An illustration showing how Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAOs) expand with the universe. Credit: Gabriela Secara, Perimeter Institute CC-BY-4.0 Last time I wrote about new data that overturns the standard cosmological…
Category: Planetary Science
Chang’e-6 samples reveal first evidence of impact-formed hematite and maghemite on the moon
Graphical depiction of the formation scenario of ferric oxides in Chang’e-6 lunar sample. Credit: IGCAS A joint research team from the Institute of Geochemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences…
When space junk comes home
Deployment of Starlink Satellites by SpaceX. Credit: SpaceX Early one February morning in 2025, Adam Borucki discovered something extraordinary behind his warehouse in Poland: a charred metal tank, roughly 1.5…
The hidden danger of lunar micrometeoroid storms
Lunar sample 61195 from Apollo 16 textured with “zap pits” from micrometeorite impacts. Credit: James Stuby from NASA image The moon has no significant atmosphere, no weather, and no wind.…
How to spot life in the clouds on other worlds
Artist concept of a cloudy Earth-like exoplanet with colorful biota in the clouds. Credit: Adam B. Langeveld/Carl Sagan Institute. Adapted from NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech. Cloud cover is bad for picnics and for…
Why the universe might be fluffier than we thought
Scanning electron microscope image of a interplanetary dust particle. Credit: NASA Space dust provides more than just awe-inspiring pictures like the Pillars of Creation. It can provide the necessary materials…
Bezos’s Blue Origin set to launch NASA mission to Mars
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain New Glenn, the towering rocket built by Jeff Bezos’s space company Blue Origin, is set to take off on its second mission Sunday as competition intensifies…
The ‘anti-weather’ of Venus
Surface of Venus, as seen by Venera 13. Credit: Venera 13/Don P.Mitchell Conditions on Venus’s surface have largely remained a mystery for decades. Carl Sagan famously pointed out that people…
Saturn’s icy moon may host a stable ocean fit for life
A new study has constrained the Enceladus’s global conductive heat flow by studying its seasonal temperature variations at its north pole (yellow). These results, when combined with existing ones of…
