Copernical Team
Image: Frosty scenes in Martian summer
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The CaSSIS camera onboard the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter captured remnant frost deposits in a region near Sisyphi Tholus, in the high southern latitudes of Mars (74ºS/246ºE).
This image was taken during the early morning of a midsummer day in the southern hemisphere. At these high latitudes, carbon dioxide ice and frost develop. Frost can be seen within polygonal cracks in the terrain, a feature that indicates the presence of water ice embedded in the soil. The black spots observed throughout the scene are due to dark soil being pushed through cracks in the carbon dioxide ice as it sublimates—turns directly from solid ice to vapor—in the summer months.
The scale is indicated on the image.
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Energy from solar wind favors the north
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Using information from ESA's Swarm satellite constellation, scientists have made a discovery about how energy generated by electrically-charged particles in the solar wind flows into Earth's atmosphere—surprisingly, more of it heads towards the magnetic north pole than towards the magnetic south pole.
The sun bathes our planet with the light and heat to sustain life, but it also bombards us with dangerous charged particles in the solar wind.
Ariane 6 launch complex – December 2020
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Tour the Ariane 6 launch complex at Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana Pool preps
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Prepping for a spacewalk typically means diving underwater to rehearse and fine-tune operations.
In 2016, ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst performed such an underwater rehearsal for the Colka high speed radio, the brown box imaged above, that will be installed this month on the International Space Station.
NASA astronauts Mike Hopkins and Victor Glover will integrate the small fridge-sized device outside the European Columbus module during a spacewalk scheduled this year. ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen will be at NASA’s mission control directing the spacewalkers as Capcom. The Columbus Ka-band terminal, nicknamed ‘Colka’, will enable faster communication with Europe.
Orbiting the planet every
Madrid snowbound
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This Copernicus Sentinel-2 image of Madrid in Spain appears to have been taken in black and white. In fact, it is a true-colour image – but the heaviest snowfall in 50 years has blanketed the region, turning the landscape white. Energy from solar wind favours the north
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Using information from ESA’s Swarm satellite constellation, scientists have made a discovery about how energy generated by electrically-charged particles in the solar wind flows into Earth’s atmosphere – surprisingly, more of it heads towards the magnetic north pole than towards the magnetic south pole.
New Space Telescope Will Reveal Unseen, Dynamic Lives of Galaxies
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NASA has selected the University of Arizona to lead one of its four inaugural Astrophysics Pioneers missions. With a $20 million cost cap, the Aspera mission will study galaxy evolution with a space telescope barely larger than a mini fridge. The telescope will allow researchers to observe galaxy processes that have remained hidden from view until now. Arecibo observatory helps find possible 'first hints' of low-frequency gravitational waves
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Data from Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico has been used to help detect the first possible hints of low-frequency disturbances in the curvature of space-time.
The results were presented at the 237th meeting of the American Astronomical Society, which was held virtually, and are published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. Arecibo Observatory is managed by the University of Central Flo Astronomers measure enormous planet lurking far from its star
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Scientists aren't usually able to measure the size of gigantic planets, like Jupiter or Saturn, which are far from the stars they orbit. But a UC Riverside-led team has done it.
The planet is roughly five times heavier than Jupiter, hence its nickname GOT 'EM-1b, which stands for Giant Outer Transiting Exoplanet Mass. Though it is nearly 1,300 light years away from Earth, GOT 'EM-1b, or Ke Astronomers find evidence for planets shrinking over billions of years
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A team of astronomers led by University of Hawai?i Institute for Astronomy (IfA) graduate student Travis Berger has shown that an intriguing class of Neptune-sized planets shrinks over billions of years.
From centuries of studying the planets within our solar system, astronomers have wondered how planets form and evolve to become the ones we observe them today. One of the most surprising f