A bevy of craters formed by material blasted from the carving of another, larger crater — a process dubbed secondary cratering — have finally been spotted on Earth. Several groupings…
Category: Planetary Science
These are the first visible-light images of Venus’ surface captured from space
By serendipity, scientists have photographed Venus’ surface from space for the first time. Though the planet’s rocky body is concealed beneath a thick veil of clouds, telescopes aboard NASA’s Parker…
Astronomers identified a second possible exomoon
Some of the same researchers who found the first purported exomoon now say that they’ve found another. Dubbed Kepler 1708 b i, the satellite has a radius about 2.6 times…
Spacecraft in 2021 set their sights on Mars, asteroids and beyond
While a flurry of missions crowded around Mars this year, some lesser-explored parts of the solar system are about to get fresh eyes. Three countries visited the Red Planet in…
This tiny, sizzling exoplanet could be made of molten iron
A newly discovered exoplanet is really making astronomers prove their mettle. Planet GJ 367b is smaller than Earth, denser than iron and hot enough to melt, researchers report in the…
50 years ago, Arecibo got an unprecedented view of Venus’ surface
Probing Venus’ mountains — Science News, February 12, 1972 Venus’ perpetually cloud-shrouded surface remains penetrable only by radio waves. A planetary radar group now reports results of an extended series…
Earth has a second known ‘Trojan asteroid’ that shares its orbit
A recently found space rock is schlepping along with Earth around the sun. This “Trojan asteroid” is only the second one discovered that belongs to our planet. And it’s probably…
Machine learning points to prime places in Antarctica to find meteorites
The hunt for meteorites may have just gotten some new leads. A powerful new machine learning algorithm has identified over 600 hot spots in Antarctica where scientists are likely to…
Organic molecules in an ancient Mars meteorite formed via geology, not alien life
When researchers in 1996 reported they had found organic molecules nestled in an ancient Martian meteorite discovered in Antarctica, it caused quite a buzz. Some insisted the compounds were big-if-true…
Oxygen-rich exoplanets may be geologically active
Humble oxygen is more than just a building block of life. The element could also help scientists sneak a peek into the innards of planets orbiting faraway stars, a new…
