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IMAGE: Remnants of planetary crust disintegrating under the tidal forces around a cool white dwarf. Material in the disc becomes vapourised close to the central star and flows onto the white. view more
Credit: University of Warwick/Mark Garlick
Observations of lithium and potassium around white dwarf stars point to remains of rocky planet crusts
Analysis by astronomers led by University of Warwick shows chemical composition of crusts is very similar to Earth s continental crust
The outer layers of the white dwarfs contain up to 300,000 gigatonnes of rocky debris, which includes up to 60 gigatonnes of lithium and 3,000 gigatonnes of potassium
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IMAGE: This illustration imagines what the distant object nicknamed Farfarout might look like in the outer reaches of our Solar System. The most distant object yet discovered in our Solar System,. view more
Credit: NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/J. da Silva
With the help of the international Gemini Observatory, a Program of NSF s NOIRLab, and other ground-based telescopes, astronomers have confirmed that a faint object discovered in 2018 and nicknamed Farfarout is indeed the most distant object yet found in our Solar System. The object has just received its designation from the International Astronomical Union.
Farfarout was first spotted in January 2018 by the Subaru Telescope, located on Maunakea in Hawai i. Its discoverers could tell it was very far away, but they weren t sure exactly how far. They needed more observations.
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IMAGE: This artist s impression shows the planet orbiting the Sun-like star HD 85512 in the southern constellation of Vela (The Sail). This planet is one of 16 super-Earths discovered by the. view more
Credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser
Mini-Neptunes and super-Earths up to four times the size of our own are the most common exoplanets orbiting stars beyond our solar system. Until now, super-Earths were thought to be the rocky cores of mini-Neptunes whose gassy atmospheres were blown away. In a new study published in
The Astrophysical Journal, astronomers from McGill University show that some of these exoplanets never had gaseous atmospheres to begin with, shedding new light on their mysterious origins.
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IMAGE: Flensburg meteorite with black fusion crust: Parts of the fusion crust were lost during the flight through the atmosphere. The small fragment, weighing 24,5 grams, is about 4.5 billion years. view more
Credit: A. Bischoff / M. Patzek, University of Münster
A meteorite that fell in northern Germany in 2019 contains carbonates which are among the oldest in the solar system; it also evidences the earliest presence of liquid water on a minor planet. The high-resolution Ion Probe - a research instrument at the Institute of Earth Sciences at Heidelberg University - provided the measurements. The investigation by the Cosmochemistry Research Group led by Prof. Dr Mario Trieloff was part of a consortium study coordinated by the University of Münster with participating scientists from Europe, Australia and the USA.
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IMAGE: A river-fed sedimentary plain in Iceland bears resemblance to what might have fed Mars Gale Crater more than 3 billion years ago. Researchers at Rice University studied rover data on. view more
Credit: Photo by Michael Thorpe
HOUSTON - (Jan. 20, 2021) - Once upon a time, seasons in Gale Crater probably felt something like those in Iceland. But nobody was there to bundle up more than 3 billion years ago.
The ancient Martian crater is the focus of a study by Rice University scientists comparing data from the Curiosity rover to places on Earth where similar geologic formations have experienced weathering in different climates.