Tag: Moons
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Juno reveals Io’s inner structure and volcanic activity; investigates north pole cyclones
New data from NASA’s Juno mission, which has been orbiting Jupiter since 2016, has provided scientists with insight into the extreme winds and cyclones present within the gas giant’s atmosphere. The data allowed scientists to develop a model that better represents the fast jet stream circling Jupiter’s north pole, which is cluttered with many cyclones.…
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New study provides explanation behind origins of Martian moons Phobos and Deimos
Using supercomputer simulations, a team of NASA scientists recently modeled the destruction of an asteroid around Mars to investigate the possible origins of Mars’ two, mysterious moons — Phobos and Deimos. Since their discovery in 1877 and subsequent investigations by telescopes and Martian spacecraft, scientists have pondered how the two moons came to be, and…
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Juno observes lava lake on Io, provides insight into Jupiter’s water abundance
In December 2023 and February 2024, NASA’s Juno spacecraft, currently in orbit around and investigating Jupiter and the Jovian system, made several close flybys of the innermost of the Galilean moons, Io. During the flybys, Juno came as close as 1,500 kilometers from the surface of Io, during which extensive data and imagery of the…
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IDEFIX Phobos rover sent to Japan ahead of mission to Mars
The Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission is JAXA’s lead mission that plans to survey and explore Mars’ two moons, Phobos and Deimos. While the Japanese agency will build the main payload, the German Space Agency (DLR) and the National Centre for Space Studies (CNES) will contribute to the mission. “IDEFIX,” a small secondary payload, will…
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New research finds first clear detection of circumplanetary disk surrounding an exoplanet
In recently published research using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), astronomers announced that they had found the first clear detection of a circumplanetary, moon-forming disk surrounding the exoplanet PDS 70c — a first in astrophysics. The circumplanetary disk, or CPD, has been seen in past research from other groups. However, due to the inability…
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Astronomers spot 20 more moons of Saturn — and want you to help name them
This artist’s conception shows the 20 newly discovered moons orbiting Saturn. (Illustration courtesy of Carnegie Institute for Science. Saturn image courtesy of NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute. Starry background courtesy of Paolo Sartorio / Shutterstock.) Saturn has pulled ahead of Jupiter again in the moon discovery race, thanks to a batch of 20…
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Hubble Space Telescope boosts evidence for first exomoon seen circling alien planet
An artist’s impression shows the Jupiter-sized exoplanet Kepler-1625b transiting its parent star with the Neptune-sized candidate exomoon in tow. (Dan Durda Illustration) With a lot of help from the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers now feel confident enough to publish their evidence for the first moon detected in orbit around a planet beyond our solar system.…
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Discoveries boost Jupiter’s retinue to 79 moons — including a wrong-way oddball
The oddball Jovian moon, known as Valetudo, crosses the orbits of moons that move in the opposite direction. Click on the image for a larger version. (Carnegie Institution of Science / Roberto Molar Candanosa) Astronomers searching for signs of a hypothetical “Planet Nine” have instead come up with 12 new moons of Jupiter, including one…