Tag: Solar System

What the 1st analysis of China’s Chang’e 6 lunar far side samples revealed

NeRD

We finally have a glimpse of the first-ever samples collected from the far side of the moon. The first paper on the samples collected from China’s Chang’e 6 lunar probe reveals that the specimens differ in some ways from those collected from the moon’s near side. Thus, they could provide fresh insights and lead to new theories about the moon and its evolution. China launched its complex, 53-day-long Chang’e 6 lunar far side sample return mission in early May. A lander scooped and drilled for samples inside an area known…

Read More

NASA invites public to design Artemis moon mission navigation tech

NeRD

NASA is seeking the public’s help for innovative solutions to help Artemis astronauts navigate in and around the lunar south pole. The Artemis program aims to land humans on the moon for the first time since the Apollo missions managed to achieve the feat over 50 years ago. Astronauts will land near the lunar south pole, where permanently shadowed regions may contain areas of water ice that could be accessed to support future missions to Mars. The Lunar Navigation Challenge, which officially opened on Sept. 4, seeks ideas for a…

Read More

Could we turn the sun into a gigantic telescope?

NeRD

We have some incredibly powerful telescopes that have given us spectacular views of the cosmos and allowed us to look back to the early days of the universe. These observatories, such as the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), are amazing feats of engineering that have required billions of dollars and decades of work.  But what if we could access an even better telescope that already exists? This wouldn’t be a typical telescope. It wouldn’t even come with a lens. But it would be by far the most powerful telescope we’d…

Read More

Sun fires off X-class solar flare, increasing aurora viewing chances into weekend

NeRD

A parade of solar activity continues to flow from the sun this week, opening up more chances to spot the aurora across the United States this weekend. On Thursday morning (Sept. 12), a sunspot region that has not been numbered yet made its presence known blasting off a X1.3 class solar flare. X-class solar flares are the most powerful of their kind, and are typically followed by a full or partial loss of high frequency (HF) radio signals for sunlit locations on our planet. The energetic eruption, which peaked at…

Read More

NASA’s Juno probe spots massive new volcano on Jupiter moon Io

NeRD

Researchers have spotted a huge new active volcano on Jupiter’s moon Io by comparing images taken by two NASA missions more than a quarter of a century apart. The images of the new volcano were taken by NASA’s Juno spacecraft and its JunoCam as it made a flyby of Io — the solar system’s most volcanic body — on Feb. 3 this year. The images were captured on the nightside of Io, illuminated only by reflected sunlight from Jupiter.  Comparison with Galileo spacecraft imagery of the same area, just south…

Read More

Mars leaks faster when closer to the sun

NeRD

Seasonal changes can have a dramatic effect on how quickly Mars loses its water to space, a joint study between the Hubble Space Telescope and NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission has shown. Over three billion years ago, Mars was warm and wet, with large bodies of water on its surface and a thicker atmosphere. Today, however, Mars is desolate, cold and dry. So, what happened to all the water? “There’s only two places water can go,” John Clarke of the University of Boston said in a statement.…

Read More

Weird mystery waves that baffle scientists may be ‘everywhere’ inside Earth’s mantle

NeRD

Mysterious zones in the deep mantle where earthquake waves slow to a crawl may actually be everywhere, new research finds. Scientists already knew that ultra-low velocity zones (ULVZs), hover near hotspots — regions of the mantle where hot rock moves upward, forming volcanic island chains such as Hawaii. But mysterious earthquake waves suggest that these features might be widespread. ULVZs, which are located in the lower mantle near the core-mantle boundary, can slow seismic waves by up to 50%. That’s remarkable, said Michael Thorne, a geologist and geophysicist at the University of Utah.…

Read More

No, NASA’s DART asteroid impact probably won’t spark meteor showers on Earth — but maybe on Mars

NeRD

Debris from the impact of NASA’s DART spacecraft with the asteroid Dimorphos could reach Earth and Mars, astronomers have concluded. However, while the debris could result in meteors on Mars, it is rather unlikely we’ll see a meteor shower on Earth. DART, the Double Asteroid Redirection Test, slammed into Dimorphos on Sept. 26, 2022, with the intention of testing whether a kinetic impact could nudge the orbit of a potentially hazardous asteroid away from Earth one day. The test passed with flying colors: Dimorphos was pushed into a shorter orbit…

Read More

Scientists find surprising clue about Venus’ past in its atmosphere

NeRD

Scientists have observed something unexpected in Venus’ atmosphere — an increase in the level of deuterium relative to hydrogen. Okay, sure, that doesn’t sound like the most exciting statement. However, the consequences of this discovery could actually upend our current understanding of the amber world. As it turns out, it would affect our assumption that Venus is a perpetually barren, inhospitable planet. Here’s how. “Venus is often called Earth’s twin due to its similar size,” said Hiroki Karyu, a researcher at Tohoku University and one of the study’s scientists, in…

Read More

NASA’s DART asteroid crash really messed up its space rock target

NeRD

Rogue asteroids, to put it simply, pose a threat to Earth. Though there hasn’t been a cataclysmic event in about 65 million years, that’s not to say there haven’t been nail-biting moments during space rock flybys — in 2013, for instance, the Chelyabinsk asteroid slammed into Earth’s atmosphere “blazing like a second sun” and sending shockwaves through the surrounding area. Space agencies around the world understandably want to be prepared. To this end, NASA launched the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft in 2022, its first mission dedicated to demonstrating…

Read More