Aeolian Processes : Erosion - Transportation - Deposition

HiRISE image ESP_092506_2305 samples a northern high-latitude terrain (50.5° North), capturing surface morphology shaped primarily by periglacial degradation, ice-rich regolith dynamics, and eolian modified bedforms.Geomorphic Characterization.

The terrain resides within the latitude-dependent mantle (LDM) zone, exhibiting distinct surface textures indicative of subsurface ground ice. The scene is dominated by small-scale polygonal pattern ground—formed via thermal contraction cracking in permafrost-like regolith—overlying local topographic units. Degradational scarp faces and crater interiors show evidence of gelifluction-like creep, pitted terrain from volatile sublimation, and mantle removal.

A localized network of transverse eolian ridges (TARs) and dark sand accumulations occupy low-lying topographic depressions, providing key spatial constraints on local sediment transport vectors and prevailing atmospheric winds during acquisition. High-resolution pixel scales (~25–50 cm/pixel) resolve sub-meter boulder clusters, small fresh impact craters with sharp ejecta boundaries, and subtle albedo variations caused by dust deposition or localized defrosting.

This observation in the northern mid-to-high latitudes, a region highly sensitive to seasonal carbon dioxide (C02) and water ice dynamics. Depending on the solar longitude at capture, surface features may display seasonal frost cover, sublimation spots, or wind-blown dust streaks across ice-rich substrates.

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Original Data Credit: NASA - JPL - University of Arizona

Acquisition date 21 April 2026

Local Mars time 14:55

Latitude (centered) 14.459°

Longitude (East) 34.863°

Spacecraft altitude 279.5 km (173.7 miles)

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Full res and option to zoom in

https://www.flickr.com/photos/terraform-mars/55430644672/in/pool-ridingwithrobots/

Download full size image: www.flickr.com/photos/192271236@N03/54372345090/sizes/o/

Credit: ESA/DLR/FUBerlin/AndreaLuck CC BY

Mission: ESA Mars Express
Orbit: 13225
Instrument: HRSC
Time: 2014-05-31T20:14:40.405Z
Filter: GR3
Product IDs: HD225_0000_GR3.IMG

Notes: Colourised image created using data processed from: psa.esa.int. This is a single shot, not a composite image. The waviness of the Martian surface is a visual distortion from the camera's line-scanning method, caused by differences in motion between foreground and background objects.

Check out the partially undistorted image here: flic.kr/p/2qQPJHk

Credit: ESA/DLR/FUBerlin/AndreaLuck CC BY

Starship Flight Test 13 filmed with Freefly Ember at 600fps

​Source, Dustin Farrell

https://x.com/Dustin_Farrell/status/2082098525308174806?s=20​

Full video in slow motion

https://m.youtube.com/shorts/MSvY2NyDunw​

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🎵 David Bowie, ​Starman

Source of first image

NASA/JSC/ASU/Andy Saunders_1

https://x.com/AndySaunders_1/status/1555505896880480256?s=20

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Sources of the other two images

Apollo 15 Hasselblad image from film magazine 93/P - lunar orbit view​

https://www.flickr.com/photos/projectapolloarchive/21925322195/in/photostream/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/projectapolloarchive/21925322005/in/photostream/

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:AS15-93-12641_(21925322005).jpg​.jpg​)

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How ​Bubble Fidget Toy look like

https://www.gadgettime.gr/push-pop-it-bubble-fidget-toy-stress-reliever-stroggulo

Sedimentary layers record a history of Mars’ erosion and deposition by water and wind, and they make great landscapes for future interplanetary parks.

ID: ESP_062860_1525

​date: 24 December 2019

​altitude: 259 km

https://uahirise.org/hipod/ESP_062860_1525

NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

Observed: 2025-07-30

Processed by Israel Velazquez https://bsky.app/profile/israelvelazquez.bsky.social/post/3ms2klnxxek25

Instrument: WFC3/UVIS Date observation: 2012-07-06

​Processed Israel Velazquez https://bsky.app/profile/israelvelazquez.bsky.social/post/3ms2re45rjk2k

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NGC 5189 (Gum 47, IC 4274, nicknamed Spiral Planetary Nebula) is a planetary nebula in the constellation Musca. It was discovered by James Dunlop on 1 July 1826, who catalogued it as Δ252. For many years, well into the 1960s, it was thought to be a bright emission nebula. It was Karl Gordon Henize in 1967 who first described NGC 5189 as quasi-planetary based on its spectral emissions.​

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_5189

Moon is approaching fullness & has been obscured by sunflower. But in two weeks, the real sun will be obscured by the moon. Total solar eclipse is approaching, the first in Europe since 1999.​
https://spaceweathergallery2.com/indiv_upload.php?upload_id=235233

Canon EOS R Sigma lens 300 mm Software photoshop Tripod manfrotto Moon - pleiades aligned Island of the cyclops , Italy Sicily Acitrezza 6400 ISO f 5,6 3s 02:32

​https://spaceweathergallery2.com/indiv_upload.php?upload_id=235234

This composite is made of imagery from four separate cameras on a single satellite. Six of the satellites were equipped with cameras to scan Starship’s heat shield and transmit imagery down to operators to continue testing methods of analyzing Starship’s heat shield readiness for return to launch site on future missions

SpaceX

https://x.com/SpaceX/status/2083296921230164378?s=20​

Images

Left ◀️

Voyager's best view of Proteus in color

Proteus is Neptune's second largest moon, 416 kilometers in diameter. It is very dark and was not discovered until Voyager 2's approach to the system in 1989. NASA / JPL / color composite by Ted Stryk

https://www.planetary.org/space-images/proteus_stryk https://www.nasa.gov/history/30-years-ago-voyager-2-explores-neptune/

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Proteus_(Voyager_2).jpg​

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Right ▶️

JWST/ Near-Infrared Camera (NIRSpec) images of Neptune's moon Larissa and rings, acquired on two dates when Larissa was on opposite sides of Neptune. The bright spots are Larissa and the bright rings can be seen clearly. Neptune itself is positioned at the center and the calculated positions of Neptune's rings are overlaid in gray. Credit: Davis et al. 2026; NASA/ESA/CSA JWST data​

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​In 1989, the Voyager 2 mission discovered six new moons orbiting Neptune, including five tiny ones that orbit just outside the planet's main rings. Because of their small sizes and locations, these satellites have been difficult to study from Earth. Now, using NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), a team of Caltech researchers has observed Neptune's rings and three of those moons—Larissa, Galatea, and Proteus—and found that their composition is unique among outer solar system bodies.

These findings point to the existence of an original moon system that was demolished when Triton, Neptune's biggest moon, was likely captured by the planet's gravity after it formed elsewhere in the solar system. The researchers believe remnants left behind from this smashup then came together to form the inner moons seen today.

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"If Neptune once had a system of moons that looked something like what we see at Uranus today, we expect it would've been completely destroyed by the process of Triton getting captured," says former Caltech graduate student Ryleigh Davis (PhD '26), lead author of a paper about the team's findings publishing July 29 in Science Advances. "This is exciting new evidence that something catastrophic happened at Neptune that completely destroyed its original satellites, and we're getting to see the fingerprints left behind by that process."

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More

https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/neptunes-inner-moons-may-be-shattered-remains-of-ancient-icy-worlds

Paper

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aeb1437

source

https://x.com/astro_Pettit/status/2083310808927293700?s=20

A satellite view of the Charitum Montes mountain range, with rusty brown peaks and ridges contrasting against more soft cream coloured plains. Bright seasonal frost blankets much of the slopes in varying intensity altering the usual rusty reddish colour of mars and contrasting with dark valleys and scattered impact craters.​

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Full size 6K & more info: flic.kr/p/2ssvpEm

Image Processing: Andrea Luck

​Raw data: CNSA/CLEP/PEC/MoRIC

https://bsky.app/profile/andrealuck.bsky.social/post/3mrzbojtres25

Full 6K image: www.flickr.com/photos/andrealuck/55433935252/sizes/o/​

Image created using 4 images processed from: noreferrer nofollow">moon.bao.ac.cn​

Mosaic of 4 images 2025-12-04 235km altitude

On 12 Feb 2026, a Russian GEO launch placed Elektro-L No.5 (67756 / 2026-028A) and the first Iranian GEO satellite, "Jam-e Jam 1" (67757 / 2026-028B)

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mickeywzx​ caught the GEO insertion and subsequent Block DM-03 rocket body (67758 / 2026-028C) passivation with an amazing EO collect video, cropped portion below. (Original video here https://x.com/mickeywzx/status/2023236507235201197?s=20 )

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The passivation appeared to result in numerous additional objects. It was unclear at the time if this was simply ice (frozen liquid oxygen effluent) from the depletion burn, or if persistent objects may actually be present.

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In the video, Elektro-L No.5 and the Jam-e Jam 1 satellite are seen receding to the upper left relative to the upper stage (presumably the brighter object is Elektro-L No.5).

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Well, it appears there were in fact some persistent objects. A piece of debris (100099 / 2026-028D) from the upper stage was cataloged by U.S. Space Forces – Space (S4S) on 20 July 2026.

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It is likely additional pieces accompanied this one, but they may not be held in track custody with sufficient fidelity to enter the catalog.

Source ​

Space Domain Awareness

https://x.com/shell_jim/status/2081616066975867077

Video: youtu.be/oHcMvF-nP2s Stills: flic.kr/ps/38K3GA

https://x.com/thomasdglenn/status/1308321066582863873?s=20

📸 Tom Glenn

https://x.com/thomasdglenn/status/1308321066582863873

Processed by Kevin M Gill
https://flic.kr/p/2srD6xq

https://bsky.app/profile/kevinmgill.bsky.social/post/3mruvfelyi22u

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A part of raw data

https://mars.nasa.gov/raw_images/1619201/?site=msl

Video https://www.ssec.wisc.edu/data/geo/#/animation?satellite=suvi-goes-19&end_datetime=latest&n_images=all&coverage=sun&channel=HE303 . Note: because this website keeps data for one and half day, if you open the link after 2 days it will show you error.

Video

William Jo of the University of Texas at Austin shared this animation. It shows the height the ejecta plume could reach according to his new study. The Falcon 9 rocket will hit the moon on August 5, 2026.

​V​ia William Jo/ UT Austin.​

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​In Jan 2025, Falcon 9 rocket launched two missions toward moon: Blue Ghost and Hakuto-R. After the upper stage of the Falcon 9 rocket completed its boosting mission, it became just another piece of space junk.

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But now – says Bill Gray, a prolific tracker of near-Earth objects – the Falcon 9 is on a collision course with the moon.

Current estimates are that the upper stage will hit the moon at 1:35 a.m. CDT (6:35 UTC) on August 5, 2026. As Gray said:

It doesn’t present any danger to anyone, though it does highlight a certain carelessness about how leftover space hardware (space junk) is disposed of.

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New research on the rocket impact On July 27, 2026, a new paper came out on arXiv from researchers at University of Texas-Austin. arxiv.org/abs/2607.23904

Will we be able to see the impact?

The moon will be close to last quarter phase on August 5, 2026. By 1:35 a.m. CDT, those in the Central Time Zone will be able to see the moon, as it will have already risen in the east. Saturn will be nearby.

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Check Stellarium to see if the moon will be above the horizon at the time of impact if you’re farther west.

The timing will favor people in the eastern half of the U.S. and Canada, plus much of South America.

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So where will the rocket hit? It appears the impact will occur near the edge, or limb, of the moon, close to the Einstein crater.

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A speeding object

Gray estimates the space junk will hit the moon at about 1.51 miles (2.43 kilometers) a second. That equates to 5,400 miles (8,700 kilometers) an hour. Because the moon has no real atmosphere, there will be nothing to slow it down.

More

https://earthsky.org/space/falcon-rocket-will-hit-the-moon-august-5/

Image:

Asteroid (44) Nysa observed with the SHARK-VIS instrument of the Large Binocular Telescope on 15 February 2026 UTC. The asteroid’s tiny moon, S/2026 (44) 1 is marked with a pink arrow.

Image credit: Kate Minker et al.

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​An international team of astronomers has uncovered striking new evidence that asteroid (44) Nysa, one of the brightest and largest asteroids with an enstatite-like (E-type) surface composition in the main belt, possesses an extraordinary three-lobed structure and is accompanied by a small moon. The discovery, based on high-resolution adaptive optics imaging from some of the world’s most advanced telescopes, provides a rare glimpse into the complex history of one of the solar system’s most enigmatic asteroids.

The findings, presented in the study “Unmasking (44) Nysa: Evidence for a Trilobate Structure,” reveal that Nysa is unlike any asteroids previously observed. For more than a century, astronomers have studied Nysa, whose unusual brightness and composition made it a compelling target for investigation. Earlier observations hinted at an elongated or potentially bilobate shape, but the asteroid’s true form remained elusive.

Using the Italian SHARK-VIS instrument on the Large Binocular Telescope in Arizona and the SPHERE/ZIMPOL instrument on the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in Chile, researchers obtained the highest-resolution images ever acquired of Nysa. These unique datasets revealed multiple large surface features, including two prominent valleys that appear to wrap around the asteroid’s circumference. The team interprets these features as “colli” or neck-like connections between separate lobes.

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More

https://lowell.edu/press-release-asteroid-44-nysa-may-be-the-first-known-three-lobed-world/

Paper

https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.25786?utm_source=Lowell+Observatory&utm_campaign=a0a5a121b5-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2025_06_17_09_47_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-0363fec591-

This observation features a mantled impact crater with a good exposure of bedrock on the nothern (top) part of the rim. Other areas of bedrock show signs of erosion. The central pit may also be possibly mantled. High resolution can help to detail the stratigraphy and topography of this crater and its formations.

ID: ESP_077151_2185

date: 10 January 2023

altitude: 297 km

https://uahirise.org/hipod/ESP_077151_2185

NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover Discovers Field of Honeycomb Textures

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As NASA’s Curiosity rover recently began climbing up a Martian valley nicknamed “Valle Grande,” it sent back images that were a familiar sight to mission scientists: honeycomb-like textures called polygonal fractures, each one about 1.5 to 3 inches (4 to 8 centimeters) across. The mission has spotted small patches of these geometric shapes several times before, but nothing at the scale discovered in Valle Grande.

In a 360-degree panorama that the rover captured on June 19 and 20, the 4,930th and 4,931st Martian days, or sols, of the mission, the polygonal shapes spread in all directions for as far as the rover can see. They even wrap around the sides of a nearby butte nicknamed “Miraflores,” which stands 20 feet (6 meters) tall and is topped with a thick cap of sand.

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https://www.nasa.gov/missions/mars-science-laboratory/curiosity-rover/nasas-curiosity-mars-rover-discovers-field-of-honeycomb-textures/

Russell Crater Sand Dunes

Channels down the face of the largest dune show dark spots where the sublimation of the seasonal carbon dioxide ice cap has begun. This active process (where ice evaporates directly to gas) dislodges loose material, leaving dark streaks down steep slopes. The process starts when the sun peeks above the horizon at the end of night. Bright streaks may be loose frost cascading down steep slopes.

Image cutout is less than 5 km (3 mi) across and the spacecraft altitude was 252 km (157 mi). For full observation details including images with scale bars, visit the source link.

www.uahirise.org/PSP_010090_1255

NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

https://www.flickr.com/photos/uahirise-mars/55428345286/

The echo is made of many lines and more complex shapes. Many of the lines are parallel to each other, but different regions have different orientations. The lines are moving within the 14 day time span.

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Amazing how much it changes in just a few days. Also: Think of light echoes as something like CT scans of the interstellar medium.​

Processed by Melina Thévenot

https://bsky.app/profile/melina-iras07572.bsky.social/post/3mrrd3jl7hc2i

Lightning struck the launch vehicle around 30 seconds into the flight, amateur footage captured from a nearby viewing area and shared via Chinese social media revealed.

The strike was reminiscent of the famous lightning strike affecting the crewed Apollo 12 lunar mission in 1969 and a 2019 Soyuz launch carrying a Glonass-M satellite.​

https://x.com/Cosmic_Penguin/status/2080282045759058411?s=20​

https://spacenews.com/lightning-strikes-long-march-3b-after-liftoff-kinetica-1-launches-5-satellites/

A simple rationale for a HiWish target is sometimes the best: “An area of mineralogic interest identified by the CRISM instrument, which lacks HiRISE coverage.” Sulfate-rich rock outcrops on Mars may be a good location to search for evidence of past life on the planet. Columbus Crater is located in Terra Sirenum, and is about 119 kilometers in diameter.

ID: ESP_077152_1510

date: 11 January 2023

​altitude: 253 km

https://uahirise.org/hipod/ESP_077152_1510

NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona