Samples collected from asteroid Ryugu contain the four genetic “letters” of DNA, reinforcing the hypothesis that the chemical origins of life were present when the solar system began.
Matthew R. Francis
Posted inNews
Titanic Shake-Up Could Explain Saturn’s Young Rings and Strange Moons
A new model shows how the migration of Titan could have destroyed another moon, creating Saturn’s rings and the moon Hyperion. And, the model suggests, this all happened in the past billion years.
Posted inNews
Rare Hot Jupiters Could Reveal How All Giant Planets Form
A new analysis shows that the way massive planets migrate after their formation helps determine whether they have companion planets. The process hints at planetary formation in general.
Posted inNews
Primordial Impact May Explain Why the Moon Is Asymmetrical
Analysis of surface samples from the Chang’e-6 mission suggests that an asteroid may have vaporized parts of the lunar mantle, suppressing volcanic activity on the farside of the Moon.
Posted inNews
Planet-Eating Stars Hint at Earth’s Ultimate Fate
A sampling of aging Sun-like stars demonstrates that they likely eat their closest planets.
Posted inNews
What Tumbling Asteroids Tell Us About Their Innards
Data from the Gaia space observatory reveal that many slowly spinning asteroids rotate chaotically. A new theory links that chaos to their inner structure and history.
Posted inNews
Melting Cylinders of Ice Reveal an Iceberg’s Tipping Point
New lab experiments on cylinders of pure ice shed light on how icebergs flip over as they melt, demonstrating the link between a warming ocean and small-scale events that can have rippling consequences.
Posted inNews
This Star Stripped Off Its Layers Long Before Exploding
A star 2 billion light-years away apparently shed most of its outer layers before exploding, providing new insights into stellar structure—and new mysteries for astronomers to solve.
Posted inNews
Infrared Instruments Could Spot Exotic Ice on Other Worlds
Phases of ice that exist naturally only on frozen moons could be detected using infrared spectroscopy, according to new laboratory experiments.
Posted inFeatures
Tanya Harrison: Roving on Mars
This planetary geologist has worked on nearly every Mars rover while connecting government, universities, the private sector, and the public.