By Paul Scott Anderson, on August 5th, 2020
Artist’s illustration of high-altitude shallow lightning in water-ammonia clouds on Jupiter. NASA’s Juno spacecraft has discovered evidence for the phenomenon using its Stellar Reference Unit. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Gerald Eichstädt/Heidi N. Becker/Koji Kuramura
Today, Aug. 5, 2020, marks nine years since the launch of Juno, a spacecraft that has revolutionized our knowledge of the largest […]
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By Paul Scott Anderson, on October 27th, 2015
Artist’s conception of Cassini making a close flyby of Enceladus and its water vapor plumes. Image Credit: NASA/JPL
This coming Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2015, the Cassini spacecraft will make a historic close flyby (dubbed “E21”) of Saturn’s tiny icy moon Enceladus, not only passing very close to the surface, but also making the […]
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By Paul Scott Anderson, on May 7th, 2015 The water vapor jets on Enceladus are now thought to mostly be more like diffuse “curtains” rather than separate plumes. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI/PSI
The water vapor geysers on Saturn’s moon Enceladus are one of the most fascinating phenomena in the Solar System; the jets spray far out into space in a dazzling display […]
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By Leonidas Papadopoulos, on April 24th, 2015 A photograph of the Hubble Space Telescope. taken by the crew of the STS-109 mission, following the successful completion of the fourth Hubble servicing mission in 2002. The iconic orbiting observatory, which celebrates 25 years of successful operation this month, has completely revolutionised our view of the Cosmos. Image Credit: NASA/STScI
“All truths […]
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By Paul Scott Anderson, on March 13th, 2015 Cutaway view depicting the interior of Enceladus. Water, salts, organics, and methane make their way from the hydrothermal vents on the ocean bottom to the surface through cracks in the icy crust, erupting as geysers. Image Credit: NASA/JPL
The deep oceans on Earth are teeming with life, despite the cold and darkness, thanks […]
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By Paul Scott Anderson, on January 23rd, 2015 Image of curved gullies and fan-shaped deposits in Cornelia crater on Vesta. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA
The Dawn spacecraft is now very close to the dwarf planet Ceres, but there are some interesting new findings from its previous visit to the asteroid Vesta. Curved gullies on its surface suggest that small amounts of water […]
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By Leonidas Papadopoulos, on December 24th, 2014 An artist’s impression of Jupiter and its moon Europa, based on actual visible light images. Last year, a team of astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope, had reported the detection of signs of water vapour being vented off Europa’s south pole. A new study comes to challenge this interpretation, by presenting evidence that […]
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By Leonidas Papadopoulos, on December 17th, 2014 A high-resolution color global map of Saturn’s moon Mimas, based on imaging data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. A set of new global maps of Saturn’s largest icy moons reveal the latters’ landscapes in unprecedented detail. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI/LPI
The first 50 years of planetary exploration have seen the successful completion of humanity’s epic, […]
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By Leonidas Papadopoulos, on December 1st, 2014 Artist’s concept of the JUpiter ICy moons Explorer mission, or JUICE, which is scheduled for launch in 2022. The mission recently passed a major milestone in its development, by being granted approval by ESA to advance towards implementation. Image Credit: ESA/AOES
The detailed study of Jupiter’s fascinating large, icy moons got a step […]
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