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Friday, March 29, 2024
China’s Chang’ E-4 might have landed near pieces of the Moon’s interior

China’s Chang’ E-4 might have landed near pieces of the Moon’s...

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Enlarge / The original Yutu rover, shown on the Moon. While some of the details are still being worked out, it's generally agreed that the Moon formed when a Mars-sized body collided with the early Earth. Some of the debris put into orbit by the collision would then go on to condense into the Moon.…
Jupiter might have had a head-on crash with an enormous protoplanet

Jupiter might have had a head-on crash with an enormous protoplanet

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K. Suda & Y. Akimoto/Mabuchi Design Office Planet-forming disks start out as a mix of dust and gas, but the gas doesn't stick around for long. As the star at their center ignites, the radiation it emits starts driving off the gas, eventually leaving a disk with nothing but dust behind. That creates a narrow…
Very first water identified in the environment of a habitable-zone world

Very first water identified in the environment of a habitable-zone world

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Enlarge / An artist's impression of the planet K2-18b and its clouds. On Wednesday, astronomers announced the first detection of water in the atmosphere of a planet that orbits within the habitable zone of its host star. The planet, K2-18b, is certainly not habitable by us, as it's a mini-Neptune that may not have any…
Could we have already imaged a ringed exoplanet?

Could we have already imaged a ringed exoplanet?

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Enlarge / Artist's conception of a large ring system surrounding an exoplanet. Many of the exoplanets we've discovered look at least vaguely like something we're familiar with. Exoplanets have been described as super-Earths, mini-Neptunes, hot Jupiters, and so on. But not everything is entirely familiar, and we've stumbled across a number of oddballs. Among those…
Tiny robotic discovers an asteroid that’s freakishly without dust

Tiny robotic discovers an asteroid that’s freakishly without dust

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Enlarge / Ryugu's rubble-pile surface, taken by MASCOT shortly before it hit and started bouncing. For the last few months, Japan's Hayabusa2 spacecraft has been engaged in various acts of interplanetary aggression, shooting the asteroid Ryugu in order to blast free material for a return to Earth. But Hayabusa2's visit has also featured various less…
Astronomers have actually identified a 2nd interstellar item

Astronomers have actually identified a 2nd interstellar item

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An object that seems to be a comet from around another star is speeding through the solar system. This comet, dubbed C/2019 Q4 (Borisov), marks the second time that astronomers have seen an interstellar visitor on its way past the sun. Ukrainian amateur astronomer Gennady Borisov spotted the comet on August 30. In the days…
Details pour in from New Horizons’ visit to a Kuiper Belt Object

Details pour in from New Horizons’ visit to a Kuiper Belt...

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NASA/JHU APL/SWRI/Roman Tkachenko Following its successful rendezvous with Pluto, the New Horizons spacecraft was sent on towards a smaller object out in the Kuiper Belt. As it shot past, the spacecraft captured images of a small world consisting of two very distinct lobes, with properties that scientists found a bit confusing. But details would have…
Some ‘superpuff’ exoplanets may actually be ringed worlds like Saturn

Some ‘superpuff’ exoplanets may actually be ringed worlds like Saturn

Some puzzling planets called superpuffs could be Saturns in disguise. These exoplanets appear very large given their masses, suggesting that they have densities like cotton candy. Astronomers have struggled to explain how these planets could have turned out so fluffy (SN: 11/30/15). “People had been thinking of complicated ways to explain these mysterious planets,” such…
Over night modifications in Mars’ environment might fix a methane secret

Over night modifications in Mars’ environment might fix a methane secret

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Methane released in Gale crater stays in Gale crater. An overnight change in the Martian atmosphere could hold the gas close to the ground until morning, explaining why the Curiosity rover caught a whiff of methane while an overhead orbiter found none. The theory offers “a way for the two measurements to live in harmony…
Coronavirus restrictions the final straw for ESA’s Mars Mission

Coronavirus restrictions the final straw for ESA’s Mars Mission

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Enlarge / The Rosalind Franklin rover following environmental tests. On Thursday, the European Space Agency and its Russian partners announced that they would be delaying their planned rover/lander mission to Mars. As we reported earlier this year, the project was facing a number of technical hurdles, and time was running short to sort them out…

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