On Earth and throughout our solar system, ripples and dunes in sand and dust offer insights into how winds blow, liquid currents flow, and solid particles fly and bounce over the terrain.
unsolved mysteries
Ancient Eruptions Reveal Earliest Settlers on the Faroe Islands
Lake sediment is helping scientists resolve a decades-long historical mystery.
Misión a Venus podría ayudar a resolver un misterio atmosférico
La recientemente anunciada misión DAVINCI+ a Venus de la NASA investigará la atmósfera del planeta, esperando proporcionar información sobre los desconocidos parches oscuros que rodean dicho planeta.
Identifying an Eruption “Tipping Point” in Hot Spot Volcanoes
By analyzing lava samples, researchers show how chemical processes that occur during magma’s ascent to the surface may contribute to a volcano’s eruptible state.
Accurate Simulation of Sun’s Rotation Might Illuminate Solar Cycle
Scientists have known for 400 years about a particularity in the way the Sun rotates. It took the world’s most powerful supercomputer to accurately simulate it.
An Explanation, at Last, for Mysterious “Zen Stones”
Laboratory experiments re-create the thin, icy pedestals that support some rocks in nature, revealing that sublimation plays a key role in the formation of these rare and beautiful structures.
Summer Could Be Earthquake Season on Mars
InSight data hint that shifting carbon dioxide ice loads, illumination changes, or solar tides could drive an uptick in marsquakes during northern summer—a “marsquake season.”
Could Low-Altitude Reconnection Power Jupiter’s Polar Aurorae?
Magnetic reconnection events less than 2 Jovian radii above the planet’s cloud tops could explain why Juno has yet to observe a source for Jupiter’s polar aurore.
Mission to Venus Could Help Solve an Atmospheric Mystery
NASA’s recently announced DAVINCI+ mission to Venus will probe the planet’s atmosphere, hoping to shed light on the unknown dark patches that surround the planet.
Satellites Allow Scientists to Dive into Milky Seas
Satellites may finally be able to report the fleeting phenomena of milky seas in near-real time, allowing researchers to potentially study an ocean mystery that has survived more than 2 centuries.