Recent Comments

    carbonates tagged posts

    Why is there no life on Mars? Rover finds a clue

    July 7, 2025, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Despite brief oases, Mars was likely doomed to be a desert planet, a new study suggests
    Despite brief oases, Mars was likely doomed to be a desert planet, a new study suggests.

    Why is Mars barren and uninhabitable, while life has always thrived here on our relatively similar planet Earth?

    A discovery made by a NASA rover has offered a clue for this mystery, new research said Wednesday, suggesting that while rivers once sporadically flowed on Mars, it was doomed to mostly be a desert planet.

    Mars is thought to currently have all the necessary ingredients for life except for perhaps the most important one: liquid water.

    However, the red surface is carved out by ancient rivers and lakes, showing that water once flowed on our nearest neighbor.

    There are currently several rovers searching Mars for signs of life that could have existed back in those more habitable t...

    Read More

    Composition of Asteroid Phaethon

    December 1, 2023, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Nuori mies kädessään purkki, jossa mustaa hiekkaa.
    Postdoctoral Researcher Eric MacLennan holds in his hands a very rare type of meteorite, the so-called CY carbonaceous chondrite. Only six specimens of the same type are known. The sample is on loan from the Natural History Museum in London. (Image: Susan Heikkinen)

    The asteroid that causes the Geminid shooting star swarm has also puzzled researchers with its comet-like tail. The infrared spectrum of rare meteorites helped to determine the composition of the asteroid.

    Asteroid Phaethon, which is five kilometers in diameter, has been puzzling researchers for a long time. A comet-like tail is visible for a few days when the asteroid passes closest to the Sun during its orbit.

    However, the tails of comets are usually formed by vaporizing ice and carbon dioxide, which cannot explain ...

    Read More