Planets

Artist's concept of part of the planet K2-18b with a thick atmosphere, its star and the planet K2-18c in the background (Image courtesy Alex Boersma)

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An article published in the journal “Astronomy & Astrophysics” describes a research on the star K2-18’s system. A team of researchers used the HARPS instrument at ESO’s La Silla observatory in Chile to study the exoplanet K2-18b, discovered in 2015, which could be a larger version of the Earth. The analysis of the data led to the discovery of a second exoplanet, which was called K2-18c, a little less massive and closer to its star therefore probably too hot to be in ​​its system’s habitable zone.

Rendering of the Earth after its collision with Theia (Image courtesy SwRI/Marchi)

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An article published in the journal “Nature Geoscience” describes a research on the consequences for the Earth of the bombardment that followed the formation of the Moon. According to a team of the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) led by Simone Marchi, the collisions that followed the one that led to the birth of the Moon kept on increasing the Earth’s mass for a longer time than previously thought.

Wright Mons on Pluto (Image NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI)

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An article published in the journal “Icarus” describes a research that suggests new possibilities for the gravitational effects of trans-Neptunian celestial bodies to generate heat on other celestial bodies close enough such as in the case of Pluto and Charon. A team of researchers examined the influence of that type of heating on bodies that may have very low temperatures but that under certain conditions can host underground oceans whose duration could be lengthened.

Fractures in the Sirenum Fossae (Image ESA/DLR/FU Berlin, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO)

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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.

RSLs in Tivat Crater on Mars (Image NASA/JPL-Caltech/UA/USGS)

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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.