A gravitational dance between a newly discovered exoplanet and its host star may be driving extreme volcanism on its surface.
planetary surfaces
Posted inScience Updates
The Nitty-Gritty Forces That Shape Planetary Surfaces
Scientists are coming up with ingenious ways to compare terrestrial sand dunes, dust storms, and rain with their counterparts on Mars and Titan.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
A New Origin Story for Mars’s Burns Formation
The Red Planet’s Grasberg and Burns formations have different compositions today, but they may have started out the same way.
Posted inNews
Asteroid Impacts Could Have Warmed Ancient Mars
Hydrogen released during large impacts might have boosted Mars’s surface temperature above freezing for thousands or even millions of years, enabling liquid water to flow over the Red Planet.
Posted inNews
Active Volcanoes on Venus?
With a new look at old imagery, scientists may have found evidence of volcanic activity on Venus.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Lagos longevos cuentan una historia sobre el agua en Marte
Imágenes de alta resolución de paleolagos recientemente descubiertos en Marte demuestran un período de su historia con flujo de agua constante.
Posted inNews
Meteor Impact Could Inform Martian Mysteries
The impact sent surface waves rippling over the Martian surface all the way to NASA’s InSight lander, giving scientists a rare view of the planet’s outer layer.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Long-Lived Lakes Reveal a History of Water on Mars
High-resolution imagery of newly discovered paleolakes shows a period of consistent liquid water flow.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Europa’s Plate Tectonic Activity Is Unlike Earth’s
The moon of Jupiter has likely experienced intermittent, regional plate tectonic activity in the past, although the plates are currently dormant.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
MESSENGER Reveals a More Dynamic Mercury Surface
Image pairs indicate that 99% of the planet’s surface could be altered in the next 25 million years.