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    The Red Planet has a purple side

    September 23, 2026, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Mars is known for its reddish colour palette, a result of ancient iron oxides. But these striking pinks and purples are much different from the rest of the red planet. This orbital image shows Thyles Rupes, its cliff face, and a nearby glacier, where the atypical colours come from a mix of dust and frost. The image is from the High-Resolution Stereo Camera on the ESA's Mars Express orbiter. Image Credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO or ESA Standard Licence
    Mars is known for its reddish colour palette, a result of ancient iron oxides. But these striking pinks and purples are much different from the rest of the red planet. This orbital image shows Thyles Rupes, its cliff face, and a nearby glacier, where the atypical colours come from a mix of dust and frost. The image is from the High-Resolution Stereo Camera on the ESA’s Mars Express orbiter. Image Credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO or ESA Standard Licence

    Oxidized iron dominates the Martian color palette. The dusty reds, ochers, browns and tans give the planet its nickname: the Red Planet. But new images of Mars’ south polar region show something different...

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    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 ...

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    New Remote Sensing Technique could bring Key Planetary Mineral into focus

    November 3, 2020, Categories  Astronomy/Space, Environment/Geology

    Olivine (greenish crystals) is thought to be one of the most abundant minerals in interior of the Earth and other planetary bodies.

    Planetary scientists from Brown University have developed a new remote sensing method for studying olivine, a mineral that could help scientists understand the early evolution of the Moon, Mars and other planetary bodies.

    “Olivine is understood to be a major component in the interiors of rocky planets,” said Christopher Kremer, a Ph.D. candidate at Brown University and lead author of a new paper describing the work. “It’s a primary constituent of Earth’s mantle, and it’s been detected on the surfaces of the Moon and Mars in volcanic deposits or in impact craters that bring up material from the subsurface.”

    Current remote sensing techniques are good a...

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    New Data-Mining technique offers most-vivid picture of Martian mineralogy

    June 7, 2018, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    A panorama of Gale crater on Mars taken from Vera Rubin ridge. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

    A panorama of Gale crater on Mars taken from Vera Rubin ridge. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

    Mineralogist’s big data approach improves resolution of a Curiosity instrument by an order of magnitude. A team of scientists led by Carnegie’s Shaunna Morrison and including Bob Hazen have revealed the mineralogy of Mars at an unprecedented scale, which will help them understand the planet’s geologic history and habitability. Their findings are published in two American Mineralogist papers.

    Minerals form from novel combinations of elements. These combinations can be facilitated by geological activity, including volcanoes and water-rock interactions...

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