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Exploring mysteries of Asteroid Bennu
Scientists found that asteroid Bennu contained a set of salty mineral deposits that formed in an exact sequence when a brine evaporated, leaving clues about the type of water that flowed billions of years ago.
Follow the water: Searching for a lunar oasis
As humankind imagines living off-planet -- on the moon, Mars and beyond -- the question of how to sustain life revolves around the physical necessities of oxygen, food and water. We know there is water on the moon, but how do we find it? Researchers may help bring science fiction to reality by providing a divining rod to guide future space missions.
A super-Earth laboratory for searching life elsewhere in the Universe
Thirty years after the discovery of the first exoplanet, we detected more than 7000 of them in our Galaxy. But there are still billions more to be discovered! At the same time, exoplanetologists have begun to take an interest in their characteristics, with the aim of finding life elsewhere in the Universe. This is the background to the discovery of super-Earth HD 20794 d by an international team. The new planet lies in an eccentric orbit, so that it oscillates in and out of its star's habitable zone. This discovery is the fruit of 20 years of observations using the best telescopes in the world.
Innovation 'sifts' space for mysteries
Astronomers and engineers have developed a specialized system for their radio telescope to rapidly detect mysterious fast radio bursts and other space phenomena.
Dwarf planet Ceres: Building blocks of life delivered from space
The dwarf planet is a bizarre, cryovolcanic world. However, the organic deposits discovered on its surface so far are unlikely to originate from its interior. The organic material found in a few areas on the surface of dwarf planet Ceres is probably of exogenic origin. Impacting asteroids from the outer asteroid belt may have brought it with them.
How Titan maintains its atmosphere
Scientists have performed laboratory experiments to better understand how Saturn's moon Titan can maintain its unique nitrogen-rich atmosphere. Titan is the second largest moon in our solar system and the only one that has a significant atmosphere.
Astronomers thought they understood fast radio bursts: A recent one calls that into question
Fast radio bursts are mysterious and brief flashes of radio emissions that were thought to be produced by magnetars, highly magnetized rotating neutron stars. Yet magnetars appear primarily in young star clusters. A repeating burst discovered last year has been pinpointed to the distant outskirts of an old but massive elliptical galaxy where, theoretically, such stars would long since have disappeared. Does this mean magnetars are not the source of FRBs?
Extreme supersonic winds measured on planet outside our Solar System
Astronomers have discovered extremely powerful winds pummeling the equator of WASP-127b, a giant exoplanet. Reaching speeds up to 33,000 km/h, the winds make up the fastest jet-stream of its kind ever measured on a planet. The discovery provides unique insights into the weather patterns of a distant world.
First fast radio burst traced to old, dead, elliptical galaxy
Astronomers previously thought all FRBs were generated by magnetars formed through the explosions of very young, massive stars. But new FRB is pinpointed to the outskirts of 11.3-billion-year-old galaxy without young, active stars -- calling those assumptions into question. 'Just when you think you understand an astrophysical phenomenon, the universe turns around and surprises us,' researcher says.
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