https://www.earthmagazine.org/tags/solar-wind/ Recent content in Solar Wind on EARTH Magazine Hugo en-US American Geosciences Institute. All rights reserved. Tue, 20 Mar 2018 14:58:07 -0400 https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/red-planet-roundup-april-2018/ Tue, 20 Mar 2018 14:58:07 -0400 https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/red-planet-roundup-april-2018/ <figure class="earth-figure"> <img src="https://www.americangeosciences.org/static/earth/red-planet-roundup-april-2018/8298_PIA22077_1280full.jpg" alt="A steep, ice-rich scarp (in blue) drops roughly 130 meters vertically in this color-enhanced image taken by the HiRISE camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UA/USGS." loading="eager" decoding="async"> <figcaption>A steep, ice-rich scarp (in blue) drops roughly 130 meters vertically in this color-enhanced image taken by the HiRISE camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UA/USGS.</figcaption> </figure> <p>With two rovers patrolling the surface of Mars, six spacecraft orbiting above it, and scientists here on Earth studying the Red Planet from afar, new findings are announced often. Here are a few of the latest updates.</p> https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/sun-provides-water-moon/ Sun, 14 Oct 2012 17:48:20 -0400 https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/sun-provides-water-moon/ <figure class="earth-figure"> <img src="https://www.americangeosciences.org/static/earth/sun-provides-water-moon/490480main_transit_4096FD_best_full.jpg" alt="The moon passes in front of the sun. New research suggests solar wind may be responsible for water on the moon. NASA" loading="eager" decoding="async"> <figcaption>The moon passes in front of the sun. New research suggests solar wind may be responsible for water on the moon. NASA</figcaption> </figure> <p>Until recently, the consensus in the scientific community was that the <a href="http://www.earthmagazine.org/article/moon-much-wetter-thought">moon was bone-dry</a>. Scientists thought that the massive impact responsible for the moon&rsquo;s creation would have driven away the hydrogen needed to form water. In the past four years, however, that view has melted away. The first suggestion of water was in 2008, when researchers identified the presence of water in volcanic lunar glass. In 2009, satellites orbiting high above the moon identified water on its surface. Also in 2009, in a moment of spectacular showmanship, <a href="http://www.earthmagazine.org/article/nasas-lcross-crashes-moon">NASA crashed a spacecraft</a> into the south pole of the moon, liberating large quantities of water from ice. Determining the source of lunar water is the new frontier. Now, new research on microscopic grains of lunar glass suggests that much of the lunar surface is rich with water, and that the water comes from the sun.</p>