Category Astronomy/Space

This artistic rendering shows the distant view from Planet Nine back towards the sun. The planet is thought to be gaseous, similar to Uranus and Neptune. Hypothetical lightning lights up the night side. Credit: Caltech/R. Hurt (IPAC)

Evidence has been found of a giant planet tracing an elongated orbit in the outer solar system, nicknamed Planet Nine, has a mass ~10X that of Earth and orbits ~20X farther from the sun on average than Neptune (which orbits the sun at an average distance of 2.8 billion miles). In fact, it would take this new planet between 10,000 and 20,000 years to make just one full orbit around the sun. Konstantin Batygin and Mike Brown, discovered the planet’s existence through mathematical modeling and computer simulations but have not yet observed the object directly.

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The zinnia plants began to exhibit guttation and epinasty, both signs of plant stress. Credit: NASA

When Scott Kelly tweeted a picture of moldy leaves on the current crop of zinnia flowers aboard ISS, it could have looked like the science was doomed. It was in fact an opportunity for scientists back on Earth to better understand how plants grow in microgravity, and for astronauts to practice doing what they’ll be tasked: autonomous gardening.

The Veggie plant growth facility was installed on the orbiting laboratory in early May of 2014, and the first crop – ‘Outredgrous’ red romaine lettuce – was activated for growth. The first growth cycle faced some issues...

(Illustration) At the highest electron energies measured — above 1 megaelectron volt (Mev) — researchers saw electrons in the outer belt only. Credits: NASA Goddard/Duberstein

600 miles from Earth’s surface is the 1st of 2 donut-shaped electron swarms, Van Allen Belts, or radiation belts. Understanding the shape and size of the belts, which shrink and swell in response to incoming radiation from the sun, is crucial for protecting technology in space. Scientists wish to know just which orbits could be jeopardized in different situations.

“The shape of the belts is actually quite different depending on what type of electron you’re looking at,” said Geoff Reeves . “Electrons at different energy levels are distributed differently in these regions...

Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI This processed image is the highest-resolution color look yet at the haze layers in Pluto’s atmosphere. Shown in approximate true color, the picture is constructed from a mosaic of four panchromatic images from the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) splashed with Ralph/Multispectral Visible Imaging Camera (MVIC) four-color filter data, all acquired by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft on July 14, 2015. The resolution is 0.6 miles (1 kilometer) per pixel; the sun illuminates the scene from the right.

Scientists believe the haze is a photochemical smog resulting from the action of sunlight on methane and 4 molecules in Pluto’s atmosphere, producing a complex mixture of hydrocarbons such as acetylene and ethylene...