News by Subject Space & Planetary

A US Naval Research Laboratory-built camera mounted on the NASA Parker Solar Probe revealed an asteroid dust trail that has eluded astronomers for decades.

Nearly a year and a half into its mission, Parker Solar Probe has returned gigabytes of data on the sun and its atmosphere. Following the release of the very first science from the mission, five researchers presented additional new findings from Parker Solar Probe at the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union on Dec. 11, 2019.

The most extensive survey of atmospheric chemical compositions of exoplanets to date has revealed trends that challenge current theories of planet formation and has implications for the search for water in the solar system and beyond.

Russian scientists discovered a unique neutron star, the magnetic field of which is apparent only when the star is seen under a certain angle relative to the observer. The neutron star GRO J2058+42 studied by the researchers offers an insight into the internal structure of neutron star's magnetic field only at a certain phase of its rotational period.

Since its 2018 launch, NASA's Parker Solar Probe (record-holder for closest-ever spacecraft to the Sun) has finished three of 24 planned passes through never-before-explored parts of the Sun's atmosphere. On Dec. 4, four new papers describe what scientists have learned from its unprecedented exploration, and what they look forward to learning next.

On its first two flybys of the sun, the Princeton-led instrument IS?IS detected a surprising variety of activities by solar energetic particles -- the zippy electrons, protons and other ions that fly out in advance of the solar wind -- that can disrupt space travel and communications on Earth. Researchers are investigating how these particle events form, findings that will shed light on broader questions about the sun, space weather and cosmic rays.

The Parker Solar Probe spacecraft, which has flown closer to the sun than any mission before, has found new evidence of the origins of the solar wind.