Related papers: Mars Before the Space Age
Quasars are among the most luminous objects in the universe, and they can be studied in detail up to the highest known redshift. Assuming that the gas associated with quasars is closely related to the interstellar medium of the host galaxy,…
This roadmap outlines research pathways to determine whether Mars could be warmed with non-biological methods. It does not presuppose that warming Mars is desirable; its purpose is to identify what would need to be true for Mars to be…
After decades of relative neglect, interest in Venus surges anew in the planetary science community and the public. New missions are planned and selected, and will pave the way to the decade of Venus, as new observations allow us to uncover…
The Lunar Laser Ranging (LLR) experiment has accumulated 50 years of range data of improving accuracy from ground stations to the laser retroreflector arrays (LRAs) on the lunar surface. The upcoming decade offers several opportunities to…
The discovery of the first extra-solar planet surrounding a main-sequence star was announced in 1995, based on very precise radial velocity (Doppler) measurements. A total of 34 such planets were known by the end of March 2000, and their…
The past decade has seen Parkes once again involved in a wide range of space tracking activities that have added to its illustrious legacy. This contribution is a personal recollection of those tracking efforts - both real and celluloid. We…
Thousands of exoplanets orbit nearby stars, showcasing a remarkable diversity in mass, size, and orbits. With the James Webb Space Telescope now operational, we are observing exoplanet atmospheres and aiming to reach down to small,…
Motivated by recent measurements of the free-floating planet mass function at terrestrial masses, we consider the possibility that the solar system may have captured a terrestrial planet early in its history. We show that $\sim 1.2$…
Empirical studies of the first generation of stars and quasars will likely become feasible within the next decade in several different wavelength bands. Microwave anisotropy experiments, such as MAP or Planck, will set constraints on the…
Since the dawn of telescopic astronomy astronomers have observed and measured the "spurious" telescopic disks of stars, generally reporting that brighter stars have larger disks than fainter stars. Early observers such as Galileo Galilei…
ANTARES is the first undersea neutrino telescope. It is in its complete configuration since May 2008 at about 2.5 km below the sea surface close to Marseille. Data from 12 lines are being analyzed and are producing first results. Here we…
We present initial analysis and conclusions from plasma observations made during the reported "Mars plume event" of March - April 2012. During this period, multiple independent amateur observers detected a localized, high-altitude "plume"…
A fundamental quest of modern astronomy is to locate the earliest galaxies and study how they influenced the intergalactic medium a few hundred million years after the Big Bang. The abundance of star-forming galaxies is known to decline…
Seasonal flows on warm slopes, or recurring slope lineae ("RSL"), have been presented as strong evidence for currently flowing water on Mars. This assumption was supported by a correlation between activity and warm temperatures, and by the…
The dynamics of Mars' obliquity are believed to be chaotic, and the historical ~3.5 Gyr (late-Hesperian onward) obliquity probability density function (PDF) is high uncertain and cannot be inferred from direct simulation alone. Obliquity is…
Mars is currently at the center of scientific debate regarding proposed ancient river morphological landscapes on the planet. An increased curiosity in the geomorphology of Mars and its water history, therefore, has led to an effort to…
The lunar surface is a compelling location for large, distributed optical facilities, with significant advantages over orbital facilities for high spatial resolution astrophysics. The serious development of mission concepts is timely…
Prior to the 1990s, speculations about the occurrence of planets around other stars were based only on planet formation theory, observations of circumstellar disks, and the knowledge that at least one seemingly ordinary star had managed to…
The Galileo mission to Jupiter discovered magnetic signatures associated with hidden sub-surface oceans at the moons Europa and Callisto using the phenomenon of magnetic induction. These induced magnetic fields originate from electrically…
The field of astrochemistry has seen major advances triggered by the completion of new powerful radio telescopes, with gains in sensitivity of receivers and in bandwidth. To date, about 330 molecular species are detected, in interstellar…