Vahe Peroomian, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
The dwarf planets in our Solar System are cold, dark, far away and full of surprises.
New research confirms how particles from space can be sent careening down into Earth’s atmosphere to create the aurora, filling in a missing piece in how this stunning natural phenomenon is generated.
Terry Zaperach/NASA
Clouds, hellish temperatures, endless nights? Characterizing the atmosphere of exoplanets, planets that orbit stars other than the sun, is a formidable task.
An artist’s impression of the exoplanet WASP-76b, which is hot enough to vaporize metals.
(European Southern Observatory/M. Kornmesser)
On the ultra-hot exoplanet WASP-76b, metal is vaporized in the heat. Studying the atmosphere of extreme planets will reveal more wild and weird weather.
Artist’s rendition of the Jupiter-like planet and its white dwarf star.
W. M. Keck Observatory/Adam Makarenko
From the tallest cliff in the solar system to its largest impact basin, geological processes on other worlds are very similar to those on our own planet.
Artist illustration of an exoplanet.
dottedhippo/iStock via Getty Images
The reason bigger objects in space are round and smaller ones aren’t boils down to gravity. And it’s the same reason mountains on Earth can only grow to a certain height
Mars, Venus and the crescent Moon will all come together in the sky just after sunset on Tuesday.
New research suggests that Venus’ crust is broken into large blocks – the dark reddish–purple areas – that are surrounded by belts of tectonic structures shown in lighter yellow–red.
Paul K. Byrne/NASA/USGS
Researchers used decades-old radar data and found that some low-lying areas of Venus’ crust are moving and jostling. This evidence is some of the strongest yet of tectonic activity on Venus.
It can stretch your mind to ponder what’s really out there.
Stijn Dijkstra/EyeEm via Getty Images
It has only been in the past century that weather prediction on Earth has advanced enough to work two weeks in advance. Predicting space weather, however, is only reliable an hour in advance.
NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter on its first flight, captured by cameras aboard NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover on April 19, 2021.
(NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU)
The Ingenuity is a drone-like helicopter that completed its first flight on Mars. This achievement reflects a new horizon for space exploration, as new places are discovered and studied.
A planet in a triple-star system has been discovered.
(Shutterstock)
A recent study shows that the Earth’s water could come directly from the oxygen and hydrogen present in the rocks that formed it, and not from a late supply by asteroids.