Basaltic asteroids might not all be from Vesta
Most basaltic asteroids are thought to originate from the dwarf planet Vesta. However, some of these asteroids are far from Vesta and exhibit different spectra, implying a second point of origin.
Watermelon Dust is the Best Dust: Forming Planetesimals Near the Snow Line
Beyond the snow line, water in a protoplanetary disk condenses into ice. In simple models, this is supposed to make it possible for planetesimals and in turn, giant planets to form. Can that storyline hold up in the more detailed model from today’s paper?
Why is Mars so small?
J’onn J’onzz needs astronomers’ help figuring out why his home planet of Mars is smaller (and hence, less habitable) than the Earth. He already asked the rest of the Justice League, but they could not solve the problem. Can Drążkowska et al. save the day?
Why is Mercury so far from the Sun?
Roughly half of all planetary systems have planets much closer to their stars than Mercury is to our Sun. Can a system’s magnetic field during the stage of planet formation explain why half of all systems (including our own) do not have these planets when the other half do?
How a Super-Earth Gets Its Atmosphere (or At Least Where It Doesn’t)
Super-Earths could form close-in to their stars… but what about their atmospheres?
In the beginning was Theia
The Giant Impact Hypothesis is the most widely accepted theory for the creation of the Moon; the authors here investigate possible configurations of the early Solar System to produce the right conditions for impact between Earth and the doomed proto-planet Theia.