Jupiter has found itself in the spotlight again, this time with news that reports of the demise of its famous Great Red Spot may have been greatly exaggerated, and also that the Solar System’s largest planet may have once again been impacted by a large object that left a brightread more
Two new studies have provided further evidence for the existence of an as-of-yet undiscovered large planet at the edge of the Solar System, known by the astronomical community as “Planet Nine“. Having found that the orbits of a number of trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) on the outer fringe of the Solarread more
NASA has announced that they have confirmation that Saturn’s moon Enceladus has a food source that could support potential microbial lifeforms. This crucial ingredient accompanies Enceladus’ grocery list of elements needed to support life: carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, organic molecules, and of course, liquid water.
"Almost all of the conditions that astrobiologists have identified for habitability are present on Enceladus: water, organics, and a chemical energy source," explains Hunter Waite, from the Southwest Research Institute. "The only things that are left on the checklist are phosphorus or sulfur."
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Despite being our closest neighbor in the heavens, the planet Venus still harbors a multitude of mysteries, due primarily to its thick cloud cover, obscuring the planet’s surface from study. Space probes sent to its surface are also only able to glean a scant amount of information: because of the intense heat and pressure at Venus’s surface, most probes fail after less then an hour. Adding to the mystique of the Morning Star is a newly-found wave propagating across the planet’s atmosphere, and the idea that Venus’s dark streaks may hold microbial life.
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