Solar System

Visible coronal loops observed by the TRACE spacecraft. Credit: NASA/TRACE

NASA Just Found the Sun's Secret Warning Before Massive Solar Outbursts

This discovery could help NASA and other organizations protect astronauts, satellites, and technologies on the ground from the potentially harmful effects of space weather.
SwRI is studying how Saturn's largest moon maintains its dense atmosphere. Scientists think Titan's core is covered in layers of ice and a subsurface liquid ocean. New experiments show that nitrogen and methane gases produced by organic matter in the core seep to the surface, regularly renewing the atmosphere. Credit: Southwest Research Institute

Scientists decipher Titan's dense atmosphere – new discoveries about the sources of nitrogen and methane

New research suggests that nitrogen and methane seep from Titan's rocky core to the surface, helping to maintain its dense atmosphere. The findings could shed light on the planet's internal chemistry.
An asteroid is about to hit Earth. Illustration: depositphotos.com

NASA is tracking a skyscraper-sized asteroid with a 1% chance of hitting Earth in 2032

Asteroid 2024 YR4 has been identified by NASA with a low chance – just over 1% – of colliding with Earth in December 2032. Scientists continue to collect data and refine calculations to assess the true risk.
New models suggest that Pluto and Charon were formed by a giant collision. This composite of enhanced color images of Pluto (lower right) and Charon (upper left) was taken by the New Horizons spacecraft as it passed through the Pluto system in 2015. Pluto and Charon are shown at approximately their relative sizes, but their true separation is not at the correct distance. Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI

How Pluto and its moon Charon were formed from a giant collision

New research reveals that Pluto and its large moon Charon formed from a unique "kiss and capture" process following a giant collision, with significant implications for understanding the solar system.
Bodies of water on other planets may be a source of life. Jupiter's moon Europa, where scientists believe an ocean exists beneath the ice, may be a suitable place for life to exist. Source: NASA.

Discovery: even in the ice worlds there is water in a liquid state, which is one of the main conditions for existence of life

New research sheds light on icy oceanic worlds like Jupiter's moon Europa, focusing on a new thermodynamic concept called "cenotactics"
This image taken by the Spitzer Space Telescope shows Comet Anka moving through its debris orbit. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Minnesota

What is the level of risk from the "doomsday" asteroid swarm?

A new study shows that the Taurid swarm contains fewer large asteroids than predicted, so the risk level from it is lower.
Many objects have been discovered at the edge of the solar system. Figure: Avi Blizovsky using FLEX-1

Astronomers discover mysterious new objects beyond the edge of the solar system

Observations made with the Subaru Telescope in Hawaii have revealed new objects in the outer region of the Solar System, pointing to a large, unknown population beyond the Kuiper Belt.
Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) in the skies of Israel. Photography: Ilan Shapira

There are only a few days left to watch the Zuchinshan-Atlas comet in the evening sky (streaming recording)

The comet discovered at the same time by two automatic stargazers and named after both is extremely bright. It will return to Earth's proximity only in 80 thousand years
El Médano 128 meteorite, a regular chondrite (L group), was found in the Atacama Desert in 2011 by a team of researchers from the Research and Teaching Center for Environmental Geosciences (CEREGE - University of Aix-Marseille/CNRS/INRAE/IRD). Credit: © Jérôme Gatakzka, CNRS, CEREGE

70% of the meteorites that landed on Earth came from a small number of collisions in the asteroid belt

A new study reveals that most of the meteorites on Earth were formed as a result of collisions that occurred in the asteroid belt in the last tens of millions of years. The discovery provides new insights into the origins of meteorites and the possible threat to Earth
This artist's concept shows NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft as it orbits Jupiter and passes over the icy moon Europa. The mission, scheduled to reach Jupiter in April 2030, will be the first to conduct an in-depth study of Europa. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA's Europa Clipper launches: A bold search for life on Jupiter's icy moon

The largest spacecraft ever built for an interplanetary mission has begun its long journey to explore Europa, with the goal of uncovering the secrets of the ocean beneath the ice and possibly finding evidence of extraterrestrial life.
Storm clouds over the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. (Archive photo). Credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky

Due to Hurricane Milton, the launch of the Europa Clipper spacecraft to Jupiter, which was planned for yesterday, 10/10/2024, was postponed

Severe weather conditions in Florida are forcing NASA and SpaceX to delay the launch of the Europa Clipper mission, which was designed to explore Jupiter's icy moon.
An artist's illustration depicts a primordial black hole (left) speeding across the surface of Mars and causing a slight "tremor" in Mars' orbit (right), with the sun in the background. Scientists from MIT claim that such a tremor may be detectable with the instruments available today. Credit: Illustration by Benjamin Lehmann, used with SpaceEngine @ Cosmographic Software LLC.

Dark matter: primordial black holes and the mysterious wobble of Mars' orbit

These holes, which are theoretical remnants of the early universe, may be detectable every decade as they pass through the solar system, offering a new way to study the elusive dark matter
A close-up of the intense X7.1 solar flare on October 1, 2024, by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory. Credit: NASA/SDO

A strong solar flare was recorded on October 1, 2024

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) has recorded one of the strongest outbursts in the current solar cycle, with the potential to impact technological systems on Earth and in space
The Sun is now again approaching its 11-year "Schwab Cycle" maximum activity, here image taken by Solar Orbiter in October 2023. Credit: ESA & NASA/Solar Orbiter/EUI Team

A cosmic mystery solved? New evidence shows that the planets influence the Sun's magnetic cycles.

Researchers identify eddy currents in the Sun, called Rossby waves, as mediating the tidal effects of Venus, Earth and Jupiter on the Sun's magnetic activity
The cover of the book "The Milky Way - Autobiography of our galaxy.

 Berea Chapter from: "The Milky Way Autobiography of Our Galaxy" by Dr. Moya McTeer, Mater Publishing

Chapter from: "The Milky Way Autobiography of Our Galaxy" by Dr. Moya Maktir, Mater Publishing. Translation: Adi Marcuse Hess, Editing: Helit Yanai
Planets orbit double stars. Illustration: depositphotos.com

Change in definitions: A planet can orbit more than one sun and even remnants of the sun

A redefinition of planets throughout the universe is required. This is what a group of astronomers from UCLA claims * The researchers will present the new definition at the General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union in August
Comet attack on young earth. Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Mysterious Travelers: Are We Drinking Water Brought by Dark Comets?

Could asteroids, which are remnants of comets, be one of the main sources of water on Earth?
The preplanetary disk around the young star HL Tauri. Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), NSF

Target board or donut? Iron meteorites reveal the early form of our solar system

The formation of our solar system involved the accretion of gas and dust into a preplanetary disk, with meteorites providing important insights into its early composition.
An artist's concept of WASP-107 b shows turbulent atmospheric mixing within the planet's gas mantle. Credit: Roberto Muller Candanosa/Johns Hopkins University NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI)

The Webb Space Telescope offers the first glimpse into the interior of an extrasolar planet

Methane found in WASP-107 b reveals core mass and stormy sky
Astronomers have found water vapor in the disk around a young star right where planets are likely to form. In this image, the new observations from the ESO partner Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) show the water vapor in shades of blue. Near the center of the disc, where the young star lives, the environment is hotter and the gas is brighter. The red rings are previous ALMA observations showing the distribution of dust around the star.Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/S. Facchini et al.

Astronomers discover a new connection between water and the formation of planets

An amount of water at least three times greater than the water in all the Earth's oceans was discovered in the inner disk of the young Sun-like star HL Tauri, 450 light-years away from Earth, in the Taurus group
The sample return capsule from NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission is seen shortly after it landed in the desert, Sunday, Sept. 24, 2023, at the Department of Defense Test and Training Range in Utah. (Image credit: NASA/Keegan Barber)

NASA's OSIRIS-REx capsule containing asteroid soil samples has landed safely in Utah and been moved to a clean room

The Osiris-Rex probe returns to Earth small samples of the asteroid Beno, a "real small world" for analysis
Two nearly symmetrical swirling loops of gas and dust mark the dying flickers of an ancient red giant star. Credit: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA, TA Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF's NOIRLab), J. Miller (Gemini Observatory/NSF's NOIRLab), M. Rodriguez (Gemini Observatory/NSF's NOIRLab), M. Zamani ( NSF's NOIRLab)

An overflowing cosmic "urn" - a telescope captures the spectacular end-of-life display of a red giant

This end-of-life phase of red giant stars is relatively short, and the celestial structures that form around them are rare, so the Tobi Pitcher Nebula is an excellent example of a case study in the evolution of a star
This artist's impression shows NASA's Voyager spacecraft against a field of stars in the darkness of space. The two Voyager spacecraft are moving farther and farther from Earth on their journey into interstellar space, eventually orbiting the center of the Milky Way galaxy. Credit : NASA/JPL-Caltech

Voyager 2 has lost contact with Earth. Only one radio dish in the world can help her "call home"

A human error in the commands sent to her caused her antenna to tilt at an angle of two degrees from the Earth. The radio antenna engineers of the deep space network in Australia will try to contact her
An artist's impression of the Cassini spacecraft flying through plumes erupting from the south pole of Saturn's moon Enceladus. These geysers are very similar to geysers and emit a mixture of water vapor, ice grains, salts, methane and other organic molecules. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The Webb Space Telescope discovers a 10,000 km long plume of water erupting from Saturn's moon Enceladus

This is the first time that such a water emission has been seen from such a great distance, and in addition, the Web allows researchers a direct view, for the first time, of how this emission feeds the water supply of the entire system of
V838 Monocerotis A red variable star in the Monocros group. Illustration: depositphotos.com

Cosmic dust factories: variable stars and the origin of life

It was found that stars with variable light intensity influence the production of the interstellar dust and its enrichment in heavy elements from which life was created
This is how the planets will look on Monday evening (Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech/TNS)

Today's reminder this afternoon is a rare conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter

At the time of conjunction, both planets will be seen in the west direction, just after sunset over the southwestern horizon close to the setting sun. The next close gathering - in March 2080 * and how it is related to the road
Jupiter formed at a distance four times greater from the Sun than its current position today, according to a new simulation. Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The long journey he did justice to reach his current trajectory

A short passage that should reveal an unknown celestial gram. New Horizons visualization near Thule Ultima (not to scale) | Source: NASA

Three and a half years after Pluto, New Horizons flew past Thule Ultima in the Kuiper belt

Illustration of a protoplanetary disc around a young star. Imaging: NASA/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle.

The tumultuous resume of the solar system

Impact craters on the surface of Venus. Artificial color image based on radar data. From Wikipedia

It's time to fly to Venus

The dwarf planet's surface has collapsed as photographed by the orbiting DAWN spacecraft. The white substance inside the crater is a type of salt. Photo: NASA

The mystery of Cress is solved

Comparing the size of Earth and Mars on the same scale. Image: NASA

Why is Earth bigger than Mars?

The brave new worlds Pluto and Charon are in the focus of the field of view of the LORRI camera on the New Horizons spacecraft. Photo: NASA TV

New Horizons revealed: Pluto's diameter is 2,370 km

Did they come from one source? The surface of Pluto and in the background its large moon, Charon. Image: NASA

Pluto - a point of light in the darkness

The New Horizons spacecraft against the background of the planet Pluto. Image: NASA

A historic meeting

At the time when modern man emerged from the shadows, and the Neanderthals were close to extinction, a double star system passed by the far reaches of the solar system. (Image: Michael Osadciw/University of Rochester)

A star passed through our solar system 70 thousand years ago

The location and direction of the sun's movement in the galaxy. Illustration: IBEX

The stellar winds battering our solar system have changed direction

The asteroid belt - from Wikipedia

Asteroids with unusual properties

Four visualizations from a computer simulation showing the collision between the moon and a smaller companion moon. The simulation shows that most of the contents of the small moon come together and become a pancake-like layer that currently constitutes the mountainous area on one side of the moon - the side far from Earth. Illustration: M. Jutzi and E. Asphaug, Nature.

A second moon orbited the Earth billions of years ago

The images of Neptune were taken by Hubble's Wide Angle Camera #3 on June 25-26 during the planet's 16-hour orbit around its axis. The images were taken at intervals of about four hours so that they allow a full view of the planet. The images show clouds in the high latitudes of both the northern and southern hemispheres. The clouds are mainly composed of methane ice crystals.

Neptune - Rahav has completed one lap since it was discovered

The orbits of the stars according to Tycho Brahe

Did Galileo Galilei ignore observations?

Callisto. Photo: NASA

Callisto-Moon of Jupiter