Take a video tour of asteroid Bennu’s remarkable terrain and read a list of 10 cool things scientists know about this pristine remnant from the early days of our solar system. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/top-10-things-to-know-about-asteroid-bennu-video-tour…
Tag: venus
The implications of signs of life on Venus?
The planet Venus has arguably remained less captivating than, say, the legendary tennis star or, for that matter, the women’s razor blade company—both of those Venuses have at least enjoyed ample airtime on cable TV. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-10-implications-life-venus.html…
More doubts cast on potential signs of life on Venus
A new analysis of the recent observations that seemed to show phosphine gas on Venus – a potential sign of life – suggests that the original claimed detection might be a statistical error Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2257987-more-doubts-cast-on-potential-signs-of-life-on-venus/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Venus might not have signs of life after all, say astronomers
Measurements of phosphine in Venus’s clouds have sparked speculation that it could have come from life, but a new analysis of infrared measurements from 2015 has failed to find the gas Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2257680-venus-might-not-have-signs-of-life-after-all-say-astronomers/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
BepiColombo slows down at Venus en route to Mercury
Approaching Venus from its day side, passing the planet, using its gravitational pull to slow down and continuing on its night side on course for Mercury: On Thursday 15 October 2020, at 05:58 CEST, ESA’s BepiColombo spacecraft will fly past Venus at a distance of approximately 10,720 kilometers and transfer some of its kinetic energy to our neighboring planet in order…
Venus setting captured in snapshots
This sequence of 64 images was captured by Monitoring Camera 2 onboard the Mercury Transfer Module from 40 minutes before until 15 minutes after closest approach of 10 720 km from Venus. The images were taken every 52 seconds. The camera provides black-and-white snapshots in 1024 x 1024 pixel resolution. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-10-venus-captured-snapshots.html…
Pluto’s snowcapped mountains are unlike any on Earth
A new study shows how methane snow accumulates on Pluto’s mountain peaks. These snowcaps – first seen by New Horizons in 2015 – look a lot like ones on Earth, but form in a very alien environment. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/methane-snowcapped-mountains-on-pluto-new-horizons…
Venus flyby on the way to Mercury
On Saturday, October 20, 2018, the BepiColombo space probe set off on its journey to Mercury from the European spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. The 6.40 meters high and 4.1 tons heavy BepiColombo space probe consists of two spacecraft: the Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO), which was constructed by the European Space Agency, ESA, and the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO), which was…
Mars to reach opposition October 13
Earth passes between Mars and the sun, at opposition, on October 13, 2020, yet the Earth and Mars actually come closest together on October 6, 2020. Source: https://earthsky.org/tonight/mars-to-reach-opposition-october-13…
Moon, Venus, Regulus October 12 to 15
Watch for the moon, Venus and the bright star Regulus in the constellation Leo the Lion, as they beautify the eastern sky before sunup on October 12, 13, 14 and 15, 2020! Source: https://earthsky.org/tonight/moon-venus-before-sunup-october-12-15…