Analysis of the Chassigny meteorite suggests the planet acquired most of its interior volatiles from meteorites, not from the solar nebula.
planetary interiors
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Constraining Martian Crustal Thickness with InSight Seismology
The first seismic observations from Mars significantly reduce uncertainty in estimates of the Red Planet’s crustal structure.
Posted inNews
Can Uranus’s Rings Reveal the Planet’s Deepest Secrets?
Planetary rings can act as seismometers that respond to changes deep within a planet.
Posted inENGAGE, News
Mars from the InSight Out
There’s a seismometer on Mars, and it’s been busy! Download our free illustrated poster.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
A Better Look at the Moon’s Middle Mantle
A new analysis strategy sheds new light on the electrical conductivity of the lunar mantle between 300 and 900 km depth.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Fingerprints of Jupiter Formation
Meteorite isotopes, meteorite paleomagnetics, and planet formation models collectively show Jupiter formation via first slow then fast collection of material by core accretion in <5 million years.
Posted inNews
Tiny Volcanoes Are a Big Deal on Mars
Cinder cones and fissure vents provide clues about the evolution of the Red Planet’s mantle and crust.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Saturn’s Dynamo Illuminates its Interior
Saturn’s oddly symmetrical magnetic field can be explained by models in which the active dynamo region is overlain by a thick, stable layer cooled more strongly at the poles.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
How Not to Homogenize a Planet
Even the strong heating from short-lived aluminium-26 (26Al) would not be able to homogenize the interior of a Mars‐sized planetary embryo.
Posted inNews
Superlasers Shed Light on Super-Earth Mantles
By compressing iron oxide to pressures expected inside a large and rocky exoplanet, scientists discovered that such mantles could layer, mix, and flow in ways very different from those inside our planet.