On Earth, water is the key to all life, but there doesn’t seem to be much of it on other planets… at least at first glance. As we explore more of our solar system, water has been appearing in some surprising places. We now know Mars is not entirely bone …
Read More »Extraterrestrial Isotopes
We saw our first extraterrestrial visitor in 2017 when ‘Oumuamua rocketed across the solar system, but there are extraterrestrial elements hiding right here on Earth. An analysis of isotopes in the ocean crust reveals radioactive materials that could only have arrived here from outside our solar system, and their presence …
Read More »New Octopus Species
Using a combination of MRI, micro-CT and minimally invasive gene analysis, a team of biologists from the Institut für Evolutionsbiologie und Ökologie at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität has discovered a new species of dumbo octopus — named Grimpoteuthis imperator — living in the northern part of the Emperor Seamounts, an undersea …
Read More »Enceladus Subsurface Ocean
A novel theory proposed by planetary scientists from Caltech and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory challenges the current thinking that the saltwater global ocean of Enceladus, the sixth largest moon of Saturn, is homogenous. Enceladus’ tiger stripes are known to be spewing ice from the moon’s icy interior into space, creating …
Read More »Enceladus Subsurface
In a study published this month in the journal Icarus, planetary researchers from the United States and Germany modeled chemical processes in the subsurface ocean of Enceladus, the sixth-largest of Saturn’s moons. Enceladus’ tiger stripes are known to be spewing ice from the moon’s icy interior into space, creating a …
Read More »Explore Europa’s Ocean
Planetary Researchers Explore Habitability of Europa’s Ocean A duo of U.S. planetary scientists has calculated that water in the subsurface ocean of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa could have been formed by breakdown of water-containing minerals due to either tidal forces or radioactive decay. Artist’s concept of ocean on Jupiter’s moon …
Read More »Newborn Pluto Subsurface
Was Hot and Had Subsurface Ocean: Study Pluto is thought to possess a subsurface ocean beneath its thick ice shell. It has generally been assumed that the dwarf planet formed out of cold material and then later developed its ocean due to warming from radioactive decay. By combining numerical simulations …
Read More »Ruby Seadragon Filmed Alive in Ocean for First Time
A team of marine biologists from Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the Western Australia Museum has captured on video the first-ever field sighting of the recently-discovered species of seadragon — the ruby seadragon (Phyllopteryx dewysea). The ruby seadragon (Phyllopteryx dewysea) in the Recherche Archipelago, Western Australia. The inset shows a …
Read More »Retroviruses Originated in Ocean 450 Million Years Ago, New Study Says
Retroviruses (Retroviridae) — a family of viruses that includes pathogens such as HIV, feline leukemia, and several cancer-causing viruses — have an ancient marine origin and originated together with, if not before, their jawed vertebrate hosts nearly 450 million years ago in the Ordovician period, according to a new study …
Read More »New Horizons Data Suggest Viscous Ocean Lies beneath Pluto’s Heart-Shaped Region
A cold, slushy ocean lying deep beneath Pluto’s bright, heart-shaped Tombaugh Regio is the best explanation for features revealed by NASA’s New Horizons probe, according to new research. This cutaway image of Pluto shows a section through the area of Sputnik Planitia, with dark blue representing a subsurface ocean and …
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