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    Category Astronomy/Space

    NASA sounding Rocket finds Helium Structures in Sun’s Atmosphere

    August 11, 2020, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    A composite image of the Sun showing the hydrogen (left) and helium (center and right) in the low corona. The helium at depletion near the equatorial regions is evident.
    Credits: NASA

    Helium is the second most abundant element in the universe after hydrogen. But scientists aren’t sure just how much there actually is in the Sun’s atmosphere, where it is hard to measure. Knowing the amount of helium in the solar atmosphere is important to understanding the origin and acceleration of the solar wind—the constant stream of charged particles from the Sun.

    In 2009, NASA launched a sounding rocket investigation to measure helium in the extended solar atmosphere—the first time we’ve gathered a full global map...

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    Huge Ring-like Structure on Ganymede’s surface may have been caused by Violent Impact

    August 8, 2020, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Credit: Tsunehiko Kato, 4D2U Project, NAOJ

    Researchers from Kobe University and the National Institute of Technology, Oshima College have conducted a detailed reanalysis of image data from Voyager 1, 2 and Galileo spacecraft in order to investigate the orientation and distribution of the ancient tectonic troughs found on Jupiter’s moon Ganymede. They discovered that these troughs are concentrically distributed across almost the entire surface of the satellite. This global distribution indicates that these troughs may be actually part of one giant crater covering Ganymede.

    Based on the results of a computer simulation conducted using the “PC Cluster” at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ), it is speculated that this giant crater could have resulted from the impact o...

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    Researchers use InSight for deep Mars measurements

    August 8, 2020, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Image: An artist’s impression of Mars’ inner structure. The topmost layer is the crust, and beneath it is the mantle, which rests on a solid inner core. (Image courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech)

    Analysis of NASA lander seismograph data reveals boundaries from crust to core. Using data from NASA’s InSight Lander on Mars, Rice University seismologists have made the first direct measurements of three subsurface boundaries from the crust to the core of the red planet.

    “Ultimately it may help us understand planetary formation,” said Alan Levander, co-author of a study available online this week in Geophysical Research Letters...

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    Ammonia Sparks unexpected, exotic Lightning on Jupiter

    August 7, 2020, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    illustration used data obtained by NASA’s Juno mission to depict high-altitude electrical storms
    This illustration used data obtained by NASA’s Juno mission to depict high-altitude electrical storms on Jupiter. Juno’s sensitive Stellar Reference Unit camera detected unusual lightning flashes on the planet’s dark side during the spacecraft’s close flybys of the planet.

    NASA’s Juno spacecraft – orbiting and closely observing the planet Jupiter – has unexpectedly discovered lightning in the planet’s upper atmosphere, according to a multi-institutional study led by the NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), which includes two Cornell University researchers.

    Jupiter’s gaseous atmosphere seems placid from a distance, but up close the clouds roil in a turbulent, chemically dynamic realm...

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