Latest news with #JetPropulsionLaboratory
Economic Times
2 hours ago
- Science
- Economic Times
NASA Curiosity Rover Shocking Discovery: This multi-billion-year-old rock on Mars reveals…
NASA Curiosity Rover's shocking discovery about Mars will answer several questions. NASA's Curiosity rover captured a close-up of a coral-shaped rock inside Gale Crater on Mars, formed by ancient water deposits and wind erosion. (Pic Credit: NASA) NASA Curiosity Rover's shocking discovery will unravel many secrets about Mars. NASA has released images of a rock on Mars that resembles coral. The Curiosity rover spotted the object inside Gale Crater on July 24. Scientists explain that the structure formed through a combination of ancient water activity and wind erosion over billions of July 24, 2025, NASA's Curiosity rover found a light-colored, branch-like rock inside Gale Crater. The object measures about 1 inch (2.5 centimeters) in width. It was photographed using the rover's Remote Micro Imager, a high-resolution telescopic camera. NASA shared the black-and-white image on August 4. The rock's appearance resembles reef-building coral found in Earth's oceans. However, scientists confirm it is a wind-eroded rock shaped over time by Martian conditions. Also Read: Outside Lands 2025 Live Stream: Start date, schedule, time, headliners, lineup, major acts and how to watch music festival online According to NASA, coral-shaped rocks like this formed billions of years ago when Mars still had liquid water. This water contained dissolved minerals that moved through small cracks in existing rocks. Over time, minerals were deposited and created solid veins within the rock structure. These mineral veins formed branching patterns. After millions of years, sand-laden winds eroded surrounding material, exposing the branch-like formations we see coral-shaped rock is not the only unusual formation discovered by Curiosity. On the same day, the rover also found 'Paposo,' a rock about 2 inches (5 centimeters) across with a unique 2022, Curiosity photographed another small structure in Gale Crater resembling a flower. These finds help scientists study Mars's geological history and the role water once played in shaping the planet's surface. Also Read: NYT Mini Crossword Hints Answers Today, August 9, 2025: Clues and solutions for puzzle Curiosity landed on Mars in 2012. It touched down inside Gale Crater, a 96-mile-wide (154-kilometer) meteor impact site located between Mars's southern highlands and northern plains. The mission is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in rover's main goal is to investigate whether Mars once had conditions suitable for life. Over the years, Curiosity has traveled about 22 miles (35 kilometers) across the crater. Its slow progress is due to frequent stops to drill rocks, collect samples, and analyze exploration has revealed evidence suggesting Mars was once habitable. Findings include long carbon chains from 3.7 billion-year-old rocks and signs of an ancient carbon cycle. Such discoveries point to the possibility that life-supporting conditions existed in Mars's distant newly discovered coral-shaped rock adds to this growing body of evidence. It demonstrates how water and wind shaped Mars's surface over billions of years, providing valuable insights into the planet's geological and environmental evolution. How did the coral-shaped rock on Mars form? It formed when ancient water deposited minerals in rock cracks. Wind erosion over millions of years exposed the branching structure visible today. What is Curiosity rover's mission on Mars? Its mission is to study Mars's surface and determine if the planet ever had conditions that could support life, using rock sampling and environmental analysis.
Yahoo
18 hours ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Curiosity rover finds more coral-shaped rocks on Martian surface
The Brief The Curiosity Mars rover photographed more rocks that are shaped like coral on the red planet's surface. Researchers said the rocks were evidence that at one point water was on Mars. The Curiosity rover has been on the red planet for over 13 years. NASA's Curiosity rover has spotted some unusually-shaped rocks on Mars' surface. Coral on Mars? Dig deeper Photos shared on NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory website show wind-eroded rocks that are shaped like pieces of coral. The rover discovered these specimens on July 24, 2025. Researchers nicknamed the rock "Paposo." The backstory Many rocks like Papaso litter the red planet's surface, which researchers said formed billions of years ago when liquid water still existed on Mars. In 2022, NASA shared images of another rock that also looked like coral but more flower-shaped. The flower-shaped rock was found in the Gale Crater. What they're saying "Water carried dissolved minerals into rock cracks and later dried, leaving the hardened minerals behind. Eons of sandblasting by the wind wore away the surrounding rock, producing unique shapes," NASA said. Curiosity has been roving Mars' surface for 13 years, according to JPL's website. The Source Information for this article was taken from the JPL website. Solve the daily Crossword
Daily Mirror
a day ago
- Science
- Daily Mirror
New giant planet found in our nearest star system - and it could support life
NASA scientists say the new planet orbits in the habitable zone of a Sun-like star in the Alpha Centauri stellar system - and it could have moons with the potential to support life Thrilled NASA scientists say they have discovered a giant new planet in the nearest star system to Earth that could have moons capable of supporting life. The planet has been found orbiting a star in the Alpha Centauri stellar system by astronomers using NASA 's hi-tech James Webb Space Telescope - and it's located just four lightyears away from Earth. The discovery follows years of scientific focus on Alpha Centauri, which has three stars and is thought to foster some of the best conditions for extra-terrestrial life. Researchers say the new observations from James Webb's Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) provide some of the strongest evidence to date of a gas giant orbiting the system's largest star, Alpha Centauri A. If confirmed, the new planet would be the closest planet to Earth that orbits in the habitable zone of a Sun-like star - but because it's gas giant (like Saturn and Jupiter), scientists say it would not be able to support life as we know it. However, it could have a number of moons that are habitable. The similarities between the exoplanet's star and our Sun makes has singled it out as particularly promising object of future study, along with its relative closeness to Earth. The planet was detected just once, in August 2024, but has since evaded the gaze of astronomers. They hope to get another, sharper look when a new NASA telescope, the Grace Roman Space Telescope, begins operating in 2027. Charles Beichman, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute at Caltech's IPAC astronomy centre, said: 'With this system being so close to us, any exoplanets found would offer our best opportunity to collect data on planetary systems other than our own. 'Yet, these are incredibly challenging observations to make, even with the world 's most powerful space telescope, because these stars are so bright, close, and move across the sky quickly,'. 'Webb was designed and optimised to find the most distant galaxies in the universe. The operations team at the Space Telescope Science Institute had to come up with a custom observing sequence just for this target, and their extra effort paid off spectacularly.' It comes after a planet with 'striking' similarities to Jupiter was spotted roughly 400 light years away from Earth. The gaseous planet, named TOI-4465 b, is located around 400 light-years from Earth and is around the same size as Jupiter, but with a much smaller orbit. A global team of 24 observers from Britain, the US, Japan, New Zealand, Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Austria contributed data, with 21 being amateur stargazers.
Boston Globe
a day ago
- Science
- Boston Globe
NASA discovers possible new planet
Advertisement The find was announced in two papers that have been accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. It is a potential preview of the types of discoveries that will be possible in the future as astronomers' tools for hunting exoplanets — particularly ones like Earth — evolve. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Three stars make up Alpha Centauri. However, only two, Alpha Centauri A and Alpha Centauri B, are like our sun. They are locked in close orbit around each other. Circling this pair from farther away is a faint red dwarf known as Proxima Centauri. The stars themselves are 'pretty run-of-the mill,' said Charles Beichman, an astronomer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the California Institute of Technology. But the system is a touchstone for investigations of stars like our sun, Beichman added, because cosmically speaking, 'it's right next door.' Advertisement So far, only Proxima Centauri has known planets. Astronomers discovered those worlds indirectly, by measuring the way their gravity tugs on their star. Snapping an image of a planet is a more direct method, but also more difficult. Astronomers must isolate the faint light emitted by the planet from the more vibrant glow of its host star. Direct imaging so far has best been used to find young, massive planets, because they are hotter and burn more brightly, said Aniket Sanghi, a graduate student at Caltech involved in the discovery. With the Webb telescope, that trend may change. Launched in 2021, scientists designed the space telescope to peer into the far reaches of the cosmos. But it trained its eyes much closer to home in August 2024, when astronomers pointed it at Alpha Centauri. A coronagraph on the telescope blocked most of the glow from Alpha Centauri A. That, combined with clever image processing to remove the glare from Alpha Centauri B, was enough for the astronomers to make out a faint speck of light — a possible planet. Further analysis ruled out the speck as a photo-bombing asteroid, a background galaxy, or an image artifact. 'We spent over the past year trying to kill this object in our images, but we haven't been successful in doing so,' Sanghi said. The planet, if it is one, is about the size of Jupiter and has about the mass of Saturn. It orbits Alpha Centauri A every two Earth-years at roughly one to two times the distance between our sun and Earth. It has a temperature of about minus 55 degrees Fahrenheit. Advertisement To claim a discovery, astronomers will need to find the planet again, either with the Webb telescope, with another observatory on the ground, or in space. The Extremely Large Telescope, a European observatory under construction in Chile, could help. So could NASA's Roman Space Telescope, scheduled to launch by May 2027. Direct imaging of planets is difficult, even more so when there are multiple sources of light close by, as in Alpha Centauri. But the technique has high reward: It yields a wealth of information about the planets, including their size, mass, temperature, and distance from the host star. 'This is really the only technique that we'll ever be able to use to look for biosignatures, or any sort of signatures of habitability,' Beichman said. The Habitable Worlds Observatory, a space telescope proposed as NASA's next flagship mission, will use direct imaging to hunt for Earthlike exoplanets around stars dozens of light-years away. According to Beichman, discoveries like a giant gas planet much closer to home are headway toward that goal. 'This is the first step,' he said. 'We're doing it with Webb.' This article originally appeared in
Yahoo
a day ago
- Science
- Yahoo
NASA finds coral-shaped rock on Mars that could be billions of years old
NASA has captured an image of a coral-like rock on Mars estimated to be several billions of years old. The space agency's Curiosity Rover sent back images of a small, wind-eroded rock that resembles a piece of coral reef on July 24 -- the 4,609th Martian day of the rover's mission. The rock is about an 1 inch wide. MORE: US should put nuclear reactors on moon before other countries do, acting NASA administrator says The Curiosity Rover has captured many images of this type of rock, according to NASA. When liquid water still existed on Mars, it carried dissolved minerals into rock cracks, NASA said. Once the liquid dried, it left the hardened minerals behind. The "unique shapes" left today were shaped by sandblasting over billions of years, NASA said. MORE: NASA detects new planet with temperatures that suggest habitable conditions A strangely shaped 2-inch rock nicknamed "Paposo" was also discovered on July 24. Another flower-shaped rock was found in 2022. The flower rock is also thought to have formed when mineralizing fluids traveled through conduits in the rock, according to NASA. MORE: Image of giant volcano on Mars captured by NASA orbiter The Curiosity Rover was built by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is leading the mission on Mars. Curiosity landed on Mars in 2012 after an eight-month, 352-million-mile journey. It was the largest and most capable rover ever sent to the Red Planet at the time, according to NASA. MORE: NASA's Mars rover to begin 'most challenging' journey up crater rim The rover found chemical and mineral evidence of past habitable environments on Mars early in its mission and has explored about 22 miles of the planet. Curiosity continues to collect samples and gather data from a time when the planet could have been home to microbial life, according to NASA.
