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Press Releases

panorama of small rolling hills in Alaska with small brownish green brushes

January 25, 2022

New cohort of Arctic research includes projects on ice loss, climate change and geothermal energy

This Friday, the University of Alaska Anchorage and ConocoPhillips Alaska announced the 2022 recipients of the ConocoPhillips Arctic Science and Engineering Endowment Award. The endowment is one of the largest in the University of Alaska System and provides awards to recipients who have demonstrated potential to...

Black and white photo with a perspective view of two pingos on Ceres

August 10, 2020

The 'Pingo' Connection: Making a Data Mountain out of Ice-Cored Hills — on Earth and a Dwarf Planet

What do the Arctic Circle, an area near Mars’ equator, and the largest object orbiting between Mars and Jupiter have in common? Arctic pingos are the archetype of this feature, but it’s possible that all three are home to pingos: dome-like, ice-filled hills created by subterranean water and ice pushing up to the surface. Researchers from...

College of Sciences

Black and white perspective view of the bright spots on ceres

April 19, 2017

Mystery Solved: Bright Areas on Ceres Come From Salty Water Below

Data from NASA's recent Dawn mission answers two long-unresolved questions: Is there liquid inside Ceres, and how long ago was the dwarf planet geologically active? NASA's Dawn spacecraft gave scientists extraordinary close-up views of the dwarf planet Ceres, which lies in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. By the...

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Black and white top view of Juling Crater on Ceres

September 16, 2019

Ceres: Evolution of the Asteroid Belt’s Icy Giant

Ceres, the largest object in the asteroid belt, is composed of rock and ice. NASA’s Dawn spacecraft, which orbited Ceres between 2015 and 2018 gave scientists lots of new insights into its shape and internal structure, surface morphology, and composition. A special collection in Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets...

black and white top view of a large, well-defined landslide on ceres

April 19, 2017

Landslides on Ceres Reflect Ice Content

As NASA's Dawn spacecraft continues exploring Ceres, evidence mounts that the enigmatic dwarf planet retains a significant amount of water ice. A new study in the journal Nature Geoscience adds to this picture, showing how ice may have shaped the variety of landslides seen on Ceres today. "Images from Dawn show that...

black and white photo witha perspective view of a pingo and an adjacent crater on Ceres

September 2, 2016

Dawn explores the dwarf planet Ceres

In March 2015, the Dawn spacecraft arrived in orbit around Ceres, a dwarf planet and the largest object in the asteroid belt. Over the following months, the Dawn team extensively mapped the surface of Ceres and investigated its properties. Russell et al. give an overview of Ceres' global properties and the discovery of a plasma bow...

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