Slope streaks of different sizes and shapes are a common feature on the surface of Mars, but scientists disagree about the mechanisms for their formation and development.
planetary surfaces
Posted inNews
Martian Crater Will Be the Landing Site for a Future Rover
The impact crater is a dry lake bed that contains evidence of ancient water flows and perhaps signs of ancient microbial life.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Searching for Signs of Marsquakes
Researchers use high-resolution images of Mars’s surface to look for signals of coseismic displacement.
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 inResearch Spotlights
Peering Through Titan’s Haze to Better Understand Its Surface
Variations in grain size and water ice content detected on Saturn’s largest moon offer evidence of geologically related units that resemble the mountain-to-desert transition on Earth.
Posted inScience Updates
Planetary Dune Workshop Expands to Include Subaqueous Processes
The Fifth International Planetary Dunes Workshop: From the Bottom of the Oceans to the Outer Limits of the Solar System; St. George, Utah, 16–19 May 2017
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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.
Posted inEditors' Vox
A Rover’s Eye View of Moving Martian Dunes
A new special issue of JGR: Planets presents findings on sand motion, morphology, and mineralogy from the Curiosity rover’s traverse of the active Bagnold dune field in Gale crater.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Comparing Craters
An analysis suggests that craters degrade faster on Mercury than the Moon, raising questions about landscape evolution on different planetary bodies.
Posted inNews
Pluto’s Features Receive First Official Names
Names of mountains, plains, valleys, and craters honor human and technological pioneers, Pluto scientists, and underworld mythology from around the world.