Decades-old data analyzed for the first time suggest that astronauts’ disturbance of the Moon surface increased solar heat intake, warming the ground below.
Space & Planets
Posted inResearch Spotlights
The Oxygen Neutral Cloud Surrounding Jupiter’s Volcanic Moon
Japan’s Hisaki satellite takes measurements of faint oxygen emissions from Io.
Posted inScience Updates
Assessing the Future of Space-Based Experiments
Active Experiments in Space: Past, Present and Future; Santa Fe, New Mexico, 11–14 September 2017
Posted inEditors' Vox
Going with the Flow in Outer Space
Near-Earth space is a dynamic electric environment containing different types of current that are continually changing over time and space.
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 inNews
Solar Flare Caused Increased Oxygen Loss from Mars’s Atmosphere
Measurements by a Mars-orbiting spacecraft indicated heating and chemistry changes in the planet’s atmosphere following an extreme solar eruption last year.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Mysterious Aurora Borealis Feature Explained for the First Time
High-speed particles cause indentations in the magnetopause to form “throat auroras.”
Posted inNews
Scientists Discover an Environment on the Cusp of Habitability
A volcanically heated Costa Rican lake hosts only one type of organism, suggesting that its Mars-like environment is just barely capable of supporting life.
Posted inNews
Seeing Green: A Stratospheric View of the 2017 Total Eclipse
Airborne telescopes gave scientists a sky-high view of the 2017 Great American Eclipse as they took measurements that are difficult to obtain from the ground.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Tides and Waves Interact to Cause Hurricanes in Near-Space
The interaction of tides and waves generated in the lower atmosphere can cause the mean zonal wind speed in the lower ionosphere to oscillate equivalent to a category 1 hurricane at Earth’s surface.