'Crazy Idea' About Cooling Effects of Pluto's Haze Confirmed by New Webb Data

'Crazy idea' about cooling effects of Pluto's haze confirmed by new Webb data

The first observations of Pluto by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) reveal dramatic phenomena on its surface, like seasonal cycles of volatile ice redistribution across its surface, and material being pulled from its very atmosphere onto its main satellite, Charon—an eerie interaction that happens nowhere else in our solar system.

Water Discovered Around a Young, Sun-Like Star For First Time

For decades it was thought that water was prevalent in the outer reaches of the Solar System early in its history, with comets and asteroids delivering moisture to Earth and the inner planets during the Late Heavy Bombardment period around 4 billion years ago. An abundance of ice in places like the Kuiper Belt – the ring of 'iceteroids' in the outer Solar System – supports the idea. However, the hypothesis could not be tested until it becam…

James Webb Space Telescope Data Reveals Clues to Mysterious Activity Beneath Europa’s Icy Crust

James Webb Space Telescope spectral data shows that Jupiter’s moon Europa is undergoing constant surface changes, potentially allowing material from a subsurface ocean to reach the surface and strengthening the case for possible habitability. The recent Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) experiments, led by Dr. Ujjwal Raut, attempted to verify potential dynamics across Europa’s icy surface, suggesting that some of Europa’s water ice could be mo…

Europa’s Fractured Ice Is Leaking Clues From a Hidden Ocean Below

Webb telescope data, backed by lab experiments, reveal Europa’s icy shell is a dynamic landscape, with ice that crystallizes and reshapes under cosmic bombardment. In chaos terrains like Tara Regio, the presence of strange chemicals—including table salt and carbon dioxide—suggests that materials from a deep subsurface ocean are leaking to the surface. This adds compelling [...]

An Assessment of Organics Detection and Characterization On The Surface Of Europa With Infrared Spectroscopy - Astrobiology

Organics, if they do exist on Europa, may only be present in trace amounts on the surface. NASA’s upcoming mission Europa Clipper is going to provide global, high quality data of the surface of Europa in the near-infrared (NIR), specifically the 3-5~μm region, where organics are rich in spectroscopic features. In this work we investigate […] The post An Assessment of Organics Detection and Characterization On The Surface Of Europa With Infrared …