Category Astronomy/Space

An artist’s rendering of the surface of Titan, a moon of Saturn. Courtesy: iPhoto Stock, manjik. Inset: This composite image shows an infrared view of Saturn’s moon Titan from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, acquired during the mission’s “T-114” flyby on Nov. 13, 2015.
Credit: NASA/JPL

The grains that cover Saturn’s moon act like clingy packing peanuts. Experiments led by researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology suggest the particles that cover the surface of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, are “electrically charged.” When the wind blows hard enough (~15 mph), Titan’s non-silicate granules get kicked up and start to hop in a motion referred to as saltation...

Coronal BP detection at three distinct vantage points in space. BP detections by the STEREO and SDO spacecraft taken around 00:00 UT on 2 February 2011 when the entire solar corona could first be seen by all three spacecraft. The top row (a–c) shows coronal images from a plasma formed around 1.5 MK. The small bright concentrations seen in these images are BPs. The bottom row (d–f) shows the same images with respective BP detections15 shown in red (STEREO-Behind), white (SDO) and blue (STEREO-Ahead).

Waves may influence space weather, offer a source of predictability...

BV R color composite of PDS 11, with North up and East to the left. This 4′×4′ composite image is constructed from our observations with the HCT and is color coded as blue, green and red in B, V , R, respectively. The image is centered on PDS 11 binary system, with the northeastern component being PDS 11A. Credit: Mathew et al., 2017.

A team of Indian astronomers has recently studied a peculiar binary system, revealing new insights into the nature of its stars. The findings allowed the researchers to reclassify PDS 11 as an old, dusty, wide binary classical T Tauri system in which both components are actively accreting...

Mars Credit: NASA

A team of researchers with members from France, Italy and the U.S. has found what they believe is evidence of a giant tsunami occurring on Mars approximately 3 billion years ago due to an asteroid plunging into an ocean. In their paper published in the Journal of Geophysical Research, the group outlines the evidence and why they believe a tsunami is the most likely factor that led to the creation of some unique planetary formations.

Scientists have been investigating the possibility of oceans on Mars for several years, but have so far been unable to prove they existed. Also, other researchers have found evidence for tsunamis on Mars but have not been able to find an associated oceanic impact crater to go along with it...