Category: Planetary Science

NASA’s Magellan Mission Reveals Possible Tectonic Activity on Venus

Using archival data from the mission, launched in 1989, researchers have uncovered new evidence that tectonic activity may be deforming the planet’s surface. Vast, quasi-circular features on Venus’ surface may reveal that the planet has ongoing tectonics, according to new research based on data gathered more than 30 years ago by NASA’s Magellan mission. On […]

NASA Studies Reveal Hidden Secrets About Interiors of Moon, Vesta

Analyzing gravity data collected by spacecraft orbiting other worlds reveals groundbreaking insights about planetary structures without having to land on the surface. Although the Moon and the asteroid Vesta are very different, two NASA studies use the same technique to reveal new details about the interiors of both. In the lunar study, published May 14 […]

Eye on Infinity: NASA Celebrates Hubble’s 35th Year in Orbit

In celebration of the Hubble Space Telescope’s 35 years in Earth orbit, NASA is releasing an assortment of compelling images recently taken by Hubble, stretching from the planet Mars to star-forming regions, and a neighboring galaxy. After more than three decades of perusing the universe, Hubble remains a household name — the most well-recognized and […]

NASA’s Lucy Spacecraft Prepares Second Asteroid Encounter

NASA’s Lucy spacecraft is 6 days and less than 50 million miles (80 million km) away from its second close encounter with an asteroid; this time, the small main belt asteroid Donaldjohanson. This upcoming event represents a comprehensive “dress rehearsal” for Lucy’s main mission over the next decade: the exploration of multiple Trojan asteroids that […]

Have We Been to Uranus? We Asked a NASA Expert: Episode 56

Have we ever been to Uranus? The answer is simple, yes, but only once. The Voyager II spacecraft flew by the planet Uranus back in 1986, during a golden era when the Voyager spacecraft explored all four giant planets of our solar system. It revealed an extreme world, a planet that had been bowled over […]

Hubble Helps Determine Uranus’ Rotation Rate with Unprecedented Precision

An international team of astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has made new measurements of Uranus’ interior rotation rate with a novel technique, achieving a level of accuracy 1,000 times greater than previous estimates. By analyzing more than a decade of Hubble observations of Uranus’ aurorae, researchers have refined the planet’s rotation period and […]

20-Year Hubble Study of Uranus Yields New Atmospheric Insights

The ice-giant planet Uranus, which travels around the Sun tipped on its side, is a weird and mysterious world. Now, in an unprecedented study spanning two decades, researchers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have uncovered new insights into the planet’s atmospheric composition and dynamics. This was possible only because of Hubble’s sharp resolution, spectral capabilities, […]

NASA’s Webb Captures Neptune’s Auroras For First Time

Long-sought auroral glow finally emerges under Webb’s powerful gaze For the first time, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has captured bright auroral activity on Neptune. Auroras occur when energetic particles, often originating from the Sun, become trapped in a planet’s magnetic field and eventually strike the upper atmosphere. The energy released during these collisions creates […]

NASA’s Curiosity Rover Detects Largest Organic Molecules Found on Mars

Researchers analyzing pulverized rock onboard NASA’s Curiosity rover have found the largest organic compounds on the Red Planet to date. The finding, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests prebiotic chemistry may have advanced further on Mars than previously observed. Scientists probed an existing rock sample inside Curiosity’s Sample Analysis […]

New Modeling Assesses Age of Next Target Asteroid for NASA’s Lucy

Although NASA’s Lucy spacecraft’s upcoming encounter with the asteroid Donaldjohanson is primarily a mission rehearsal for later asteroid encounters, a new paper suggests that this small, main belt asteroid may have some surprises of its own. New modeling indicates that Donaldjohanson may have been formed about 150 million years ago when a larger parent asteroid […]