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Planetary Science

All articles tagged with #planetary science

Galileo’s 58-Minute Descent Unveils Jupiter’s Hidden Atmosphere
space1 day ago

Galileo’s 58-Minute Descent Unveils Jupiter’s Hidden Atmosphere

Galileo’s 1995 Jupiter probe descended into the gas giant, transmitting for about 58 minutes before the harsh pressures ended the signal; it provided the first in-situ measurements of a giant planet’s atmosphere—temperatures, pressures, densities, chemistry, and cloud structure—revealing a drier-than-expected hot-spot region and hotter, denser conditions, while highlighting the limitation that a single descent cannot characterize the entire planet.

via Space Daily|
#galileo-mission#jupiter#planetary-science
Europa Plume Claims Doubted: Hydrogen Exosphere, Not Local Water Vapor
space-and-spaceflight5 days ago

Europa Plume Claims Doubted: Hydrogen Exosphere, Not Local Water Vapor

A new reanalysis of Hubble data reduces the 2014 claim of 200-km-high water-vapor plumes on Europa from 99.9% confidence to under 90%, suggesting the earlier signal may be statistical noise; meanwhile there’s evidence for a persistent hydrogen exosphere but no localized water vapor. Future missions like Europa Clipper and JUICE will help settle the question.

via Gizmodo|
#europa#exosphere#planetary-science
Venus's Silent Landers: The Venera probes still sit on Venus, capturing humanity's only non-Mars surface photos
space8 days ago

Venus's Silent Landers: The Venera probes still sit on Venus, capturing humanity's only non-Mars surface photos

The Soviet Venera landers remain on Venus’ surface, enduring 460°C heat, 90-bar pressure and sulfuric acid, and their 1975–1982 photos are the only surface images humanity has taken of a world other than Mars. A 2025 study suggests several probes are still recognisable as machines, turning Venus into a new kind of cultural heritage and fueling renewed interest as future missions (NASA’s DAVINCI, ESA’s EnVision, India’s Shukrayaan-1) may image them from orbit or descent, potentially revealing the sites where they lie.

via Space Daily|
#planetary-science#space#space-archaeology
Venus Cloud Waves Solved by a Planet-Scale Hydraulic Jump
space-and-spaceflight15 days ago

Venus Cloud Waves Solved by a Planet-Scale Hydraulic Jump

A study of Venus, using Akatsuki data, shows that gigantic hydraulic jumps push sulfuric acid vapor upward into the lower-to-middle cloud layers, creating planet-spanning cloud fronts that can reach about 6,000 km and likely help sustain Venus’s extreme superrotation, resolving decades of mystery and offering clues for future missions and potentially similar processes on Mars.

via Gizmodo|
#atmosphere#hydraulic-jump#planetary-science
Mercury’s Hidden Diamond Layer Redefines Its Inner Story
astronomy16 days ago

Mercury’s Hidden Diamond Layer Redefines Its Inner Story

A study suggests Mercury might contain a 9–11 mile (15–18 km) thick diamond layer at the core–mantle boundary, formed as carbon-rich material crystallized during magma-ocean cooling and core solidification, with sulfur facilitating diamond stability; such a layer could affect heat flow and Mercury’s magnetic field, but the idea awaits confirmation from future missions.

via The Daily Galaxy|
#astronomy#carbon#core-mantle-boundary
NASA chief pushes to revisit Pluto’s planetary status, reigniting a long-running debate
space26 days ago

NASA chief pushes to revisit Pluto’s planetary status, reigniting a long-running debate

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman signaled support for restoring Pluto’s status as a planet and suggested escalating the discussion within the scientific community, a move that has sparked division among researchers who question whether such a decision should come from NASA or require international consensus and the IAU, especially given Pluto-sized objects and the IAU criteria for planets.

via Nature|
#astronomy#iau#nasa
Uranus’s Distant Rings Reveal Two Separate Origins
space-and-spaceflight1 month ago

Uranus’s Distant Rings Reveal Two Separate Origins

Astronomers using Keck, Webb, and Hubble analyzed Uranus’ faint outer rings and found two distinct compositions: the blue μ ring consists of tiny icy grains likely sourced from Mab, while the red ν ring is rocky with about 10–15% carbon-rich organics, suggesting different formation histories for the planet’s second ring system. The study, published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, highlights how ring material traces back to source bodies and collisions, with implications for Uranus’s formation and a need for future close-up observations.

via Gizmodo|
#outer-solar-system#planetary-science#rings
Lab-Baked Mercury Rocks Reveal Sulfur's Big Role in Planetary Chemistry
space-and-spaceflight1 month ago

Lab-Baked Mercury Rocks Reveal Sulfur's Big Role in Planetary Chemistry

Researchers at Rice University used the Indarch meteorite to create Mercury-analog rocks in a lab, exposing how sulfur shapes Mercury’s crust and magmatic history. By simulating Mercury-like temperatures and pressures, they found sulfur replaces oxygen’s usual bonding partners on Earth, binding with elements like magnesium and calcium instead of iron, which weakens silicate structures and may prolong magmatic activity. The work, published in Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, offers a new approach to understanding Mercury’s unique, sulfur-rich surface chemistry without direct samples from the planet.

via Gizmodo|
#indarch#magmatic-evolution#mercury
Gold Reveals Hidden Reactivity Under Extreme Pressure
science1 month ago

Gold Reveals Hidden Reactivity Under Extreme Pressure

In a high‑pressure lab, researchers formed gold hydride by compressing hydrogen with thin gold foil inside a diamond‑anvil cell and heating with X‑ray pulses, creating the first solid compound made of gold and hydrogen in the lab. The result challenges gold’s reputation as inert, shows how extreme conditions can trigger new chemistry, and provides a model system for studying dense hydrogen relevant to planetary interiors and fusion research.

via Earth.com|
#dense-hydrogen#gold-hydride#high-pressure
Jupiter’s lightning could be up to a million times stronger than Earth’s bolts
space2 months ago

Jupiter’s lightning could be up to a million times stronger than Earth’s bolts

A study using NASA’s Juno data suggests Jupiter’s lightning may be enormously more powerful than Earth’s—potentially up to a million times stronger. By analyzing the planet’s radio emissions rather than optical flashes and focusing on long-lived “stealth” storms in Jupiter’s belts, researchers estimated lightning pulses with power ranging from Earth-like bolts to far more powerful discharges. The findings, which consider Jupiter’s hydrogen-dominated atmosphere and towering storm clouds (up to ~62 miles tall), aim to explain why Jovian lightning is so energetic and were published in AGU Advances.

via Space|
#agu-advances#juno#jupiter
Hubble Sees Comet ATLAS Split into Four Fragments
science2 months ago

Hubble Sees Comet ATLAS Split into Four Fragments

NASA/ESA’s Hubble Space Telescope captured comet C/2025 K1 (ATLAS) breaking into four fragments just after its perihelion, each surrounded by its own coma. The near-simultaneous breakup provides a rare, nearly pristine sample to study the comet’s composition and the physics of fragmentation and dust-layer formation, offering insights into how icy bodies evolve in the solar system. Observations were made in early November 2025 from about 250 million miles away, and scientists highlighted the serendipitous timing as a reminder that unexpected results can drive breakthrough science.

via Yahoo|
#c2025-k1-atlas#comet-fragmentation#hubble-space-telescope