#PlanetSci
LightNews LightNews
drkeithsmith.bsky.social
🧪🔭 #planetsci
science.org Science Magazine @science.org · 2d
Instead of waiting days for its next instructions from Earth, the Mars rover Perseverance now uses an embedded robotic system to monitor its environment and operations, leading to an increase in activity and quality science.

Learn more in #ScienceRobotics: https://scim.ag/3UV3xFg
The Mars 2020 OnBoard Planner: Increasing autonomy mission productivity of the Perseverance rover
OnBoard Planner’s autonomous scheduling and execution on Mars have increased mission productivity and science quality.
scim.ag
November 2, 2026 at 4:35 PM
guywatkins.bsky.social
Dragonfly mission to Titan - my name will be on it (like it is with MSR but let’s see what happens with future NASA funding…) #planetsci
November 3, 2026 at 6:42 PM
drksolsen.bsky.social
Lovely to chat with you this week, @squigglyvolcano.bsky.social
Very nice piece for National Geographic!!
www.nationalgeographic.com/science/arti...
🧪🔭 #planetsci
Something Weird is Seeping Out of Mars
A new discovery raises the possibility Mars' volcanoes aren't so dead after all.
www.nationalgeographic.com
November 4, 2026 at 11:26 PM
drkeithsmith.bsky.social
A meteorite found in the Sahara desert is a 4.1 billion-year-old sample of Mars' crust, report Liu et al. in @science.org.

Teghaza 001 is geochemically distinct from other Martian meteorites and records ancient reactions with liquid water.
☄️🔭 #planetsci
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
October 30, 2026 at 11:35 AM
leighfletcher.bsky.social
The opportunity to join the #planetsci atmospheres team to work with JWST giant planet observations @uniofleicester.bsky.social closes at midnight this Thursday, November 5th. Please do share with anyone looking for their next #postdoc job!
leighfletcher.bsky.social Leigh Fletcher @leighfletcher.bsky.social · 22d
I'm looking for a new #postdoc to join Leicester's #planetsci atmospheres team, working with us on the treasure-trove of #JWST giant planet data to study atmospheric composition, weather, and variability. Deadline Nov 5th with a start date in early 2027.

jobs.le.ac.uk/vacancies/13...
November 2, 2026 at 4:20 PM
drnereide.bsky.social
Thanks to #JWST, astronomers have detected infrared emission from methane on W1935, a brown dwarf located 47 ly away which is cold and lacks a host star.

This unexpected result suggests atmospheric heating by auroral processes.

science.nasa.gov/missions/web...

🔭🧪⚛️ #planetsci #astronomy
This artistic representation depicts the brown dwarf W1935 as a blue sphere with horizontal bands of varying gradients. A red auroral circle glows at its upper pole. Researchers hypothesize that the methane emission may be caused by processes that generate aurorae. W1935 stands out against a black background dotted with bright points of light.
November 2, 2026 at 7:40 PM
drksolsen.bsky.social
Therefore, some sort of surface seepage may be taking place. This may be the long term source of HCl that maintains its concentration in the atmosphere over time.
HCl was a target gas for #ExoMars because it may be a sign of volcanic activity!! 🌋🤯
🧵3
#planetsci 🔭🧪
November 4, 2026 at 10:15 PM
drksolsen.bsky.social
A key feature is that the HCl is not well mixed. The signals are highly localized, strong and distinct, but there's no HCl in the surrounding area and it dissipates rapidly. This is more like a plume of gas than regular atmospheric chemistry. 🧵2
🧪🔭 #planetsci
November 4, 2026 at 10:13 PM
eliudbonilla.bsky.social
Nice to get to share with the world a little of what we do at APL about planetary defense.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiX2...
#planetsci #astronomy
Are These NASA Scientists the Real Guardians of the Galaxy? | Undiscovered DC
YouTube video by WUSA9
www.youtube.com
November 5, 2026 at 3:36 AM
beamjockey.bsky.social
Today the Journey to Titan site's banner reads:
"208,264 submissions and counting!
Send your name by January 15, 2027!"
#PlanetSci
🐉🪰🚁🪐🟠

If you, too, wish to send your name to #Titan, inscribed in microscopic print aboard NASA's #Dragonfly whirlybird, here's the link you need:
NASA Events
my.nasa.gov
November 2, 2026 at 11:42 PM
beamjockey.bsky.social
Oops, should I have tagged this send-your-name-to-Titan post #PlanetSci rather than #PlanSci?
beamjockey.bsky.social Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey @beamjockey.bsky.social · 6d
Just announced: "Journey to Titan"

Submit your name, and NASA will engrave it, in tiny print, on a chip—then send it to Titan with the #Dragonfly whirlybird!

Hat tip to @planetdr.bsky.social for letting us know.

🐉🪰🚁🟠
#NASASolarSystem #PlanSci 🔭
NASA Events
my.nasa.gov
October 29, 2026 at 8:16 PM
drnereide.bsky.social
So, Chiron.

Charles Kowal first noticed 2060 Chiron on 1 November 1977. At first everyone treated it as a plain asteroid.

Then in 1989 it suddenly developed a coma and started behaving like a comet.

Now it officially counts as both: minor planet and comet 95P/Chiron.

🔭🧪⚛️ #planetsci #histsci
Artist’s impression of cometary activity on the Centaur Chiron. A roughly rounded body sits at the centre, against a black background scattered with small white points of light that look like stars. Two rings encircle the body. In reality, a multi-chord stellar occultation observed in 2023 and analysed in 2025 confirms the existence of three well-defined rings. Credit: Flyazure.
November 1, 2026 at 7:26 PM
drnereide.bsky.social
@rubinobservatory.org has found its first dwarf planet candidate: 2026 ED138.

It lies beyond Pluto, roughly 46 astronomical units out, and ranks among the biggest and brightest objects found in that part of the Solar System.

What do you think?

rubinobservatory.org/news/rubin-f...

🔭🧪⚛️ #planetsci
October 28, 2026 at 5:20 PM
drnereide.bsky.social
This striking view of Saturn captures a clear, observable seasonal change: the atmosphere takes on a blue tint in the southern hemisphere as winter approaches.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

science.nasa.gov/photojournal...

🔭🧪⚛️ #planetsci #Saturn #astronomy
Saturn fills most of the frame: the upper part is pale and yellowish, the lower part cooler and bluish. The view is of the unilluminated side of the rings, from about 44 degrees below the ring plane. Inside the shadows of the A and F rings, slightly right of center, a small black dot stands out: it is the shadow of the moon Prometheus.
October 27, 2026 at 7:27 PM
akasci.bsky.social
The first photograph of Earth from outer space was taken OTD on 24 October 1946, with a DeVry 35-mm motion picture camera, from rocket V-2 No. 13 launched from the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

More at fosstodon.org/@AkaSci/1174...
#PlanetSci
AkaSci 🛰️ (@AkaSci@fosstodon.org)
Attached: 1 image The first photograph of Earth from outer space was taken OTD on 24 October 1946, from rocket V-2 No. 13 launched from the White Sands Missile Range in White Sands, New Mexico. The ...
fosstodon.org
October 24, 2026 at 1:09 PM
drspacejunk.bsky.social
291. Just think, the Moon had an active core 1 billion years ago when eukaryotic organisms were starting to flourish in Earth's oceans.
#TabClosed2026 🧪 🔭 #PlanetSci
Scientists pin down timing of lunar dynamo's demise
A conventional compass would be of little use on the moon, which today lacks a global magnetic field.
phys.org
October 23, 2026 at 12:25 AM
drspacejunk.bsky.social
Updated! Bibliography of Space Archaeology and Heritage
🧪 🔭 #PlanetSci 🏺
Bibliography: Space Archaeology and Heritage
I update this bibliography as new material is published, but it is not exhaustive. Please let me know what I'm missing. This is about space...
zoharesque.blogspot.com
October 20, 2026 at 8:41 AM
spacemarschall.net
Congratulations to JAXA on the successful launch of the Martian Moon eXplorer (MMX) yesterday! MMX will bring back a sample from the Martian moon Phobos. Phobos may have formed during a giant impact on Mars, which would make the MMX sample Martian...

#planetSci
www.youtube.com/live/Fn6gzuG...
October 20, 2026 at 8:49 AM
drksolsen.bsky.social
Today we celebrate ten years since the successful Mars orbit capture for the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter.
Ten years ago, we gathered at the European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt to watch a chirp sent by TGO disappear and reappear as it passed behind Mars.
And we had a mission!!
🔭🧪 #planetsci
October 19, 2026 at 3:13 PM
akasci.bsky.social
All systems go for launch of the JAXA Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) (and sample return) mission to the martian moons Phobos and Deimos, Monday Oct 19, at 19:41:03 UTC, from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan.

More at fosstodon.org/@AkaSci/1174...
#PlanetSci
Artist's impression of MMX studying Phobos from a distance of 70 km.
October 18, 2026 at 7:50 PM
drnereide.bsky.social
Perseverance rover has broken the off-world driving record.
On 11 Oct. 2026, it reached 45.22 km on Mars, surpassing Opportunity’s 45.16 km.

It hit the mark in 5½ years, compared with nearly 15 for its predecessor, on the 2,006th sol of the mission.

www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-p...

🔭🧪 #planetsci
October 14, 2026 at 1:22 PM
science.esa.int
🌍South Africa has the famous Table Mountain..
🔴Mars has Amazonis Mensa, which is three times as high!

And can you spot the ancient lava flows?

Zoom into this slice of Mars shaped by wind and lava 👉 www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...

🔭 🧪
#planetsci
Where winds blow and lava flows
Where winds blow and lava flows
www.esa.int
October 14, 2026 at 9:17 AM
ita.esa.int
Ingrandisci questa sezione di Marte modellata dal vento e dalla lava 👉 www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...

Riesci a individuare le antiche colate laviche?

@science.esa.int
#planetsci 🧪
Where winds blow and lava flows
Where winds blow and lava flows
www.esa.int
October 14, 2026 at 2:32 PM
leighfletcher.bsky.social
I'm looking for a new #postdoc to join Leicester's #planetsci atmospheres team, working with us on the treasure-trove of #JWST giant planet data to study atmospheric composition, weather, and variability. Deadline Nov 5th with a start date in early 2027.

jobs.le.ac.uk/vacancies/13...
October 13, 2026 at 2:06 PM
elevenpointtwo.bsky.social
Did Viking find microbes on Mars in 1976? It seems likely.

Come to the next ASU Beyond Center Webinar!

6:00pm MST Monday, October 26, 2026 #PlanetSci

asuevents.asu.edu/event/octobe...
ASU Think Beyond Webinar: Did Viking find microbes on MArs in 1976? It seems likely. Following the Viking 1976 mission, Robert Jastrow, then Director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, concluded that “[s]hort of seeing something wiggling on the end of a pin, the case for life on Mars is now as complete as the Viking experiments could make it.” However, because the Viking team failed to properly understand organic chemistry, it misinterpreted data from a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer (GC-MS), leading to the conclusion that, not only was no Mars life detected, but that life was in fact impossible there due to the reactivity of the soil. This monumental blunder entered textbooks, NASA reports, National Academy Decadal surveys, DARES workshops, and NASA peer review. Even though my laboratory explained in 2000 that the GC-MS data had been misinterpreted, and Rafael Navarro-Gonzales in 2010 provided a complete analysis of what went wrong, the Mars exploration communities continue to this day to mis-direct resources relevant to Mars astrobiology in research programs, funding priorities, and leadership. This talk will detail this history as an excellent teaching example to show students how confirmation bias, group think, and "community consensus" damages high stakes science.
October 13, 2026 at 7:23 PM