“Dawn’s residence at Vesta of nearly a year has made the asteroid’s planet-like qualities obvious and shown us our connection to that bright orb in our night sky. [...] Scientists now see Vesta as a layered, planetary building block with an iron core – the only one known to survive the earliest days of the solar system.” Quoted from the NASA press release.
“Last year, images from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured sand dunes and ripples moving across the surface of Mars — observations that challenged previously held beliefs that there was not a lot of movement on the red planet’s surface. Now, technology developed by a team at the California Institute of Technology has allowed scientists to measure these activities for the very first time.” Quoted from the Caltech press release.
“NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope has detected light emanating from a “super-Earth” planet beyond our solar system for the first time. While the planet is not habitable, the detection is a historic step toward the eventual search for signs of life on other planets.” Quoted from the NASA press release.
“Five years of Mars Express gravity mapping data are providing unique insights into what lies beneath the Red Planet’s largest volcanoes. The results show that the lava grew denser over time and that the thickness of the planet’s rigid outer layers varies across the Tharsis region.” Quoted from the ESA press release.
“Saturn’s giant moon Titan hides behind a thick, smoggy atmosphere that’s well known to scientists as one of the most complex chemical environments in the solar system. It’s a productive “factory” cranking out hydrocarbons that rain down on Titan’s icy surface and cloak it in soot.” Quoted from the NASA press release.
“Dark patches visible across much of the northern Martian hemisphere aren’t canals or vegetation, as once thought, but volcanic glass according to a new study.” Quoted from the ABC Science press release.
A group of scientists has produced the first global geologic map of Jupiter’s Moon, Io. “The map illustrates the geologic character of some of the most unique and active volcanoes ever documented in the solar system.” Quote from the USGS press release.
“The frigid McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica are a cold, polar desert, yet the sandy soils there are frequently dotted with moist patches in the spring despite a lack of snowmelt and no possibility of rain. A new study found the salty soils in the region actually suck moisture out of the atmosphere, raising the possibility that such a process could take place on Mars or on other planets.” Quoted from the Oregon State University press release.
“There apparently is a great deal of interest in celestial bodies, and their locations and trajectories at the end of the calendar year 2012. Now, I for one love a good book or movie as much as the next guy. But the stuff flying around through cyberspace, TV and the movies is not based on science. There is even a fake NASA news release out there… So here is the scientific reality on the celestial happenings in the year 2012.”
“InSight, a proposed mission to quite literally dig deep into the planetary history of rocky worlds like Earth, will seek to answer one of science’s most fundamental questions: How were the planets created?” Quote from the NASA website.
“A set of recent papers, many of which draw on data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, reveal new details in the emerging picture of how Saturn’s moon Titan shifts with the seasons and even throughout the day.” Quote from the USGS press release.
A study of ruptures in the Martian surface and associated “displaced” boulder suggest that earthquakes as powerful as M7.0 could have occurred in the past few million years.
“NASA’s Kepler mission has discovered 11 new planetary systems hosting 26 confirmed planets. These discoveries nearly double the number of verified Kepler planets and triple the number of stars known to have more than one planet that transits, or passes in front of, the star.” Quoted from the NASA press release.
Sand dunes are a dominant surface feature on Saturn’s moon Titan. They cover about 13% of the moon’s surface – an area about the same size as the United States. Instead of quartz sand the sand is a solid hydrocarbon!
“Using data from NASA’s Kepler Mission, astronomers announced the discovery of two new transiting “circumbinary” planet systems–planets that orbit two stars.” Quoted from the San Diego State University press release.
“When a meteorite careens toward the dusty surface of the Red Planet, it kicks up dust and can cause avalanching even before the rock from outer space hits the ground…” Quoted from the University of Arizona press release.
“NASA’s Kepler mission has discovered the first Earth-size planets orbiting a sun-like star outside our solar system. The planets, called Kepler-20e and Kepler-20f, are too close to their star to be in the so-called habitable zone where liquid water could exist on a planet’s surface, but they are the smallest exoplanets ever confirmed around a star like our sun.” Quoted from the NASA press release.
A Russian satellite is falling out of orbit after a mission to Phobos, a moon of Mars failed last month. It is one of the heaviest satellites ever launched and is expected to reenter Earth’s atmosphere in early January.
“A new study suggests that some stars in the Milky Way could harbor “carbon super-Earths” – giant terrestrial planets that contain up to 50 percent diamond.” Quoted from the Ohio State University press release.
NASA has a nice collection of “Planetary Puzzles” for you to assemble online. Each of these interactive webpuzzles is based upon a famous NASA image and is rated for its difficulty.
NASA’s Kepler mission has confirmed its first planet in the “habitable zone,” the region around a star where liquid water could exist on a planet’s surface.
“NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft has entered a new region between our solar system and interstellar space. There, a wind of charged particles streaming out from our sun has calmed, our solar system’s magnetic field is piled up, and higher-energy particles from inside our solar system appear to be leaking out into interstellar space.” Quoted from the NASA press release.
Warm water may be just a few kilometers below the surface of Jupiter’s moon Europa – and where there is warm water there could be life.
Previous research has speculated the presence of bodies of warm water below other moons in our solar system that account for water jets and ice volcanoes.
Eris is the dwarf planet, about three times farther from the sun than Pluto. It recently passed in front of a star and that transit gave astronomers a rare opportunity to learn more about it.
“A team of researchers led by Bill Cochran of The University of Texas at Austin has used NASA’s Kepler spacecraft to discover an unusual multiple-planet system containing a super-Earth and two Neptune-sized planets orbiting in resonance with each other.” Quoted from the University of Texas at Austin news release.
“The lava flows were epic: They filled craters more than a mile deep and cover 6 percent of Mercury’s surface, an area that would cover nearly 60 percent of the continental United States.” Quoted from the Brown University press release.
“Forest Service Southern Research Station scientists recently used long-term data from the Coweeta Hydrological Laboratory in Western North Carolina to examine the feasibility of managing forests for water supply under the changing weather conditions forecast for the future.” Quoted from the USDA Forest Service news release.
“With the artistry of a magazine cover shoot, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft captured this portrait of five of Saturn’s moons poised along the planet’s rings.” Quoted from the NASA news release.
“Research on carbon sequestration provides critical information for considering mitigation options for greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere and adaptation opportunities for climate change.” Quoted from the USGS science features.
“The planet Kepler-16b is cold, gaseous, and about the size of Saturn. Its stars are both smaller than the Sun and about 2 billion years younger than our Solar System. They orbit around each other, so from our vantage point they take turns eclipsing each other about every 41 days. The planet Kepler-16b orbits around both stars every 229 days.”
“The existence of a world with a double sunset, as portrayed in the film Star Wars more than 30 years ago, is now scientific fact. NASA’s Kepler mission has made the first unambiguous detection of a circumbinary planet — a planet orbiting two stars — 200 light-years from Earth.” Quoted from the NASA press release.
Embedded video from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of Technology
“Astronomers using ESO’s world-leading exoplanet hunter HARPS have today announced a rich haul of more than 50 new exoplanets, including 16 super-Earths, one of which orbits at the edge of the habitable zone of its star.” Quoted from the European Southern Observatory news release.
The terms “planet” and “dwarf planet” continue to confuse and trigger debate since the International Astronomical Union reclassified Pluto as a dwarf planet in 2006. NASA has a collection of resources to help teachers present this material. It includes: a teacher’s guide, a student activity, a podcast, poster, video lecture and more.
“NASA’s “Eyes on the Solar System” interface combines video game technology and NASA data to create an environment for users to ride along with agency spacecraft and explore the cosmos. Screen graphics and information such as planet locations and spacecraft maneuvers use actual space mission data.” Quoted from the NASA press release.
Five years ago today Pluto, a planet since its discovery in 1930, was demoted to the status of “dwarf planet”. An article on the MSN website reviews the controversy over this demotion and how some astronomers would like to honor tradition while others want to apply a better understanding of the solar system.
“Astronomers have discovered the darkest known exoplanet – a distant, Jupiter-sized gas giant known as TrES-2b. Their measurements show that TrES-2b reflects less than one percent of the sunlight falling on it, making it blacker than coal or any planet or moon in our solar system.” Quoted from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
“Observations from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have revealed possible flowing water during the warmest months on Mars.” Quoted from the NASA new release.
“Astronomers studying observations taken by NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission have discovered the first known “Trojan” asteroid orbiting the sun along with Earth. Trojans are asteroids that share an orbit with a planet near stable points in front of or behind the planet. Because they constantly lead or follow in the same orbit as the planet, they never can collide with it. In our solar system, Trojans also share orbits with Neptune, Mars and Jupiter.” Quoted from the NASA press release.
“European Space Agency’s Herschel space observatory has shown that water expelled from the moon Enceladus forms a giant torus of water vapour around Saturn. The discovery solves a 14-year mystery by identifying the source of the water in Saturn’s upper atmosphere.” Quoted from the European Space Agency news release.
“NASA’s next Mars rover will land at the foot of a layered mountain inside the planet’s Gale Crater. The car-sized Mars Science Laboratory, or Curiosity, is scheduled to launch late this year and land in August 2012.” Quoted from the NASA press release.
“The new moon is the smallest discovered around Pluto. It has an estimated diameter of 8 to 21 miles (13 to 34 km). By comparison, Charon, Pluto’s largest moon, is 648 miles (1,043 km) across, and the other moons, Nix and Hydra, are in the range of 20 to 70 miles in diameter (32 to 113 km).” Quoted from the NASA news release.
The first study of its kind in Europe shows that urban plants are better at storing carbon than expected. Through satellite data and field research the team estimated that large amounts of carbon are stored in city vegetation.
“Scientists analyzing data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft now have the first-ever, up-close details of a Saturn storm that is eight times the surface area of Earth.” Quoted from the NASA news release.
“Dramatic plumes, both large and small, spray water ice out from many locations along the famed “tiger stripes” near the south pole of Saturn’s moon Enceladus. The tiger stripes are fissures that spray icy particles, water vapor and organic compounds. Image credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute.” Quoted from the NASA press release.
“The team found that 55 Cancri e is 60 percent larger in diameter than Earth but eight times as massive. [...] It’s the densest solid planet known, almost as dense as lead.” Quoted from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics press release.
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