When Voyager 2 visited Uranus and Neptune, scientists were puzzled by the icy giants’ disorderly magnetic fields. Contrary to expectations, neither planet had a well-defined north and south magnetic pole, Keep reading
Tag: planetary science
Tracking Coastal Sediment Loss
Shorelines rely on an influx of sediment to counter what’s lost to erosion by waves and currents. But tracking that sediment flux is challenging in coastal regions where salt, waves, Keep reading
A New Mantle Viscosity Shift
The rough picture of Earth’s interior — a crust, mantle, and core — is well-known, but the details of its inner structure are more difficult to pin down. A recent Keep reading
Tracking Ice Floes
To understand why some sea ice melts and other sea ice survives, researchers tracked millions of floes over decades. This herculean undertaking combined satellite data, weather reports, and buoy data Keep reading
Beneath a River of Red
A glowing arch of red, pink, and white anchors this stunning composite astrophotograph. This is a STEVE (Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement) caused by a river of fast-moving ions high Keep reading
How Magnetic Fields Shape Core Flows
The Earth’s inner core is a hot, solid iron-rich alloy surrounded by a cooler, liquid outer core. The convection and rotation in this outer core creates our magnetic fields, but Keep reading
The Great Red Spot’s Cycle
First spotted by humanity in 1664, Jupiter‘s Great Red Spot is a seemingly endless storm. Strictly speaking, there is debate as to whether observations prior to 1831 were of the Keep reading
Slushy Snow Affects Antarctic Ice Melt
More than a tenth of Antarctica’s ice projects out over the sea; this ice shelf preserves glacial ice that would otherwise fall into the Southern Ocean and raise global sea Keep reading
Underground Convection Thaws Permafrost Faster
In recent years, Arctic permafrost has thawed at a surprisingly fast pace. Much of that is, of course, due to the rapid warming caused by climate change. But some of Keep reading
Water Suspected Beneath Mars
The surface features of Mars — crossed by river deltas and sedimentary deposits — indicate a watery past. Where that water went after the planet lost its atmosphere 3 – Keep reading