Skip to main content

Posts

Scientist Constructs "Big Picture" of Mars Water from Rover Data

Rover data from more than 20 years ago has revealed clues to the existence of liquid water on ancient Mars. The NASA Spirit Rover carried a specialized instrument called a Mössbauer Spectrometer that performed mineralogical analyses of soil, rock, and dust on the surface of the Red Planet at Gusev Crater. Individual measurements didn't always indicate definitive proof of water, but when scientist Paolo de Souza of Edith Cowan University in Australia examined years' worth of measurements together, a definite pattern began to show up in the existence of minerals that could only exist in the presence of water. His analysis shows that Mars used to sport a lot more water than scientists expected and that the data showing its existence was in the data all along. from Universe Today https://ift.tt/w9EgXxD via IFTTT
Post a Comment
Read more
Recent posts

Venus Isn't Dead After All

Simulations conducted by researchers at ETH Zurich suggest a strong likelihood that Venus’s rift valleys are still geologically active rather than being mere relics of a bygone era, as had been previously believed. This finding reshapes our understanding of Earth’s sister planet and will influence future missions to Venus. from Universe Today https://ift.tt/Cp1WQql via IFTTT
Post a Comment
Read more

See the Perseid Meteors on a New Moon Year

You couldn’t ask for a better year for one of the top annual meteor showers. If skies are clear be sure to watch for one of the top skywatching draws of 2026: the August Perseid meteor shower. While the Perseids are a draw on any year, 2026 is special, and has a few things going for it in terms of the Moon phase, peak timing and prospects. from Universe Today https://ift.tt/poQB1bc via IFTTT
Post a Comment
Read more

Interstellar Travel: the Birth of Fusion Drives

During the Space Age and Cold War, fusion-powered spacecraft systems were investigated as a possible means of reaching another star system within a human lifetime. Many of the proposed ideas are still on the table today, waiting for future advancements to make them realizable. from Universe Today https://ift.tt/iNbzXfr via IFTTT
Post a Comment
Read more

Zodiacal Dust in Exoplanetary Systems Could Hinder Our Search For Life On Other Worlds

Most exoplanetary systems have a plane of dust similar to the zodiacal dust of our solar system. This dust absorbs some of the very light we use to find biosignatures in exoplanet atmospheres, and could make our search for life more challenging. from Universe Today https://ift.tt/hC3vMgS via IFTTT
Post a Comment
Read more

Smashed Ice Worlds Formed Neptune's Inner Moons and Rings

The planet Neptune has 16 known moons, with its largest Moon, Triton, comprising more than 99.5 percent of the mass of all of them. Triton’s incredible size has led scientists to hypothesize it was a captured object originating from the Kuiper Belt, which wreaked havoc on Neptune’s original moon system upon its capture and subsequential elliptical orbit. Today, some remnants of these original moons are part of the dusty rings that orbit Neptune. But what did that original moon system consist of? Were they the same small worlds observed today or are they pieces of what was once much larger worlds? from Universe Today https://ift.tt/RuEHh28 via IFTTT
Post a Comment
Read more

Charon’s Mountains Reveal Moon Once Spun 10x Faster

Pluto’s moon, Charon, is one of the most unexplored (and arguably underappreciated) planetary objects in the entire solar system. This is primarily because it’s only been visited once by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft during its famous Pluto flyby in July 2015. Despite this quick encounter, New Horizons beamed back troves of data regarding Charon that scientists continue to pour over with the goal of gaining insight into Charon’s formation and evolution. This is because Charon is the largest moon compared to its parent body in the solar system, noted by it being half of Pluto’s diameter and one-eighth of Pluto’s mass. from Universe Today https://ift.tt/QrcRBKV via IFTTT
Post a Comment
Read more