Forty-eight tons (44,000 kilograms) of material from space fall onto the Earth each year. These meteoroids experience ablation and sputtering in the atmosphere, leaving behind metal and ion deposits that form thin layers in the ionosphere. Read More

How do clouds of neutral hydrogen atoms transform into molecular clouds, the birthplaces of all stars in our galaxy? This is an unanswered question in galactic astronomy that some scientists are investigating using the Arecibo Observatory (AO).

A unique, high-altitude plasma cavity formed over Arecibo during an ionospheric heating campaign conducted at the observatory in June of 2019. Simultaneously, the Arecibo Incoherent Scatter Radar (ISR) collected measurements of the narrow cavity, revealing an exceptionally deep depletion of the electron density and a strong enhancement of the electron and ion temperatures. Read More

In the 2030’s, two spacecrafts - NASA’s Europa Clipper and the European Space Agency’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) missions - will enter orbit around Jupiter to study the planet’s largest moons. Until then, observations of the Galilean satellites - named for their discoverer - are restricted to observations from Earth. Read More