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    Category Astronomy/Space

    Mars Express detects Liquid Water Hidden under Planet’s South Pole

    July 27, 2018, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    ESA’s Mars Express has used radar signals bounced through underground layers of ice to find evidence of a pond of water buried below the south polar cap. Credit: Context map: NASA/Viking; THEMIS background: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Arizona State University; MARSIS data: ESA/NASA/JPL/ASI/Univ. Rome; R. Orosei et al 2018

    ESA’s Mars Express has used radar signals bounced through underground layers of ice to find evidence of a pond of water buried below the south polar cap. Credit: Context map: NASA/Viking; THEMIS background: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Arizona State University; MARSIS data: ESA/NASA/JPL/ASI/Univ. Rome; R. Orosei et al 2018

    Radar data collected by ESA’s Mars Express point to a pond of liquid water buried under layers of ice and dust in the south polar region of Mars. Evidence for the Red Planet’s watery past is prevalent across its surface in the form of vast dried-out river valley networks and gigantic outflow channels clearly imaged by orbiting spacecraft...

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    Where Martian Dust comes from

    July 26, 2018, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    A portion of the Medusae Fossae Formation on Mars showing the effect of billions of years of erosion. The image was acquired by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

    A portion of the Medusae Fossae Formation on Mars showing the effect of billions of years of erosion. The image was acquired by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
    Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

    The dust that coats much of the surface of Mars originates largely from a single thousand-kilometer-long geological formation near the Red Planet’s equator, scientists have found. A study published in the journal Nature Communications found a chemical match between dust in the Martian atmosphere and the surface feature, called the Medusae Fossae Formation...

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    ‘Ribbon’ wraps up Mystery of Jupiter’s Magnetic Equator

    July 25, 2018, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    This image shows the same map of H3+ brightness as in redmap.jpg. However, here, we have overlain three different measurements of Jupiter's magnetic equator. The first, in blue (with the broadest dashes), is the best past estimate of what was thought to be the equator using ultraviolet light; the second, in red and yellow (with medium dashes) is the location of the dark ribbon seen in this map; the third is the new measurement of the magnetic equator recently measured by the Juno spacecraft. This magnetic measurement shows how closely the dark ribbon follows Jupiter's magnetic equator. Credit: University of Leicester

    This image shows the same map of H3+ brightness as in redmap.jpg. However, here, we have overlain three different measurements of Jupiter’s magnetic equator. The first, in blue (with the broadest dashes), is the best past estimate of what was thought to be the equator using ultraviolet light; the second, in red and yellow (with medium dashes) is the location of the dark ribbon seen in this map; the third is the new measurement of the magnetic equator recently measured by the Juno spacecraft. This magnetic measurement shows how closely the dark ribbon follows Jupiter’s magnetic equator.
    Credit: University of Leicester

    New data from Jupiter observations is a gift to astronomers...

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    The Milky Way’s Long-Lost Sibling finally found

    July 24, 2018, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    In this image, the Andromeda galaxy shreds the large galaxy M32p, which eventually resulted in M32 and a giant halo of stars. Credit: Richard D’Souza. Image of M31 courtesy of Wei-Hao Wang. Credit: Image of stellar halo of M31 courtesy of AAS/IOP.

    In this image, the Andromeda galaxy shreds the large galaxy M32p, which eventually resulted in M32 and a giant halo of stars. Credit: Richard D’Souza. Image of M31 courtesy of Wei-Hao Wang.
    Credit: Image of stellar halo of M31 courtesy of AAS/IOP.

    Scientists at the University of Michigan have deduced that the Andromeda galaxy, our closest large galactic neighbor, shredded and cannibalized a massive galaxy two billion years ago. Even though it was mostly shredded, this massive galaxy left behind a rich trail of evidence: an almost invisible halo of stars larger than the Andromeda galaxy itself, an elusive stream of stars and a separate enigmatic compact galaxy, M32...

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