Category Astronomy/Space

Far below the gaseous atmospheric shroud on Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, lies Kraken Mare, a sea of liquid methane. Cornell University astronomers have estimated that sea to be at least 1,000-feet deep near its center — enough room for a potential robotic submarine to explore.

After sifting through data from one of the final Titan flybys of the Cassini mission, the researchers detailed their findings in “The Bathymetry of Moray Sinus at Titan’s Kraken Mare,” which published in the Journal of Geophysical Research.

“The depth and composition of each of Titan’s seas had already been measured, except for Titan’s largest sea, Kraken Mare — which not only has a great name, but also contains ab...

Scientists develop theoretical models to predict the presence of clathrate hydrates outside Earth, shedding light on the evolution of other atmospheres.

Aside from regular ice, water can exist in the form of peculiar solids called clathrate hydrates, which trap small gaseous molecules. They play a large role in the evolution of atmospheres, but predicting their presence in cryogenic temperatures is difficult. In a recent study, scientists from Okayama University developed statistical mechanics theory to determine their presence in Pluto and some of Jupiter’s and Saturn’s satellites, providing valuable information to revise existing interpretations.

Researchers shed new light on nebula formation processes. Images of two iconic planetary nebulae taken by the Hubble Space Telescope are revealing new information about how they develop their dramatic features...

The core mass of the giant exoplanet WASP-107b is much lower than what was thought necessary to build up the immense gas envelope surrounding giant planets like Jupiter and Saturn, astronomers at Université de Montréal have found.

This intriguing discovery by Ph.D. student Caroline Piaulet of UdeM’s Institute for Research on Exoplanets (iREx) suggests that gas-giant planets form a lot more easily than previously believed.

Piaulet is part of the groundbreaking research team of UdeM astrophysics professor Björn Benneke that in 2019 announced the first detection of water on an exoplanet located in ...