Planetary

The Planetary Science Caucus is back from the dead, and the revival of the group couldn’t come at a more critical time for scientific pursuits in the cosmos that often find themselves in the budgetary crosshairs.A brief historyThe Planetary Science Caucus existed in the 115th and 116th Congress (about 2017-2021 for those who follow the Gregorian calendar), but went away during the 117th Congress, between 2021 and 2023, according to Jack Kiraly, director of government relations at the Planetary Society. Now, the group,…

The inner region of the Orion Nebula as seen by the James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam instrument. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Data reduction and analysis: PDRs4All ERS Team; graphical processing S. FuenmayorResearchers studying the Orion Nebula with the James Webb Space Telescope have found that massive stars’ ultraviolet radiation prevents the formation of giant planets in young systems by dispersing their building materials.To find out how planetary systems such as our Solar System form, an international research team…

Some 100 light-years from the Solar System dwells the most mathematically perfect planetary system we've ever seen.The star at its center – a temperate orange dwarf called HD 110067 – is orbited by six exoplanets, each of which travels in harmony with its adjacent worlds. Such a perfect chain of orbital resonances is extremely rare, and it means that the system has remained relatively stable and undisturbed since it formed, around a billion years ago.This is interesting in its own right, and scientists are studying it…

The day before asteroid 2008 OS7 made its close approach with Earth on Feb. 2, this series of images was captured by the powerful 230-foot (70-meter) Goldstone Solar System Radar antenna near Barstow, California. Credit: NASA/JPL-CaltechDuring the close approach of 2008 OS7 with Earth on February 2, the agency’s Deep Space Network planetary radar gathered the first detailed images of the stadium-size asteroid.On February 2, a large asteroid safely drifted past Earth at a distance of about 1.8 million miles (2.9 million…

An artistic illustration about Theia impacting the proto-Earth. Credit: Hernan Canellas/image courtesy of ASURecent research indicates that Earth’s mantle contains two large blobs, remnants of Theia, the ancient planet whose collision with Earth led to the moon’s creation. This discovery offers fresh insights into the moon’s formation and Earth’s early history.In the 1980s, geophysicists made a startling discovery: Two continent-sized blobs of unusual material were found deep near the center of the Earth, one beneath the…

A now iconic collage showing 22 individual well-known PNe, artistically arranged in a spiral pattern by order of approximate physical size. Credit: ESA/Hubble and NASA, ESO, NOAO/AURA/NSF from an idea by the corresponding author and Ivan Bojičić and rendered by Ivan Bojičić with input from David Frew and the author.Two astrophysicists from the Laboratory for Space Research (LSR) at The University of Hong Kong (HKU) have finally solved a 20-year-old astrophysical puzzle concerning the lower-than-expected amounts of the…

In the figure can be seen the process of resource use and environmental impacts at the production stage of the food system. Specifically, land reclamation poses a serious threat to land use boundary; the irrigation process consumes large amounts of surface water and groundwater, potentially threatening freshwater boundary. The process of fertilizer production, transportation and application consumes large amounts of N and P resources, and contributes to…

Leading scientists propose a crucial shift in global governance to mitigate the environmental impact of rapid urban expansion. They suggest a new global advisory system, akin to the IPCC, to guide sustainable urban development and protect Earth’s ecosystems. This initiative aims to fill a critical gap in current policymaking and is supported by the UKRI PEAK program. Credit: SciTechDaily.comLeading experts in science are urgently advocating for a significant transformation in global governance to safeguard the future of…

A recent study introduces the “Planetary Commons,” proposing a shift in global governance to protect Earth’s critical systems. This new framework, developed by an international team of researchers, extends beyond traditional global commons, emphasizing the need for transnational cooperation and enhanced environmental laws.A pioneering research paper redefines traditional concepts of global commons, proposing a broader framework known as the “Planetary Commons”.A groundbreaking research paper, recently published in the…

How long does planet formation take? Maybe not as long as we thought, according to new research.Observations with the Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimetre Array (ALMA) show that planet formation around young stars may begin much earlier than scientists thought.These new results were presented at the American Astronomical Society's 243rd Meeting. Cheng-Han Hsieh, a Ph.D. candidate at Yale, presented the new observations."ALMA's early observations of young protoplanetary disks have revealed many beautiful rings and gaps,…