Venus is a thoroughly unpleasant place thanks to its hellish temperatures and acidic clouds, but a new study adds another wrinkle to our strange sister planet: Venus’s day varies by Keep reading
Tag: planetary science
Ferrovolcanism
Beyond Earth, scientists expect to find objects formed by a volcanism much different than what we typically see here. Researchers used Syracuse University’s Lava Project apparatus to simulate ferrovolcanism — Keep reading
Blue Dunes
This false-color image shows a Martian dune field near the northern polar cap. The image itself covers an area 30 kilometers wide, but the dune field stretches over an area Keep reading
Rainfall Beyond Earth
Rain is not unique to our planet: Titan has methane rain and exoplanet WASP 78b is home to iron rain (ouch). A new study examines rainfall across planets from the Keep reading
Jovian Auroras
Like Earth, Jupiter is home to polar auroras that light the sky as charged particles interact with the planet’s magnetosphere. A recent paper identifies interesting features in the aurora that Keep reading
Lava and Life
Kilauea’s 2018 eruption gave us some of the most stunning volcanic footage ever seen, a tradition carried on in this BBC footage. As powerful and destructive as lava is, it’s Keep reading
Albedo Effect
Temperature isn’t the only factor that determines how ice will melt. In this photo, a dark oak leaf absorbed more solar radiation than the reflective ice around it, causing the Keep reading
Shedding Light on Martian Dust Storms
In 2018, Mars was enveloped by a global dust storm that lasted for months. Although such storms had been seen before, the 2018 storm offered an unprecedented opportunity for observation Keep reading
Jupiter in Infrared
This stunning new image of Jupiter in infrared is part of a data set combining measurements from ground- and space-based observatories. The glowing Jovian orb seen here is a composite Keep reading
Exploring Martian Mud Flows
When looking at Mars and other parts of our solar system, planetary scientists are faced with a critical question: if what I’m looking at is similar to something on Earth, Keep reading