Spectral data and modeling suggest that volatile-rich main-belt asteroids initially formed at much greater distances from the Sun (>10 AU).
solar system
Posted inResearch Spotlights
A Transition Zone Below Jupiter’s Clouds
The microwave radiometer aboard NASA’s Juno spacecraft reveals the hidden atmospheric circulations at work deep below Jupiter’s colorful clouds.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Could Low-Altitude Reconnection Power Jupiter’s Polar Aurorae?
Magnetic reconnection events less than 2 Jovian radii above the planet’s cloud tops could explain why Juno has yet to observe a source for Jupiter’s polar aurore.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Magnetic Record of Early Nebular Dynamics
Magnetized particles in a meteorite suggest strong magnetic fields in the early solar nebula.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Juno Detects Jupiter’s Highest-Energy Ions
Trapped ions discovered at midlatitudes can have energies exceeding 100 megaelectron volts per nucleon. Their detection adds to our understanding of the powerful radiation environment around Jupiter.
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.
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Martian Meteorites Shed Light on Solar System’s Early Dynamics
Chemical compositions of rocks from Mars indicate that the earliest orbits of Jupiter and Saturn were more circular than they are today.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
‘Oumuamua May Be an Icy Fragment of a Pluto-Like Exoplanet
Researchers favor nitrogen ice as the most likely material for the mysterious interstellar object’s composition.
Posted inEditors' Vox
Wind: Discoveries and Impacts of a Venerable Spacecraft
Wind has been one of the most robust, diverse, long-lasting, and impactful heliophysics missions ever to have been carried out.