Planets

Chaotic terrain in Mars Pyrrhae Regio seen by Mars Express

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ESA has released new images captured by its Mars Express space probe’s High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) in Pyrrhae Regio, a region close to the Valles Marineris system on planet Mars. This is what is called chaotic terrain of the kind that forms when there’s underground ice that melts causing large amounts of water to be released. Such a process requires a significant amount of heat, which may have been provided by volcanic activity or a meteor impact. The current look is what is left after the water drained away, leaving in particular the geological formations called mesas.

A depiction of water in Mars' atmosphere with peaks during periods of both regional and global dust storms

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An article published in the journal “Science” reports a study that explains where most of the water that the planet Mars possessed when it was young, when it was in the liquid state on its surface, has gone. A team of researchers led by Shane Stone of the University of Arizona, USA, used data collected by NASA’s MAVEN space probe to track the movements of water in the atmosphere, up to high altitudes, where there are reactions that break it down and produce atomic hydrogen that is dispersed in space. This study highlighted the role of dust storms in water loss.

Artist's concept of the brown dwarf BDR J1750+3809 with its magnetic field and aurorae (Image ASTRON/Danielle Futselaar)

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An article published in “The Astrophysical Journal Letters” reports the confirmation of the first detection of a brown dwarf through radio observations. This is the result of a collaboration between various entities that led to the use of the LOw Frequency ARray (LOFAR) radio telescope, the Gemini North telescope, and NASA’s InfraRed Telescope Facility (IRTF), both in Hawaii, to discover and characterize the brown dwarf cataloged as BDR J1750+3809. Being able to locate very faint objects with a radio telescope represents a significant advance because it will help to learn more about brown dwarfs and offers the hope of even finding exoplanets ejected from their star systems.

The solar system's planets (Image WP)

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An article published in the journal “Icarus” reports a study on the solar system’s structure that offers a reconstruction of its origins. A team of researchers led by Matt Clement of the Carnegie Institution conducted over 6,000 simulations of the solar system’s evolution that led to the conclusion that Jupiter used to make three revolutions around the Sun in the time it took Saturn to make two revolutions when the two planets had just formed. The results also indicate that there was another planet between Saturn and Uranus that was ejected from the solar system, a conclusion that supports a hypothesis that has been studied for years.

Artistic representation of Barnard's Star with a rocky planet hit by a flare with an X-ray component

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An article published in “The Astronomical Journal” reports a study on the potential impact of the activity of a red dwarf several billion years old such as Barnard’s Star on the potential habitability of its planets. A team of researchers used data collected by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Hubble Space Telescope to keep an eye on Barnard’s Star and its flares observing one X-ray flare in June 2019 and two ultraviolet flares in March 2019. Basically, even if a red dwarf becomes quieter over time, its flares can still erode the atmosphere of a rocky planet.