Tag

Interior Structure

All articles tagged with #interior structure

space24 days ago•11 min saved

Titan’s 16‑Day Spin Locks Saturn in One Sky

Titan’s day length (~15.95 Earth days) nearly matches its orbit around Saturn, so the moon keeps Saturn in the same direction on one hemisphere and never rises on the other due to tidal locking. A small orbital eccentricity causes a slight wobble (libration) of Saturn’s apparent position in Titan’s sky. Cassini radar data reveal Titan is highly deformable, suggesting a dynamic interior that could host a subsurface ocean or a warm ice layer, though a 2025 reanalysis challenges the global-ocean idea. These findings illuminate Titan’s geophysics and imply that many exoplanets near red dwarfs could be tidally locked, producing hemispheres of permanent daylight or night and dramatically different skies.

via Space Daily|

#interior-structure #libration #saturn

space-and-spaceflight1 month ago•16 min saved

New Model Recasts Uranus and Neptune as Magma-Ocean Giants

A UC-led study proposes Uranus and Neptune may harbor well-mixed magma oceans with dissolved hydrogen beneath a hydrogen-dominated envelope, suggesting they’re magma-ocean giants rather than ice giants and potentially explaining their densities. The model, submitted to The Astrophysical Journal, challenges the traditional three-layer interior picture and could inform the study of sub-Neptune exoplanets, though the idea remains under debate without a dedicated mission to these distant planets.

via Gizmodo|

#ice-giants #interior-structure #magma-ocean

space2 months ago•4 min saved

Phobos: Crater Clues May Decode a Martian Moon's Birth

Researchers at the EGU meeting modeled how small changes in Phobos’ geophysical signals around the 9‑km Stickney crater could help determine its interior and origin, weighing whether Phobos formed from debris after a giant Mars impact (~4.2 billion years ago) or was captured as an asteroid (~2.6 billion years ago). Current data suggest a porous interior with possible water ice and a localized denser mass near the equator, making gravity mapping and libration measurements key tests. The upcoming Japanese MMX mission (late 2026 launch) aims to orbit Phobos, collect surface samples with a core sampler and a NASA-provided pneumatic sampler, and return them to Earth by mid‑2031, which should help constrain Phobos’ formation scenario by linking interior structure, gravity, and composition.

via Universe Today|

#gravity-field #interior-structure #mmx-mission

science7 months ago•5 min saved

Deep Interior Coupling May Shape Jupiter and Saturn’s Polar Storms

MIT researchers show that Jupiter’s multiple polar vortices and Saturn’s single polar storm stem from how strongly storms are coupled to deeper interior layers. A 2D fluid-dynamics model suggests Jupiter’s weaker layering and stronger atmospheric forcing keep many discrete storms from merging, while Saturn’s deeper layering and greater energy loss allow vortices to merge into one giant storm. These surface patterns may encode information about each planet’s interior properties and formation history.

via ScienceAlert|

#gas-giants #interior-structure #jupiter

science3 years ago•3 min saved

Moon's Solid Iron 'Heart' Confirmed by Scientists.

Scientists have confirmed that the moon has a fluid outer core and a solid inner core, similar to Earth's, after more than 50 years of research. The study also found the first evidence of mantle overturn on the moon, which may explain the presence of iron on its surface. Understanding the moon's inner workings can help scientists unravel its geologic mysteries and prepare for new lunar missions this decade.

via Livescience.com|

#earth-like #interior-structure #lunar-missions