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Geology News
Astronomy Current Events

NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory has helped scientists to find the most recent supernova yet discovered in our galaxy. Study of the 140-year-old remnants will aid in the understanding of stellar explosions.

NASA Image

NASA’s Phoenix lander is scheduled to permeate the Martian atmosphere on May 25. Scientists are hoping for a successful landing, after which the Phoenix will investigate geological properties of the planet. This article features a video showing an artist’s conceptualization of the landing.

NASA Image

Microsoft has created a tool which allows users to view objects in space from a “virtual telescope”. It is free to the general public.

The Genesis 1 private space station has completed its 10,000th trip around the planet. During its journey, it has traveled more than 270 million miles and taken approximately 14,000 photos.

This article by Erin Wayman looks at what is being done to learn more about Venus. NASA has not had a dedicated Venus mission for nearly two decades but the European Space Agency launched a Venus mission in 2005 and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency will launch another in 2010.

NASA has acquired images of powerful electrical storms on Saturn with lightning bolts 10,000 times more powerful than those on Earth. These resemble terrestrial thunderstorms, but have diameters of several thousand kilometers (thousands of miles) across.

Munir Humayun of Florida State University and NASA colleagues authored a paper, “Partitioning of Palladium at High Pressures and Temperatures During Core Formation,” in the journal Nature Geoscience. The paper challenges a popular theory that all of Earth’s water and several elements were added to the Earth by impacts with icy comets, meteorites and other passing objects.

NASA Image

An archive of NASA news releases, image galleries and articles on a variety of topics related to planetary geology, earth observation, global climate change, monitoring volcanoes, looking beyond our solar system, monitoring the oceans and more. A few of the most popular ones are:

• Monitoring Volcanoes from Space
• Photograph of Avalanches on Mars
• Glacial Sediments Add to Louisiana Coastal Subsidence
• Satellite Images of Marine Phytoplankton Blooms
• Sahara Dust Storms Lower Sea Surface Temperatures
• Satellite Measures Pollution From East Asia to North America

The sun’s surface is a sea of churning gas. When solar flares erupt, they send seismic waves across the surface; these are known as “sunquakes”. This is a short video showing the flares and seismic ripples in action.

NASA has released an impressive collection of galaxy images, each showing galaxies in collision, interacting or about to collide. They have been released to celebrate the 18th anniversary of the Hubble Space Telescope launch.

“Astronomers are using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope to dissect one of the largest structures in the universe as part of a quest to understand the violent lives of galaxies. Hubble is providing indirect evidence of unseen dark matter tugging on galaxies in the crowded, rough-and-tumble environment of a massive supercluster of hundreds of galaxies.” Quoted from the NASA release.

A radar instrument co-sponsored by NASA on the European Space Agency’s Mars Express orbiter has looked beneath the surface of Mars and opened up a new dimension for planetary exploration.

“Brown University researchers have found compelling evidence of thick, recurring glaciers on Mars, a discovery that suggests that the Red Planet’s climate was much more dynamic than previously believed – and could change again.” Quoted from the Brown University release.

NASA Image

NASA has released images of Phobos, the larger of Mars’ two moons. These were captured by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on March 23, 2008. They show interesting geological features such as landslides and crater chains.

NASA Image

NASA has published a photo book to celebrate the first fifty years of American space exploration. View some of the book’s pictures with this slideshow from Scientific American.

“M83 is located 15 million light-years away in the southern constellation Hydra. Astronomers speculate that young stars seen far out in M83 could have formed under conditions resembling those of the early universe.”

A collection of images representing some of the most impressive views in our universe. Included are the Orion Nebula, a dying star, spiral galaxy, birth of a star, the Eagle Nebula, extrasolar planet, a galaxy pair and the Cartwheel Galaxy.

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has discovered evidence that points to the existence of an underground ocean of water and ammonia on Saturn’s moon Titan. The findings were made using radar measurements of Titan’s rotation.

Omega Centauri is the biggest and brightest of the 150 or so globular clusters that orbit around the outside of our Milky Way galaxy. Stargazers at southern latitudes can spot the stellar gem with the naked eye in the constellation Centaurus. You can see an infrared image of Omega Centauri at the NASA website.

The Hubble Space Telescope has captured an image of a planetary nebula in the Gemini constellation. The image of the star’s glowing remains shows several interesting features.

A team of astronomers in Scotland have discovered a new planet taking shape in the Taurus constellation. Over time, the planet will probably grow to become a gas giant larger than Jupiter. The finding adds fuel to the debate of whether gravitational instability can cause the formation of gas giants.

ESA/ DLR/ FU Berlin (G. Neukum)

The European Space Agency has published a nice collection of photos showing Hebes Chasma, a trough located in Valles Marineris, A.K.A. the “Grand Canyon of Mars”. They have a color-coded elevation model, overhead views, and several 3-D perspective views. Don’t miss the high-resolution versions, which show an incredible amount of detail. Wow!

Microscopic cellulose fibers can remain preserved in salt for over 250 million years, scientists have discovered. If we were to collect salt samples from Mars, we could use them to determine the possible existence of life on the planet.

“Could microbial life exist inside Enceladus, where no sunlight reaches, photosynthesis is impossible and no oxygen is available? To answer that question, we need look no farther than our own planet to find examples of the types of exotic ecosystems that could make life possible on Saturn’s geyser moon.” Quoted from the NASA release.

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft sampled vapors erupting in geyser-like fashion from Saturn’s moon Enceladus during a close flyby on March 12, 2008. Scientists are amazed that this tiny moon is so active, “hot” and brimming with water vapor and organic chemicals.

Saturn’s Moon, Tethys, may have had a liquid ocean under its icy surface. Part of the evidence used to support this idea is the Ithaca Chasma, a large valley that might have formed when the crust was stressed after a period of tidal heating.

NASA Image

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft performed a flyby of Saturn’s moon Enceladus, flying about 15 kilometers per second (32,000 mph) through icy water geyser-like jets. The spacecraft snatched up precious samples that might point to a water ocean or organics inside the little moon. Scientists believe the geysers could provide evidence that liquid water is trapped under the icy crust of Enceladus.

NASA Image

The northern hemisphere of Mars is mostly smooth plains with a thin crust below but the southern hemisphere is heavily cratered over a thicker crust. What caused these two different landscape/structural combinations?

Scientists have discovered evidence that Saturn’s second-largest moon, Rhea, may have thin rings. If this is true, it would be the first known occurrence of rings around a moon.

After more than 10 years of preparation, the Large Binocular Telescope on Mount Graham, Arizona is now up and running. It is the world’s largest and most powerful telescope to date. With some modification, it should be able to view outer space ten times more clearly than the Hubble Space Telescope.

With the onset of spring comes the breathtaking display of the Northern Lights. What many people do not realize is that the fantastic light displays are caused by intense geomagnetic storms. NASA has deployed some satellites to study this mysterious phenomenon.

Researchers originally thought some newly-created bright streaks on the surface of Mars could have been the result of flooding. While the presence of water on Mars is still possible, further investigation shows that the streaks are more likely the product of dry landslides.

Here is a list of the news items that were most popular with our readers for February 2008…

• New Duck-Billed Dinosaur Discovered in Mexico
• Coal Through a Microscope
• Volcanoes May Have Caused the Little Ice Ages
• Plastic: The Scourge of Sea Life
• Sir Charles Lyell’s Elements of Geology
• Photos from the Tucson Gem and Minerals Show
• Meteorites from Mercury
• Heated Debate Over the Definition of a Planet
• Theories on Grand Canyon Formation
• Who Buys High End Mineral Specimens?

Brightness data from last month’s lunar eclipse may reveal information on the amount of dust in our atmosphere as well as data related to climate change. Variations in brightness from one eclipse to the next can be related to atmospheric change.

A little over a year ago, the International Astronomical Union approved a new definition for “planet” and that approval removed Pluto as one of the planets of our solar system (it is now a “dwarf planet”). The definition’s approval was not unanimous and now a group of scientists are proposing for a new definition that would make Pluto and three other bodies planets.

“NASA has obtained the highest resolution terrain mapping to date of the moon’s rugged south polar region. Scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., generated the imagery using data collected with the facility’s Goldstone Solar System Radar.” Quoted from the NASA release.

Some meteorites contain lots of nanometer-sized diamonds. This was the first discovery that started scientists thinking about the possibility of diamonds in space. Now the Spitzer Space Telescope is going to look for them.

NASA Image

A team led by SpaceWorks Engineering won a contest in which there were required to design a mission that would launch, rendezvous with an asteroid and collect enough data in time for governments to decide whether or not to mount a mission to deflect it off its course.”

This short article lists a number of surprising things learned about Mercury from the recent MESSENGER flyby. Information on craters, Mercury’s magnetic field and more.

Meteorites from the Moon and Mars have been found on Earth but none have yet been found from Mercury. Is it possible for an impact on Mercury to launch a rock with enough energy to reach earth? Scientists from the University of British Columbia have done the math and believe that it is possible.