Category Astronomy/Space

The Chang’e-5 mission touched down in the Mons Rümker region of the northern Oceanus Procellarum of the moon and returned 1.731 kg of lunar regolith. Recognizing exotic clasts (i.e., non-Chang’e-5 locally derived materials) in the Chang’e-5 regolith could provide critical information about the lithological diversity and regolith gardening process in the young mare region of the moon.

Recently, Dr. Zeng Xiaojia, Prof. Li Xiongyao and Prof. Liu Jianzhong from the Institute of Geochemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IGCAS) have identified seven exotic igneous clasts in Chang’e-5 samples from more than 3,000 of Chang’e-5 regolith particles.

This work was published in Nature Astronomy on ...

Cube-shaped snow, icy landscapes, and frost are all part of the Red Planet’s coldest season.
When winter comes to Mars, the surface is transformed into a truly otherworldly holiday scene. Snow, ice, and frost accompany the season’s sub-zero temperatures. Some of the coldest of these occur at the planet’s poles, where it gets as low as minus 190 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 123 degrees Celsius).

Cold as it is, don’t expect snow drifts worthy of the Rocky Mountains...

Researchers have uncovered a previously hidden heating process that helps explain how the atmosphere that surrounds the Sun called the “solar corona” can be vastly hotter than the solar surface that emits it.

The discovery at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) could improve tackling a range of astrophysical puzzles such as star formation, the origin of large-scale magnetic fields in the universe, and the ability to predict eruptive space weather events that can disrupt cell phone service and black out power grids on Earth. Understanding the heating process also has implications for fusion research.

First clear 3D explanation

“Our direct numerical simulation is the first to pro...

In a recent study published in The Planetary Science Journal, a pair of researchers led by The Carl Sagan Center at the SETI Institute in California investigated the potential origin for the thick regolith deposits on Uranus’ moon, Miranda. The purpose of this study was to determine Miranda’s internal structure, most notably its interior heat, which could help determine if Miranda harbors—or ever harbored—an internal ocean.

“It is unlikely that Miranda would be able to retain a subsurface ocean to the present day due to its small size,” said Dr. Chloe Beddingfield, who is a scientist at the NASA Ames Research Center...