Craters

Scientists are putting forward a new explanation for the giant exploding craters that seem to be randomly appearing in the Siberian permafrost.These craters, first spotted in 2012, have been popping up in the deserted Siberian permafrost, puzzling scientists.They can be substantial, reaching more than 160 feet in depth and 65 feet in width, and blasting chunks of debris hundreds of feet away.Some reports have suggested the blasts can be heard 60 miles away.Now scientists are proposing that hot natural gas seeping from…

The mystery of what created a pair of craters on the far side of the Moon has been put to rest after a new study from the University of Arizona confirmed that the most likely cause was a spent rocket booster from China's Chang'e 5-T1 lunar mission.On March 4, 2022, a new pair of craters suddenly appeared near the Hertzsprung crater on the far side of the Moon. Discovered by NASA's Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft, where they came from was something of a head-scratcher. Because amateur astronomers had spotted what…

Illustration: NASATheir analysis looks convincing, says Andrew Rivkin, a planetary scientist at Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory who studies the composition of asteroids and who was not involved in the paper. “Short of going and grabbing a piece, like NASA just did with Bennu, this is probably as close to conclusive as we get,” he says.  Rivkin emphasizes that Kamo’oalewa is an unusual object: Out of some 80,000 meteorites collected on Earth, only a few percent have come from the moon, and of the…

We are in the penultimate episode of Marvel’s Disney+ series Secret Invasion, and, surprisingly, we don’t have a lot of questions or plot points to wrap up. After the first four episodes of the Samuel L. Jackson-led spy-thriller series, most mysteries have been solved or explained in... Gravik detail. (Get it?…Read more... We are in the penultimate episode of Marvel’s Disney+ series Secret Invasion, and, surprisingly, we don’t have a lot of questions or plot points to wrap up. After the first four episodes of the…

A group of researchers from Norway and France has revealed that the Moon’s features -- which characterise the children's story of the Man in the Moon – are around 200 million years older than it was initially believed.The researchers found a way of coordinating and recalibrating two conflicting systems of dating the surface of the Moon. The evaluation allows the scientists to clarify the sequence of events in the evolution of the Moon's surface. In a paper published in The Planetary Science Journal, researchers stressed…

This image from ESA’s Mars Express shows the southern flanks of Ascraeus Mons, the second-tallest volcano on Mars. Credit: ESA/DLR/FU BerlinThe <span class="glossaryLink" aria-describedby="tt" data-cmtooltip="<div class=glossaryItemTitle>Mars</div><div class=glossaryItemBody>Mars is the second smallest planet in our solar system and the fourth planet from the sun. It is a dusty, cold, desert world with a very thin atmosphere. Iron oxide is prevalent in Mars' surface…

NASA’s Perseverance rover has been exploring the rocky, desolate surface of Mars since February 2021. During that time the rover has searched high and low for signs of life on Mars, but to no avail. While we’re still waiting for the Mars sample return mission to send soil and rock samples back to Earth, Perseverance continues to capture images of iconic locations, like the Belva Crater. A zoomed-in piece of the mosaic taken by Perseverance. Image source: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS The new images capture the…

NASA’s ShadowCam has been flying around the Moon for nearly six months, strapped to a Korean lunar orbiter. The hypersensitive camera has been capturing beautifully detailed images of the Moon’s permanently shadowed regions, offering a rare glimpse of potential landing sites for upcoming crewed Artemis missions to the lunar surface. China's Plan to Land Astronauts on the MoonSome parts of the Moon have been cloaked in darkness for more than two billion years, never seeing the light of the Sun. Those areas happen to be of…

Do you know how many moons Saturn has? The planet has a total of 83 moons, out of which 63 moons are confirmed and named. While, the other 20 moons are awaiting confirmation of discovery and official naming by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), according to NASA. Today's NASA astronomy picture of the day is about one of Saturn's moons named Hyperion. It is the largest of Saturn's irregular, non-spherical moons, and has odd craters.Captioning the image of the day titled 'Saturn's Hyperion: A Moon with Odd…

“For me, this is a dream measurement,” says David Paige, a planetary scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles who has been part of the mission since its inception nearly a decade ago. “It’s an opportunity to make a real rapid advancement with such a small spacecraft.” Once the team has mapped out the distribution of surface ice at the South Pole, they can use it to guide future landers, rovers, and eventually humans to places where they can collect frosty samples. Today’s astronauts are stuck having to pack…