planetary science
-
Pluto’s Huge Ice Volcanoes Are Stranger Than We Realised
Images gathered by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft in 2015 hinted at the presence of ice volcanoes on Pluto. A new analysis of the data suggests they’re actually a prominent feature of the dwarf planet, with the largest reaching over 6 km high.
-
Astronomer Spotted Asteroid Hours Before It Hit Earth
An asteroid measuring around 3.05 m wide has burnt up in the skies north of Iceland. This sort of thing happens from time to time, but this incident was notable in that the asteroid was spotted less two hours before the impact.
-
Chinese Rover Spots Unusual Glass Beads on Far Side of the Moon
A pair of translucent glass spheres, each measuring over a half-inch thick, have been spotted in an impact crater near the lunar south pole. They’re the first of their kind to ever be discovered on the Moon.
-
NASA’s Asteroid Detector Was Upgraded to Scan the Entire Sky Every Day
NASA’s ATLAS, a planetary defence system that scans the sky for near-Earth objects, has been upgraded to search the entire night sky — half of it in either hemisphere — once every 24 hours. The surveillance system is vital for tracking objects like asteroids and debris that are on a collision course with Earth.