LLNL finds a place in the sun

This year marks five years in space for NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), which provides incredibly detailed images of the whole sun 24 hours a day.Capturing an image with one arcsecond spatial resolution at 10 different wavelengths once per 10 seconds, SDO has provided an unprecedentedly clear picture of how massive explosions on the sun grow and erupt ever since its launch on Feb. 11...

New explanation for Mercury's dark surface

Peering into space, the surface of Mercury appears dark and unreflective, an observation that has long puzzled planetary scientists due to the planet’s very low surface abundance of iron (less than 2 percent).Iron is an important darkening material in airless bodies like the moon and asteroids.While the intense space weathering environment on Mercury, which efficiently converts the small...