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Categories: Offbeat: Paleontology and Archeology, Space: The Solar System

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     (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

There has been considerable debate over how the Moon was formed. The popular hypothesis contends that the Moon was formed by a Mars-sized body colliding with Earth's upper crust which is poor in metals. But new research suggests the Moon's subsurface is more metal-rich than previously thought, providing new insights that could challenge our understanding of that process.

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The surviving core of a gas giant has been discovered orbiting a distant star, offering an unprecedented glimpse into the interior of a planet.

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The discovery could help astronomers understand how planets like Earth form and evolve.

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A new study suggests that Pluto and other large Kuiper belt objects started out with liquid oceans which have been slowly freezing over time.

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Measuring the speed of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) as they erupt from the sun, in addition to their size, found to be crucial in providing accurate early warnings that keep astronauts and technology safe.

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An international research team has revealed that the 'super-rotation' on Venus is maintained near the equator by atmospheric tidal waves formed from solar heating on the planet's dayside and cooling on its nightside.

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New analysis of data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft found that electric currents, triggered by interactions between solar winds and charged particles from Saturn's moons, spark the auroras and heat the planet's upper atmosphere.

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Uranus is a planetary oddity. Our Solar System's planets revolve around the Sun in the same direction, and do so with their axes of rotation - the way they spin locally - orientated roughly perpendicular to their orbits. Uranus, however, is uniquely tipped over, with its axis almost parallel to its orbit. Uranus' moons and rings are also orientated this way, suggesting they formed during a cataclysmic impact that tipped it over early in its history.

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Despite Mercury's 400-degree Celsius daytime heat, there is ice at its caps. And now a study shows how that Vulcan scorch probably helps the planet closest to the sun make some of that ice.

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Numerical simulations showed that the temperature gradient in the disk of gas around a young gas giant planet could play a critical role in the development of a satellite system dominated by a single large moon, similar to Titan around Saturn. Researchers found that dust in the circumplanetary disk can create a 'safety zone,' which keeps the moon from falling into the planet as the system evolves.

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Some of the extremely low-density, 'cotton candy like' exoplanets called super-puffs may actually have rings, according to new research.

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Researchers have made a new contribution to the ongoing search into the possibility of life on Titan, Saturn's largest moon. Using quantum mechanical calculations, they have shown that azotosomes, a proposed alternative to cell membranes, could not form under the conditions there.

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NASA's James Webb Space Telescope will unlock secrets of the atmospheres of Uranus and Neptune.

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Astronomers have found an exoplanet more than twice the size of Earth to be potentially habitable, opening the search for life to planets significantly larger than Earth but smaller than Neptune.

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Planetary scientists have revealed the secrets of the atmosphere of Titan, the largest moon of Saturn. The team found a chemical footprint in Titan's atmosphere indicating that cosmic rays coming from outside the Solar System affect the chemical reactions involved in the formation of nitrogen-bearing organic molecules. This is the first observational confirmation of such processes, and impacts the understanding of the intriguing environment of Titan.

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A 'beating heart' of frozen nitrogen controls Pluto's winds and may give rise to features on its surface, according to a new study.

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A 'cold Neptune' and two potentially habitable worlds are part of a cache of five newly discovered exoplanets and eight exoplanet candidates found orbiting nearby red dwarf stars. The two potentially habitable planets are among the nearest stars to our own Sun, making them prime targets for observations by next-generation space- and land-based telescopes.

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A type of Martian aurora first identified by NASA's MAVEN spacecraft in 2016 is actually the most common form of aurora occurring on the Red Planet, according to new results from the mission. The aurora is known as a proton aurora and can help scientists track water loss from Mars' atmosphere.

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Slashed across the south pole of Saturn's moon Enceladus are four straight, parallel fissures or 'tiger stripes' from which water erupts. These fissures aren't quite like anything else in the Solar System. Researchers now think they have a model to explain them.

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The first evidence of a giant planet orbiting a dead white dwarf star has been found in the form of a disc of gas formed from its evaporating atmosphere.