The Cassini spacecraft observed spiral density waves in the rings of Saturn which can be used to probe its interior structure and rotation.
moons
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Two Moons and a Magnetosphere
Decades of research have illuminated how Io and Europa shape—and are shaped by—Jupiter’s giant magnetosphere.
Posted inNews
Jupiter’s Galilean Moons May Have Formed Slowly
A new model is the first to simultaneously explain many of the moons’ characteristics, including their mass, orbits, and icy composition
Posted inResearch Spotlights
No Underground Magma Ocean on Jupiter’s Fiery Moon?
A new study suggests alternative explanations for Io’s unusual magnetic field.
Posted inNews
New Tiny Moon of Neptune Discovered
The moon’s size and orbit point to it being the remnant of a collision with Neptune’s moon Proteus.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
New Hints About How Martian Moons Formed
A new study finds that Phobos includes chunks of Martian crust.
Posted inNews
Large Exomoon Likely Orbits a Faraway World
This Neptune-sized object would be the first moon discovered to orbit a planet outside the solar system, provided that additional observations continue to support the claim.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
How Jupiter’s Icy Moons Got Their Bands and Grooves
Europa’s churning ice crust could reveal signs of ocean life, new study suggests.
Posted inNews
Ten New Moons Discovered Around Jupiter
The newly plotted moons of Jupiter include one “oddball” that orbits in the wrong direction and may be the remnant of a head-on collision.
Posted inNews
Four Planetary Landscapes That Scientists Can’t Explain
These are just a handful of the hundreds of mysterious features across our solar neighborhood that beg to be studied closer.