Across the Milky Way galaxy, a planetary odd couple is circling a star some 190 light years from Earth. A normally “lonely” hot Jupiter is sharing space with a mini-Neptune, […]
MIT
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Icy Worlds, Mars, Press Release, Titan, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Waves Hit Different On Other Planets
On a calm day, a light breeze might barely ripple the surface of a lake on Earth. But on Saturn’s largest moon Titan, a similar mild wind would kick up […]
Posted inAstrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds, Meteorites & Asteroids, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
Geologists Discover The First Evidence of 4.5-billion-year-old “proto-Earth”
Scientists at MIT and elsewhere have discovered extremely rare remnants of “proto Earth,” which formed about 4.5 billion years ago, before a colossal collision irreversibly altered the primitive planet’s composition […]
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology, Fossils & Paleontology, Habitable Zones, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
The First Animals On Earth May Have Been Sea Sponges, Study Suggests
A team of MIT geochemists has unearthed new evidence in very old rocks suggesting that some of the first animals on Earth were likely ancestors of the modern sea sponge.
Posted inAstrogeology, Astronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Press Release
Rapidly Disintegrating Planet BD+054868Ab Produces A Comet-like Tail
MIT astronomers have discovered a planet some 140 light-years from Earth that is rapidly crumbling to pieces.
Posted inAstrogeology, Astronomy & Telescopes, Comets and Asteroids, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Extinction events, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Impact events, Meteorites & Asteroids, Press Release, TRAPPIST-1
The Smallest Asteroids Ever Detected In The Main Belt
The asteroid that extinguished the dinosaurs is estimated to have been about 10 kilometers across. That’s about as wide as Brooklyn. Such a massive impactor is predicted to hit Earth […]
Posted inAnalog Studies, Arctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Cryobiology, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Mars, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Liquid On Mars Was Not Necessarily All Water
Dry river channels and lake beds on Mars point to the long-ago presence of a liquid on the planet’s surface, and the minerals observed from orbit and from landers seem […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astrogeology, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Press Release
Molecules That Store Carbon Discovered In A Distant Interstellar Cloud
The discovery of pyrene derivatives in a distant interstellar cloud may help to reveal how our own solar system formed.
Posted inGenomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Nanotechnology & SynBio, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report
Survival and Evolutionary Adaptation of Populations Under Disruptive Habitat Change: A Study With Darwinian Cellular Automation
The evolution of living beings with continuous and consistent progress toward adaptation and ways to model evolution along principles as close as possible to Darwin’s are important areas of focus […]
Posted inAstrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Mars, Press Release, Terraforming & Geoengineering
Mars’ Missing Atmosphere Could Be Hiding In Plain Sight
Mars wasn’t always the cold desert we see today. There’s increasing evidence that water once flowed on the Red Planet’s surface, billions of years ago. And if there was water, […]