Space and Planetary Sciences

NASA’s Juno mission reveals Jupiter’s magnetic field greatly differs from Earth’s

Keri McNamara July 18, 2018

The Juno probe flew 2.8 billion kilometres between its launch from earth and insertion into orbit around Jupiter. Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA scientists have revealed surprising new information about Jupiter’s magnetic field from data gathered by their space probe, Juno. Unlike earth’s magnetic field, which is symmetrical in the North and South Poles, Jupiter’s magnetic field has startlingly different magnetic signatures at the two poles. The information has been collected as part of the Juno program, NASA’s latest mission to unrav ...[Read More]

May GeoRoundUp: the best of the Earth sciences from around the web

Olivia Trani June 2, 2018

A column of robust, reddish-brown ash plume occurred after a magnitude 6.9 South Flank of Kīlauea earthquake shook the Big Island of Hawai‘i. (Image: U.S. Geological Survey)

Drawing inspiration from popular stories on our social media channels, as well as unique and quirky research news, this monthly column aims to bring you the best of the Earth and planetary sciences from around the web. Major Story This month the Earth science media has directed its attention towards a pacific island with a particularly volcanic condition. The Kilauea Volcano, an active shield volc ...[Read More]

April GeoRoundUp: the best of the Earth sciences from the 2018 General Assembly

Olivia Trani May 4, 2018

Scientists present research findings at a press conference at the 2018 General Assembly (Credit: EGU / Keri McNamara)

The 2018 General Assembly took place in Vienna last month, drawing more than 15,000 participants from 106 countries. This month’s GeoRoundUp will focus on some of the unique and interesting stories that came out of research presented at the Assembly. Mystery solved The World War II battleship Tirpitz was the largest vessel in the German navy, stationed primarily off the Norwegian coastline as a fo ...[Read More]

How to make a planet habitable

Sara Mynott April 11, 2018

The surface of Venus - a static lithosphere, known as a stagnant lid. Credit: NASA.

Exoplanets without plate tectonics could harbour life, contrary to previous belief For a planet to be habitable, it needs a stable climate. On Earth, the movement of tectonic plates ensures old crust is recycled and new crust is created and weathered. This cycling of rock consequently overturns the planet’s carbon, which keeps the climate in check. While we have plate tectonics on Earth, many othe ...[Read More]