volcanic activity
New Research Suggests Io Doesn’t Have a Shallow Ocean of Magma
Jupiter's moon Io is the most volcanically active body in the Solar System, with roughly 400 active volcanoes regularly ejecting…
There Was a 15 Minute Warning Before Tonga Volcano Exploded
Volcanoes are not restricted to the land, there are many undersea versions. One such undersea volcano known as Hunga Tonga-Hunga…
What a Misplaced Meteorite Told Us About Mars
11 million years ago, Mars was a frigid, dry, dead world, just like it is now. Something slammed into the…
Io’s Volcanoes are Windows into its Hot Interior
NASA's Juno spacecraft was sent to Jupiter to study the gas giant. But its mission was extended, giving it an…
Mars is Mostly Dead. There's Still Magma Inside, so it's Slightly Alive
NASA's InSight lander has detected many marsquakes coming from the same region, which could mean that the Red Planet still…
Did Snowball Earth Happen Because of a Sudden Drop in Sunlight?
Hundreds of millions of years ago, Earth went through two episodes of severe glaciation. These two episodes—the Sturtian and the…
Do We Now Understand Why the Moon’s Near and Far Sides Look So Dramatically Different?
The Moon is easily the most well-studied object in the Solar System, (other than Earth, of course.) But it still…
Venus Could Have Supported Life for Billions of Years
A new study by a team of NASA scientists indicates that Venus could have been habitable for billions of years…
It Looks Like Plate Tectonics Aren’t Required to Support Life
According to a new study, it is possible that extra-solar planets with no plate tectonics might be capable of supporting…
Volcanic Hydrogen Gives Planets a Boost for Life
A new study by a team of astronomers from the Carl Sagan Institute at Cornell University indicates that habitable zones…