Peculiar Planets

Brown Dwarfs: Cloudy with A Chance of Earth’s Mantle

Laci Brock and edited by Kiran Chotalia July 7, 2021

Figure 1: Laci is a scientist and artist, with this concept painting of a brown dwarf showing a magenta hue. Find more of Laci's art and science communication on social media @stellerarts.

The universe is made up of stars and planets but have you ever wondered if there is anything in between? This week, Laci Brock, a PhD student from the University of Arizona’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, takes us on a journey into this murky region of stellar classification… Four years before the cult classic science fiction show Star Trek debuted on television in 1966, astrophysicist Dr. Shiv ...[Read More]

On the way back to Mercury

Nicola Tosi and edited by Tobias Rolf November 18, 2020

Artist impression of BepiColombo approaching Mercury (Credit: ESA/ATG for spacecraft, NASA/JPL for Mercury)

It is the smallest planet of the Solar System, the closest to the Sun and the quickest at orbiting around it, the one with the least inclined and most elongated orbit, the only one where a day lasts two-thirds of a full year, the one with the highest bulk density. Mercury is a planet of extremes, but rarely visited by space missions (compared to Mars, Venus and the Moon). This week Dr. Nicola Tosi ...[Read More]

Venus: science! Today!

Anna Gülcher September 23, 2020

Peculiar Planets - Venus edition. Image credit: Shutterstock.com

After many (attempted) visits to Venus in an earlier era of space exploration, the focus of terrestrial planet science was shifted towards e.g. our other neighbour Mars. Yet, lately, Venus seems to gain scientific popularity and not without reason – there remains so much to figure out about the puzzling planet. The virtual mini-workshop ‘Venus Science Today’ was held a few weeks ago to bring toget ...[Read More]

The two faces of Mars

Editorial Team 2 September 9, 2020

Credit: ESA & MPS for OSIRIS Team, MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/RSSD/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

In this week’s blog post, we will learn more about the past of our neighbouring planet Mars. Kar Wai Cheng, PhD student at the Institute of Geophysics at ETH Zurich, is talking about the Martian dichotomy and how it could have formed. Humans have recognized Mars for a very long time. One of the earliest records of Mars is seen on a skymap in the tomb of an ancient Egyptian astronomer. By tha ...[Read More]