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Boiling water on Mars could make the planet's sand levitate

Boiling water on Mars could make the planet's sand levitate

26 October 2017

In Martian summer, the combination of warm temperatures and a thin atmosphere make any liquid water on the surface boil, which can let dust hover across the ground


We may have just seen the first comet from another solar system

We may have just seen the first comet from another solar system

25 October 2017

An icy comet just hurtled past the sun on a strange path that suggests it came from outside our solar system, making it the first such interloper we've ever spotted


Astronaut wee could show us how the plumes on Enceladus work

17 October 2017

The way spaceships vent urine and water may be a good stand-in for studying how jets of vapour escape the hidden ocean on one of Saturn’s icy moons


A gaggle of 7 moons keep Saturn’s rings from breaking apart

A gaggle of 7 moons keep Saturn’s rings from breaking apart

17 October 2017

The gravity from seven of its moons stops Saturn’s bright outer ring from spreading out and dispersing into space, according to Cassini spacecraft measurements


The sun just belched out the strongest solar flare in 12 years

The sun just belched out the strongest solar flare in 12 years

6 September 2017

If your GPS has been acting funny, take it up with the sun. Our star has released the most powerful solar flare since 2005


Some TRAPPIST-1 planets may have the right conditions for water

Some TRAPPIST-1 planets may have the right conditions for water

31 August 2017

Water on the planets nearest the TRAPPIST-1 star would be destroyed by UV radiation but it could survive on the cooler worlds in the habitable zone


We’ve just seen 15 new mysterious cosmic radio bursts from space

We’ve just seen 15 new mysterious cosmic radio bursts from space

30 August 2017

Breakthrough Listen detected more radio pulses from the famous repeating source FRB 121102. They’re higher frequency than previous ones but we still don’t know what causes them


Tethered satellites could see the moon’s weird swirls up close

Tethered satellites could see the moon’s weird swirls up close

9 August 2017

The moon has bright coils of dust we can’t study without getting up close. A NASA proposal would send two satellites tied together to dangle over the surface


Moon’s magnetic field lasted twice as long as we thought it did

Moon’s magnetic field lasted twice as long as we thought it did

9 August 2017

Lunar rock shows the moon’s magnetic field lasted a billion years longer than we thought, which may help us understand how planets keep their protective fields


Enormous exoplanet has an atmosphere hot enough to boil iron

Enormous exoplanet has an atmosphere hot enough to boil iron

2 August 2017

A planet nearly double the size of Jupiter and 900 light years away has a glowing stratosphere and an atmosphere hot enough that iron there exists as a vapour


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