If the atmosphere of Mars contains methane, various possibilities have been proposed for where the methane could come from and how it could disappear. Potential non-biological sources for methane on Mars include comets, degradation of interplanetary dust particles by ultraviolet Continue reading
On Sol 84 (Oct. 31, 2012), NASA’s Curiosity rover used the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) to capture this set of 55 high-resolution images, which were stitched together to create this full-color self-portrait. The mosaic shows the rover at “Rocknest,” Continue reading
Saturn’s moon Titan turns out to be flatter than it should be. Two Cassini scientists have a new and unusual theory about what causes Titan to have the shape it has: weather. The moon hits your eye like a big Continue reading
A literal shot in the dark by imaging cameras on NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has yielded an image of a visible glow from Titan, emanating not just from the top of Titan’s atmosphere, but also – surprisingly – from deep in Continue reading
NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity has completed initial experiments showing the mineralogy of Martian soil is similar to weathered basaltic soils of volcanic origin in Hawaii. The minerals were identified in the first sample of Martian soil ingested recently by the Continue reading