutes and 38 seconds.

Space: The Solar System
Published

Saturn hasn't always had rings      (via sciencedaily.com) 

In its last days, the Cassini spacecraft looped between Saturn and its rings so that Earth-based radio telescopes could track the gravitational tug of each. Scientists have now used these measurements to determine the mass of the rings and estimate its age, which is young: 10-100 million years. This supports the hypothesis that the rings are rubble from a comet or Kuiper Belt object captured late in Saturn's history.