Category Astronomy/Space

K. L. Aplin et al. Solar-Driven Variation in the Atmosphere of Uranus, Geophysical Research Letters (2017). DOI: 10.1002/2017GL075374

Changes in solar activity influence the color and formation of clouds around the planet, researchers at Oxford and Reading universities found. The icy planet is second furthest from the sun in the solar system and takes 84 Earth years to complete a full orbit – one Uranian year. The researchers found that, once the planet’s long and strange seasons are taken into account, it appears brighter and dimmer over a cycle of 11 years. This is the regular cycle of solar activity which also affects sun spots.

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Researchers from NASA Langley Research Center and the University of Hawaii developed a new micro Raman spectroscopy instrument to search for life on the surface of other planets. Looking for evidence of life on other planets continues to be an important part of the NASA Planetary Exploration Program. Pictured is Derek Davis, a student from Old Dominion University, working on the instrument. Credit: M. Nurul Abedin, NASA Langley Research Center

Compact spectroscopy instrument offers sensitive and fast detection for planetary exploration. The new instrument is designed to detect compounds and minerals associated with biological activity more quickly and with greater sensitivity than previous instruments...

This simulation shows how bubbles form over the course of 4.7 million years from the intense stellar winds off a massive star. UChicago scientists postulated how our own solar system could have formed in the dense shell of such a bubble. Credit: V. Dwarkadas/D. Rosenberg

Scientists with the University of Chicago have laid out a comprehensive theory for how our solar system could have formed in the wind-blown bubbles around a giant, long-dead star. The study addresses a nagging cosmic mystery about the abundance of two elements in our solar system compared to the rest of the galaxy.

The general prevailing theory is that our solar system formed billions of years ago near a supernova...

This is image shows modern Mars (left) dry and barren, compared with the same scene over 3.5 billion years ago covered in water (right). The rocks of the surface were slowly reacting with the water, sequestering it into the Martian mantle leading to the dry, inhospitable scene shown on the left.
Credit: Jon Wade

Water on Mars absorbed like a sponge, new research suggests. 2 new articles have shed light on why there is, presumably, no life on Mars.  IAlthough today’s Martian surface is barren, frozen and uninhabitable, a trail of evidence points to a once warmer, wetter planet, where water flowed freely – and life may have thrived. The conundrum of what happened to this water is long standing and unsolved. However, new research suggests that this water is now locked in the Martian rocks.

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