Sometimes fresh interplanetary discoveries can be made right next door. China’s Chang’e 3 rover has found evidence of a new type of basaltic rock in one of the dark basins on the moon. The findings, ...

Silica is a key component of sand but also of lava. The less there is, the more fluid the lava, and the faster it flows. Nyiragongo has some of the lowest-silica-content-lava on the planet, but ...

Deep within Earth’s mantle, scientists have uncovered surprising evidence that traces of the planet’s early form,proto-Earth, ...

Artistic illustration of the internal structure of a lava planet in a cold state, showing a day‑side magma ocean overlain by a mineral atmosphere. The arrows indicate the direction of heat transport ...

You pronounce her name Vahl-bohn-uh Mehmeh-tee, not Val-bone Mem-meeti. It’s from Italian, by way of Albania. “I’ve been `Vali’ since kindergarten, so you can call me that,” Valbone “Vali” Memeti says ...

Understanding how the chemical composition of magma changes before an eruption occurs is not an easy task. A sample of lava erupted at the surface provides a look at the final composition of magma; ...

Astronomers have uncovered a hellscape planet that rains rocks, has deep lava oceans, and clocks winds of more than 3,000 mph. The planet dubbed K2-141b exists more than 200 light-years away and is ...

The scientists analyzed data gathered by MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging), a NASA probe that has orbited the planet since March 2011. Later that year, a group ...

Update 6/15/18 at 4:30 p.m. EST: Per the USGS: University of Hawaii at Hilo scientists, who are conducting chemical analysis of the lava, said the olivine they're seeing in eruptive products does not ...