Category Astronomy/Space

This is a composite which combines gas temperature (as the color) and shock mach number (as the brightness). Red indicates 10 million Kelvin gas at the centers of massive galaxy clusters, while bright structures show diffuse gas from the intergalactic medium shock heating at the boundary between cosmic voids and filaments. Credit: Illustris Team

The early ocean known as Arabia (left, blue) would have looked like this when it formed 4 billion years ago on Mars, while the Deuteronilus ocean, about 3.6 billion years old, had a smaller shoreline. Both coexisted with the massive volcanic province Tharsis, located on the unseen side of the planet, which may have helped support the existence of liquid water. The water is now gone, perhaps frozen underground and partially lost to space, while the ancient seabed is known as the northern plains. Robert Citron images, UC Berkeley.

The surface features of the northern and southern hemispheres of Mars are very different. In this topographic map, the northern hemisphere (shown in blue) is mostly smooth lowlands and has experienced extensive volcanism. The southern hemisphere (in orange) has an older, cratered highland surface. This dichotomy could have been caused by a giant impact. Credit: University of Arizona/LPL/SwRI

Deflecting the massive asteroid 101955 Bennu was the focus of recent research by a national planetary defense team. Bennu will make a very close approach to Earth on Sept. 25, 2135. Credit: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory