Scientists now propose using an insulating material called silica aerogel to make parts of the Martian surface friendlier to photosynthetic life. Perhaps an aerogel blanket could more easily melt the water on the Martian ice caps to make a small section of the planet habitable.
Two telescopes have measured the faint heat from the main, or epsilon ring, of Uranus, enabling astronomers for the first time to determine its temperature: a cool 77 Kelvin.
NASA's Curiosity rover discovered "startlingly high amounts of methane in the Martian air" on Wednesday in what could potentially be a sign of life on the Red Planet, the New York Times reported on Saturday.
Clay often forms in the presence of water – a key ingredient for the evolution of life as it is known on Earth – and Curiosity’s latest findings add more evidence that a significant amount of water once pooled and flowed in Gale Crater on Mars.
Scientists detected a massive reservoir of frozen water sandwiched by layers of sand beneath the northern polar ice cap on Mars. This reservoir contains so much ice that, if melted and brought to the surface, it would submerge the entire planet.
The signal appears to have been generated inside the planet and not by any surface-level phenomenon. Three other seismic events were detected on 14 March, 10 and 11 April, but they were much smaller and their origins more ambiguous.
Mercury is now the second rocky planet—after Earth—for which we have evidence of a solid inner core. It’s not an exact value, but the mere presence of a solid inner core helps to understand how the planet generates its magnetic field.
There was a big stir when reports emerged that the Curiosity rover had detected methane on Mars. But now an independent source has also detected methane on Mars.
Juno took the photo 8,000 miles from the cloud tops during its 18th close flyby of Jupiter on February 12. Overall, 32 flybys are planned, so Juno is just beginning the second half of its flybys.
There’s a massive, growing wall of evidence showing that Mars may have had the necessary conditions for life in the past. ESA’s High-Resolution Camera on the Mars Express Orbiter, there are clear signs of a system of river valleys.
Opportunity landed on Mars more than 15 Earth years ago, on January 25, 2004. Originally designed for 90-day lifetimes, the rovers persisted. It roved a staggering 45.16 kilometers across the Red Planet.
Unlike the other planets in our solar system, Uranus is tipped on its side. This leaves the sun shining non-stop onto its north pole during its long summer, likely resulting in widespread atmospheric changes.
New NASA research confirms that Saturn is losing its iconic rings at the maximum rate. The rings have less than 100 million years to live. This is relatively short, compared to Saturn's age of over 4 billion years.
Astronomers have discovered a new extremely distant object far beyond Pluto with an orbit that supports the presence of an even-farther-out, Super-Earth or larger Planet X.
The discovery makes Titan the third Solar System body, in addition to Earth and Mars, where dust storms have been observed.
