Exogeology

Mercury is our solar system’s incredible shrinking planet

The planet Mercury is our solar system’s shrunken head. The scorched first rock from the sun has contracted into itself even more than previously thought — losing four miles (7 km) of elevation in some parts, according to new research using data from NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft. “It solves a mystery that’s been lingering for a…

io9 Larry O'Hanlon — Discovery News Mar 17

Uh, what the hell are these v-shaped formations doing on Mars?

These objects are startlingly reminiscent of Star Trek’s Federation insignia — but they’re geological features inside a large crater on Mars. It’s a phenomenon, says NASA, that also explains why migratory birds fly in a v-shaped formation. Believe it or not, but these are sand dunes, and they’re on the surface of a crater near…

io9 George Dvorsky Feb 19

Are these pictures of water flowing on Mars, right now?

Scientists at JPL say that new analysis of pictures taken on Mars contains the “strongest indication” that there is water flowing on the red planet, right now. Top Image: Darkening lines (known as RSL) moving down a slope as the temperature rises, possibly representing spring and summer salt water flows on Mars, NASA/JPL Researchers have…

io9 Ria Misra Feb 10

Water Eruptions on Europa Mean that Conditions Are Ripe for Life

Jupiter’s moon Europa is covered in a thick layer of ice, but it has a turbulent ocean that lies beneath. Today astronomers announced that new observations show this water is erupting in massive plumes like water volcanoes. It’s a discovery that could have serious implications for Europa’s potential to harbor life. Astronomers have never before…

io9 George Dvorsky Dec 12

What a Habitable Planet Twice the Size of Earth Would Be Like

To date, astronomers have catalogued over 1,000 exoplanets — some of them rocky and parked within their host star’s habitable zone. But a good portion of these planets are bigger than Earth, prompting us to ask: What would it actually be like on a habitable planet twice the size of ours? Structure A first complication:…

io9 Anders Sandberg Dec 4

It may be easier to find alien life on Europa than we thought

Jupiter’s moon Europa is one of the more intriguing candidates for extraterrestrial life in our solar system. New models suggest that its ice-covered waters are turbulent near the lower latitudes, giving rise to its chaotic equatorial landscapes. Intriguingly, these warm waters may make it easier for life to make it to the surface. Europa is…

io9 George Dvorsky Dec 3

A Dramatic Glimpse of Mars as it Appeared Billions of Years Ago

To illustrate how radically the face of Mars has evolved over the past several billion years, researchers from NASA’s MAVEN mission have put together a revealing new video showing a Red Planet that was once anything but. MAVEN, the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN project, is a research mission and planned space probe primarily concerned…

io9 George Dvorsky Nov 14

NASA has just made an incredible discovery about water on Mars

A recent analysis of Martian surface soil samples shows that it contains about 2% water by weight. This is fantastic news for future colonists of the Red Planet. According to a series of NASA papers just published in the journal Science, each cubic foot of the fine Martian soil contains about two pints of liquid…

io9 George Dvorsky Sep 26

Mars could have developed life more quickly than Earth

Nobody is sure how life emerged from the primordial chemistry of Earth. But now we have more evidence that Earthlike life could have evolved on Mars. Illustration of Mars today and Mars several billion years ago, by Kevin Gill It all has to do with phosphates, minerals that are crucial for building DNA, cell membranes,…

io9 Annalee Newitz Sep 1

Why it might be possible to go snowboarding on Mars

NASA scientists think that sliding chunks of frozen carbon dioxide — dry ice — may be responsible for creating track marks on some Martian sand dunes. Which brings up a totally awesome idea: Snowboarding down a Martian sand dune on a block of dry ice. NASA calls these strange formations linear gullies, and they measure…

io9 George Dvorsky Jun 12

What if New York City was transported to another planet?

Illustrator Nickolay Lamm, along with astrobiologist Marilyn Vogel, have transplanted New York City to the various surfaces — and atmospheres — of our solar system’s planets. All images via Nickolay Lamm, Storage Front. Mercury Vogel writes: Mercury has but a thin envelope of gas that barely qualifies as an atmosphere. The inexorable solar wind continually…

io9 George Dvorsky May 15

Did NASA send the Curiosity Rover to the wrong place?

A new study suggests that Mars’s 3.5-mile high Mount Sharp formed as strong winds carried dust and sand into the crater in which it rests. If true, Gale Crater probably never contained a lake, which would totally suck, because that’s one of the main reasons why NASA sent Curiosity there in the first place. Gale…

io9 George Dvorsky May 9

Hot Mars Theory suggests life never had a chance on the Red Planet

As NASA’s Curiosity rover scours the Martian surface in search of signs that Mars was once capable of fostering complex life, a team of researchers from the University of Poitiers, France, and Caltech have issued a paper that casts serious doubt on the notion that the planet was once habitable. The new theory, which was…

io9 George Dvorsky Sep 10

Plate tectonics confirmed on Mars

After nearly forty years of research, scientists have finally proven that plate tectonics exist on Mars. A recently published paper by An Yin in the journal Lithosophere reveals that the origin of Valles Marineris on Mars — the longest trough system in the solar system — was formed by rifting, strike-slip faulting, and subsurface mass…

io9 George Dvorsky Aug 10

What strange geological processes created Titan’s oddly smooth surface?

Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, has a surface that doesn’t make much sense. Images sent back by the cloud-piercing Cassini-Huygens spacecraft in 2004 showed a smooth surface that was barely touched by its extensive system of liquid methane rivers. And Titan has a strangely small number of impact craters from meteorites. Put simply, Titan’s surface doesn’t…

io9 George Dvorsky Jul 24

Here’s what the weather on Mars would really look like

One would think that with barely 100th the atmosphere Earth has Mars would have pretty lame weather…if any. But it doesn’t take much to whip up a good storm. Just look at the monster sand dunes that the winds on Mars manage to create. If they can do that, it’s maybe less surprising that Mars’…

io9 Ron Miller Mar 13

How one mineral could reveal exactly when Mars was covered in water

We know that there are small deposits of water on the Martian surface, and there’s evidence of plenty more water both below the surface and in the planet’s past. Now we’ve gained a powerful tool for exploring Mars’s watery history. https://gizmodo.com/scientists-find-evidence-of-liquid-water-on-the-surface-5827462 That tool is the mineral jarosite, which was discovered on the Martian surface by…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Oct 27

Scientists unveil more proof that water still flows on Mars

We now know two things about the Martian atmosphere’s carbon dioxide: volcanic eruptions created the gas quite recently, and it probably reacted with liquid water. Taken together, these discoveries confirm water is still a major player in Martian geology. NASA’s Mars Phoenix Lander has provided the most precise readings yet on the carbon dioxide gas…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Sep 9

The mountains of Titan are formed by the moon slowly shrinking

The mountains on Saturn’s moon Titan defy easy explanation, but readings from the Cassini probe offer a fascinating new possibility: Titan is slowly releasing heat and shriveling up, causing mountains to form on its surface like wrinkles on a raisin. It’s a geological process unlike that of any other icy body, but that’s the most…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Aug 15

What Happened To All The Water On Mars?

The Martian rover Opportunity has traversed the valley called Meridiani Planum, and convinced scientists that the region was once bathed in an acid lagoon. Now scientists believe the region was fed by non-acidic groundwaters destroyed by the drying planet. A group of Earth scientists and chemists published a paper over the weekend in Nature Geoscience…

io9 Annalee Newitz Apr 6

Mercury is our solar system’s incredible shrinking planet

Uh, what the hell are these v-shaped formations doing on Mars?

Are these pictures of water flowing on Mars, right now?

Water Eruptions on Europa Mean that Conditions Are Ripe for Life

What a Habitable Planet Twice the Size of Earth Would Be Like

It may be easier to find alien life on Europa than we thought

A Dramatic Glimpse of Mars as it Appeared Billions of Years Ago

NASA has just made an incredible discovery about water on Mars

Mars could have developed life more quickly than Earth

Why it might be possible to go snowboarding on Mars

What if New York City was transported to another planet?

Did NASA send the Curiosity Rover to the wrong place?

Hot Mars Theory suggests life never had a chance on the Red Planet

Plate tectonics confirmed on Mars

What strange geological processes created Titan’s oddly smooth surface?

Here’s what the weather on Mars would really look like

How one mineral could reveal exactly when Mars was covered in water

Scientists unveil more proof that water still flows on Mars

The mountains of Titan are formed by the moon slowly shrinking

What Happened To All The Water On Mars?

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