Planets

The rocks that include yellow crystals of pure sulfur in Gediz Vallis on Mars (Image NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)

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NASA’s Mars Rover Curiosity found a Martian rock containing crystals of elemental sulfur, which means it’s pure sulfur. In the past, in the same area, the Gediz Vallis channel’s area, the presence of sulfur in various compounds was detected but it’s the first time that it was detected in its pure form. It’s such an anomaly that its discovery was compared to that of an oasis in the desert. A field with stones made of pure sulfur shouldn’t exist on Mars, and scientists following Curiosity’s exploration of Mount Sharp, at the center of Gale Crater, will have more work to do to explain its formation.

Artist’s Impression of a Hot Jupiter Progenitor with its star in the background (Image NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/J. da Silva (Spaceengine))

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An article published in the journal “Nature” reports a study on the exoplanet cataloged as TIC 241249530 b which labels it as a progenitor of a hot Jupiter. A team of researchers used various telescopes to study TIC 241249530 b and try to understand its characteristics and evolution. This gas giant has an extremely eccentric orbit, meaning it’s extremely elongated, which could change greatly as time passes.

Observations and simulations suggest that the star’s gravitational action will drive this planet to have an almost circular orbit close to the star itself. This led the researchers to conclude that TIC 241249530 b is in the first phase of a planetary migration. The star is slightly more massive than the Sun and has an age estimated at just over three billion years, which indicates that these processes can begin well after the formation of a planetary system.

Aganippe Fossa

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ESA has published an image captured by its Mars Express space probe’s High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) instrument of Aganippe Fossa, a formation that has the appearance of a scar on the surface of the planet Mars which is truly colossal given that it’s approximately 600 kilometers long. This rift valley is a geological formation of the type called graben in jargon. There are no certainties about its formation but it’s probably linked to lava flows under the enormous volcanoes of the Tharsis region, starting with Arsia Mons, the closest to Aganippe Fossa.

On the left the planet Jupiter seen by the James Webb Space Telescope's Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) instrument and on the right the Great Red Spot observed by the Near-InfraRed Spectrograph (NIRSpec) instrument

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An article published in the journal “Nature Astronomy” reports the identification of structures in the planet Jupiter’s upper atmosphere above the Great Red Spot, the iconic storm larger than the Earth. A team of researchers led by Henrik Melin of the British University of Leicester used observations conducted with the James Webb Space Telescope to obtain new details of that area. The surprise came from the identification of intricate structures including dark arcs and bright spots in the observed area.

The Ceraunius Tholus volcano as seen by the TGO space probe's CaSSIS instrument with the frost in blueish

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An article published in the journal “Nature Geoscience” reports the detection of frost on volcanoes in the Tharsis region on Mars. A team of researchers used data obtained from two ESA space probes, the ExoMars mission’s TGO and Mars Express, which made it possible to discover for the first time the presence of frozen water on the Martian surface at the red planet’s equator. In the calderas of the big volcanoes of Tharsis, blue deposits that can be attributed to water ice were spotted which are present only in the morning and then evaporate a few hours later.