Moons

Image: Photo: Shutterstock Graphics: Vicky LetaSurvivor has produced a whopping 45 seasons, with more in development. If you remember the buzz around season 1 but can’t believe it’s been 45 years, it hasn’t. They’ve cranked out two seasons per year for most of its run to feed their insatiable fanbase. Each season, the mega-successful reality show maroons an attractive cast of clashing personalities on a tropical island to compete for a million dollar prize. Contestants are subjected to physical, endurance, and mental…

Astronomers found a new moon orbiting Uranus, as well as two around Neptune. The tiny satellites appeared as faint specks in the outer reaches of the solar system following hours of ground-based observations.Dave Bautista Opens Up About His Relationship With Denis VilleneuveUsing observatories in Chile and Hawaii, Scott Sheppard, an astronomer at the Carnegie Institution for Science, first spotted the Uranian moon on November 4, 2023 and the two previously unknown Neptunian moons in September 2021. “The three newly…

ROLSES will document radiation from cosmic phenomena and Earth-based activities, helping to distinguish between different sources of radio noise. This research is crucial for mitigating interference in data analysis and designing future lunar observatories, aligning with NASA’s goals of returning to the Moon and establishing a sustainable presence. Credit: SciTechDaily.comOn February 15, 2024, Intuitive Machines’ IM-1 launched on a mission to the Moon’s South Polar region, as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload…

This poster shows a flattened (Mercator) projection of the Huygens probe’s view of Saturn’s moon Titan from 10 kilometers altitude. The images that make up this view were taken on Jan. 14, 2005, with the descent imager/spectral radiometer onboard the European Space Agency’s Huygens probe. The Huygens probe was delivered to Titan by the Cassini spacecraft, managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. Credit: ESA/NASA/JPL/University of ArizonaAstrobiologist finds Titan may not have enough amino acids…

Artist’s rendering of NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft. Credit: NASA/JPL-CaltechThe science performed by the complex suite of instruments recently added to the Europa Clipper spacecraft will reveal whether Jupiter’s moon Europa has conditions that could support life.With less than nine months remaining in the countdown to launch, NASA’s Europa Clipper mission has passed a major milestone: Its science instruments have been added to the massive spacecraft, which is being assembled at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory…

Mimas is the smallest and innermost of Saturn’s major moons. Its newly discovered young ocean opens new avenues for exploring life’s potential beyond Earth. Credit: Frédéric Durillon, Animea Studio | Observatoire de Paris – PSL, IMCCEResearchers have discovered a global ocean of liquid water beneath the surface of Mimas, one of Saturn’s smallest moons. This discovery, made possible by data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, highlights Mimas as a crucial site for studying the origins of life, providing insights into ocean…

Invoking Saturn calls to mind images of the planet's glorious, one-of-a-kind ring system, but that's not all the planet has to offer.Near-Saturnian space is crowded with moons. We've found 156 to date; a population that has made for some strikingly dramatic photos from the Cassini probe that studied Saturn and its satellites from 2004 to 2017.Although Cassini plunged into Saturn's tempestuous atmosphere some years ago now, it left behind an extensive catalog of photographs. Some of the most beautiful are those that…

On February 3, NASA’s Juno spacecraft captured images of two volcanic plumes on Jupiter’s moon Io, possibly indicating activity from either two vents of a single volcano or two separate volcanoes. The Juno team plans to analyze this event in conjunction with data from previous missions to enhance our understanding of Io’s volcanic dynamics. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS, AndreaLuck © CC BYNASA’s Juno spacecraft observed two volcanic plumes on Io, suggesting significant volcanic activity on Jupiter’s moon.In a…

An odd little moon that orbits closely to Saturn just revealed its biggest mystery: a hidden ocean that lies beneath its heavily cratered surface. 'More People Need to Know About This History': A Black Astronaut Speaks About Race and SpaceMimas is less than 123 miles (198 kilometers) wide, too small to be perfectly round, and its icy shell is covered with deep scarring from objects slamming into it. Its most prominent impact crater, Herschel, stretches across a third of its face, giving it the nickname Death Star in…

An artist’s rendition of Titan’s landscape features a hazy atmosphere, dark dunes, and mirror-smooth lakes and seas that resemble Earth’s. On these bodies of liquid hydrocarbons, new research suggests that the appearance of “magic islands” may be caused by floating organic solids. Credit: NASA/JPL Saturn’s largest moon rains and snows ethane, methane, and fancier organic compounds. On the ground, accumulated chunks may calve like glaciers at the edges of the moon’s methane lakes, forming ephemeral, floating “magic…