The 365 Days of Astronomy EVSN - Climate Change Melts Glaciers, Greens the Arctic
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Mar 13, 2026 Reports on accelerating glacier and ice sheet melt from Greenland to Antarctica and the rapid retreat of Thwaites Glacier. Covers Arctic greening and shifting tundra vegetation that could change regional climate feedbacks. Highlights joint Mars proton aurora maps, discovery of two small planets around a cold red dwarf, and recent rocket launches plus stunning JWST imagery.
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Martian Proton Aurorae Reveal Solar Wind Rain Maps
- MAVEN and the UAE's Emirates Mars Mission jointly observed patchy proton aurorae at Mars, indicating turbulent plasma conditions where solar wind directly impacts the upper atmosphere.
- Combining EMM auroral images with MAVEN plasma measurements allowed mapping of where solar wind 'rains down' on Mars, revealing spatially disorganized aurora.
New Potentially Habitable Super-Earth Around Tiny Red Dwarf
- An international team discovered two planets around LP890-0, a very cold red dwarf; one is a potentially habitable super-Earth at ~1.4 Earth radii with an 8.5-day orbit.
- TESS found the inner 2.7-day, 1.3 Earth-radius planet, while ground-based Speculoos confirmed both and enabled characterization suitable for JWST follow-up.
Diamond Rain Likely Common On Ice Giants
- Lab shocks on PET plastic (C H O mix) using high-power lasers produced nanodiamonds, suggesting diamond rain may be common on icy exoplanets like Neptune and Uranus.
- The presence of oxygen accelerated C–H splitting, enabling faster carbon bonding into nanodiamonds; larger diamonds likely form in actual ice-giant interiors.