ESA has released images captured by its Mars Express space probe that show the Mars area called Sirenum Fossae. The High Resolution Camera Stereo Camera (HRSC) camera allowed to take photos of an area whose appearance was determined by an ancient volcanic activity, with the result that a system of tectonic faults called graben in jargon stretched for thousands of kilometers on the red planet’s surface.
An article published in the journal “Nature Geoscience” describes a research in which a team of researchers argues that the signs of liquid water flows found on Mars are actually made up of dry sand. The possible existence of what are technically called RSLs (recurring slope lineae), streaks of sand washed by liquid water, was announced in September 2015 by NASA. A new study of data collected by NASA’s MRO (Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter) space probe may, however, show a different situation.
An article published in the journal “Nature” describes the observations carried out on ‘Oumuamua, the named given to the interstellar asteroid whose discovery was announced only a few weeks ago. It was designated as A/2017 U1 but after the creation of a new class of objects for interstellar asteroids its designation was modified into 1I/2017 U1. Observations with ESO’s VLT (Very Large Telescope) and other telescopes showed that it’s likely dense, rocky, reddish and with a very elongated shape.
An article published in the magazine “The Astronomical Journal” describes a research on the exoplanet 55 Cancri e. This super-Earth is one of the most studied among the planets in other solar systems but its extreme characteristics and the often experimental nature of the studies carried out provided partial and sometimes contradictory results. Now a analysis of data gathered using NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope convinced a team of researchers that 55 Cancri e has an atmosphere and could have a composition similar to that of the Earth.
A little while ago the JPSS-1 satellite blasted off atop a Delta 2 rocket in its 7920 configuration from the Vandenberg base. After almost one hour it successfully separated from the rocket’s last stage and entered a Sun-synchronous orbit, meaning it will fly over every area of the Earth’s surface at the same local time, at an altitude of about 824 kilometers (512 miles).
