Moons

The Moon That Resembles The Death Star Has Been Hiding Another Epic Secret

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The Solar System may be an even soggier place than we suspected. New analysis of one of Saturn’s moons suggests that it may harbor a liquid ocean. No, not the usual suspects – the new culprit is Mimas, the little moon with a big crater, which gives it more than a passing resemblance to the … Read more

Moon’s crust may have formed from ‘slushy’ magma ocean long ago

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The moon’s crust might have formed from an unevenly layered “slush” of magma that once covered the entire body, a new study reports. It’s the latest turn of the wheel on scientists’ picture of how the moon and its features formed, a picture that’s been continually changing ever since Apollo astronauts brought moon rocks back … Read more

Strong, Sporadic Magnetic Fields Could Explain One of The Moon’s Enduring Mysteries

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It’s been half a century since the Apollo missions returned from the Moon, and yet the lunar samples they brought home continue to baffle us. Some of these rocks are more than 3 billion years old and appear to have been formed in the presence of a strong geomagnetic field, like the one on Earth. … Read more

Exomoon around Jupiter-like planet possibly spotted by Kepler telescope

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A confident detection of a moon orbiting a planet beyond our solar system – called an exomoon – has eluded astronomers so far, but they have found a new candidate Space 13 January 2022 By Leah Crane The exomoon candidate may be orbiting a planet called Kepler-1708b Helena Valenzuela Widerström Astronomers have spotted signs of … Read more

Saturn: Planet’s moon Mimas may be hiding an impossible ocean

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Mimas doesn’t show any hints of liquid water, and it seems impossible that it could have an ocean under its surface, but that’s exactly what a new set of simulations suggest Space 11 January 2022 By Leah Crane Mimas, a moon of Saturn, imaged by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute Saturn’s moon Mimas may … Read more

China has moon’s south pole in its sights with 3 missions launching this decade

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China has formally approved three missions targeting the south pole of the moon, with the first to launch around 2024. The missions dubbed Chang’e 6, Chang’e 7 and Chang’e 8 will launch across the 2020s, each with different goals and an array of spacecraft. The trio make up the so-called fourth phase for the Chinese … Read more

This record-breaking black hole eruption could cover 16 full moons in the sky

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Astronomers have produced a detailed image of a massive eruption from the nearest feeding supermassive black hole that spans the size of 16 full moons in the sky. The image, capturing radio emissions of material ejected by the black hole at nearly the speed of light, shows gigantic lobes of plasma spreading more than a … Read more

Scientists Say We Should Rethink Moons as Planets… And Reinstate Pluto

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The International Astronomical Union (IAU) has a very strict definition of the word “planet”. According to the definition – drafted, tweaked, and agreed upon in August 2006 – an astronomical body is officially a planet if it orbits the Sun, has sufficient mass to be spherical, and has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit.   … Read more