An article published in the journal “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences” (PNAS) describes the unexpected discovery of a mineral called tridymite by the Mars Rover Curiosity in Gale Crater on Mars. The analysis of a sample from a rock called Buckskin revealed the presence of tridymite, which on Earth forms as a result of much more intense volcanic activity than that assumed esisted in the past on Mars.
An article about to be published in the journal “Geophysical Research Letters” boosts the theory of the existence of an underground ocean of liquid water on Pluto. An analysis of data collected by NASA’s New Horizons space probe during its July 14, 2015 flyby carried out by Noah Hammond, graduate student at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA, offers some clues to support this amazing possibility.
An article published in the journal “Geophysical Research Letters” describes the discovery of an electric wind on Venus that accelerates the ionized hydrogen and oxygen atoms that make up water molecules at such a speed that they disperse in space. A team of scientists led by Glyn Collinson, a scientist of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, analyzed data from the ASPERA-4 instrument of ESA’s Venus Express space probe to find out this wind generated by Venus’ electric field.
NASA has published a comparative analysis of the spectral measurements of three moons of the dwarf planet Pluto which prove that in particular Nyx but also Hydra have a surface covered in water ice. The New Horizons space probe’s LEISA instrument carried out the measurements during the July 14, 2015 flyby. Unfortunately the location of the other two small moons, Styx and Kerberos in those hours didn’t allow spectral measurements.
An article published in “The Astrophysical Journal” describes the study of the planet’s characteristics circumbinary Kepler-1647b. By using the Kepler space telescope NASA, a team of scientists at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and the San Diego State University led by Veselin Kostov discovered this planet that orbits two stars. This is not the first case of this kind but it’s the biggest and its year is longer, about three Earth’s years.
