Latest Planetary science Stories
redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports - Your Universe Online Two tiny grains of silica discovered in primitive meteorites may have originated from the ancient supernova responsible for the formation of the solar system, according to new research published in the May 1 edition of Astrophysical Journal Letters. The silica grains were discovered by scientists from Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL) and the McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences, and was said to be “surprising”...
At a major planetary defense conference in Flagstaff, AZ, last evening, the Planetary Society announced the winners of its 2013 Shoemaker Near Earth Object (NEO) grants and was recognized itself for the Society’s long history of international leadership in the detection and mitigation of threatening asteroids, and other planetary discoveries. “As the Chelyabinsk impact demonstrated, asteroid impacts happen; they are dangerous, destructive, with no regard for human life,” said Bill...
WASHINGTON, April 18, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA's Kepler mission has discovered two new planetary systems that include three super-Earth-size planets in the "habitable zone," the range of distance from a star where the surface temperature of an orbiting planet might be suitable for liquid water. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) The Kepler-62 system has five planets; 62b, 62c, 62d, 62e and 62f. The Kepler-69 system has two planets; 69b and...
Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online Astronomers have discovered what could be considered the most Earth-like planet ever found outside our Solar System. The team used the Kepler Space Telescope to find Kepler 62f, a small rocky planet orbiting a Sun-like star in the Lyra constellation. The planet is about 1.4 times the size of Earth, and receives about half as much heat and radiation. Kepler 62f is one of two "super-Earth" planets discovered in the star Kepler 62's...
AURORA, Ill., April 18, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Flooding can create extremely dangerous driving conditions for motorists on roadways. AAA Chicago advises motorists to prepare themselves and their car. Motorists are advised to monitor weather conditions and follow advice from authorities. If it is not safe to travel and you don't have to travel, don't drive. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100506/AAACHILOGO) AAA's Emergency Services are also seeing extremely high call...
University of California, Berkeley NASA has awarded the University of California, Berkeley, up to $200 million to build a satellite to determine how Earth’s weather affects weather at the edge of space, in hopes of improving forecasts of extreme “space weather” that can disrupt global positioning satellites (GPS) and radio communications. The satellite mission, called the Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON), will be designed, built and operated by scientists at UC Berkeley’s...
redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports - Your Universe Online Analysis of data collected by NASA’s Wind spacecraft as it traveled through the front of the Earth’s magnetosphere from 1998 through 2002 has revealed a special type of magnetic pulsations, scientists from the US space agency revealed on Tuesday. The magnetosphere, a giant area of space created by the Earth’s magnetic fields as it travels around the sun, produces a standing bow wave or bow shock as is travels through space....
NASA Within NASA’s new FY2014 budget proposal lies a project known as the Asteroid Retrieval and Utilization Mission. This project would be the first to capture a small near-Earth asteroid and safely redirect it to a lunar orbit so that astronauts can visit and explore it. Such a mission would expand scientific knowledge of the origins of both humanity and the universe. The goal of asteroid retrieval is not a new endeavor for NASA. In fact, the idea dates to the earliest days of the...
Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Part of the surface of Saturn’s moon Titan has been actively tracked by NASA’s Cassini mission for the past several years. During that time, the mission has found a remarkable presence of hydrocarbon methane lakes and seas dotting the surface of the moon. But a model developed by mission leaders at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, suggests the supply of these methane lakes will soon come to end. Of...
April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online An international team of researchers, in collaboration with University of Leicester planetary scientists, has organized the largest ever observational campaign of Saturn's auroras. To expand our knowledge of the planet's northern lights, a host of space and ground-based telescopes will focus on the ringed gas giant for the month-long project. Scientists from the University's Department of Physics and Astronomy have worked with NASA...
Latest Planetary science Reference Libraries
Image Caption: Artistic concept of a planetary system. Credit: Wikipedia/NASA/JPL-Caltech The term Astronomy encompasses a broad range of topics, including the study of stars, galaxies, and planets. In order to focus on the different areas of study, many subfields of astronomy emerge. One such area is the study of planets known, appropriately, as Planetary Astronomy. Observational Planetary Astronomy Even within the field of Planetary Astronomy, there are several divisions to...
Solar cycles: what are they and why should we care about them? Solar cycles are made up of what are known as solar minimums (min) and solar maximums (max). We refer to a solar min at the time when the sun is not active with many sunspots, while a solar max is just the opposite when we see a large increase in sunspot activity. So how long do solar cycles last? Typically they run on what is known as an 11 year cycle from the max to the min and then start over again anew. As of 2012 we...
Planetary and Space Science is a peer-reviewed scientific journal established in 1959 and published by Elsevier 15 times per year. As of May 2012, the editor-in-chief is Rita Schulz (The Netherlands). The journal publishes original research articles and short communications. The main focus is on solar system processes which encompass multiple areas of the natural sciences. Research that involves planetary and space sciences involves many disciplines. Celestial mechanics is part of these...
Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors is a biweekly published peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Elsevier. As of April 2012, co-editors are G. Aelfric (University of Bristol), K. Hirose (Tokyo Institute of Technology), M. Jellinek (University of British Columbia), and K. Zhang (University of Exeter). This journal focuses on the physical and chemical processes of planetary interiors. Topics covered include planetary physics, geodesy and geophysics. Publishing formats...
Geophysical Journal International is a peer-reviewed scientific journal publish monthly by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society and the German Geophysical Society. The editor-in-chief is Jeannot Trampert of TA Utrecht, the Netherlands. The primary focus of this journal is fundamental research in Geophysics. Publishing formats are original research, research notes, letters, and book reviews. Coverage includes computational, theoretical, observational and applied...
