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The Planetary Science Journal

Peer-reviewed journal, published by the American Astronomical Society, covering research on planets, moons, comets, asteroids, and related topics.

Known aliases

  • Planetary Science Journal
  • PSJ

Current stories

scienceConfirmed3 publishers

More than 10,000 young faults put the moon's shrinkage at about 45 meters

Smithsonian-led researchers mapped over 10,000 young lunar faults and estimate the moon shrank about 45 meters over 400 to 800 million years. Because the moon is a single plate, the faults are spread across its surface and moonquakes can start anywhere.

Perspective Coverage

3 publishers
Builder
Builder 37%
Operator
Operator 51%
Investor
Investor 12%

Reality

Evidence72
Adoption
Not scored
Hype gap+20
Incentives
Not scored
Confidence74
scienceOne report1 publisher

Simulated early Mars rain drops about 10 times the average formaldehyde on Tharsis and Elysium

Tohoku University researchers and colleagues modelled early Mars's formaldehyde rain, putting about 10 times the global average on Tharsis and Elysium. The prediction links where a raw material for sugars and amino acids landed to the planet's ancient water cycle.

Publishers:phys.org

Reality

Evidence45
Adoption
Not scored
Hype gap+10
Incentives
Not scored
Confidence50
scienceOne report1 publisher

Brookhaven imaging turns a few of Murchison's organic formulas into actual structures

The MagLab's 21-tesla spectrometer found tens of thousands of carbon-based molecules in two meteorites, and noncontact atomic force microscopy at Brookhaven pinned down the shape of a handful of them.

Publishers:phys.org

Reality

Evidence61
Adoption24
Hype gap+28
Incentives68
Confidence57
scienceOne report1 publisher

A Greenland comparison puts liquid nitrogen under Pluto's dark glacier streaks

The evidence for seeping nitrogen on Sputnik Planitia is a resemblance to wet ice in Landsat 9 images of Greenland, backed by simulations in which nitrogen ice several kilometers down melts and rises.

Publishers:sciencedaily.com

Reality

Evidence45
Adoption
Not scored
Hype gap+30
Incentives60
Confidence50
scienceOne report1 publisher

Reprocessing 35 years of Pluto occultations turns up a 16 percent pressure drop in the lower atmosphere

Amanda Sickafoose's team ran every Pluto stellar occultation from 1988 to 2023 through one analysis, so a change in the record could not be an artifact of who processed it. The 2022 and 2023 data show pressure falling.

Publishers:eos.org

Reality

Evidence62
Adoption
Not scored
Hype gap+18
Incentives35
Confidence55
scienceOne report1 publisher

Webb finds carbon dioxide lifting dust from a centaur that Saturn rerouted in 1992

Schambeau's team reports carbon dioxide emission with no water or carbon monoxide around 450P/LONEOS, which points to gas escaping warming buried ice, while the Saturn encounter behind it remains an orbital reconstruction.

Publishers:phys.org

Reality

Evidence58
Adoption
Not scored
Hype gap+12
Incentives60
Confidence45