Oceans of liquid diamond, filled with solid diamond icebergs, could be floating on Neptune and Uranus, according to a recent article in the journal Nature Physics.

The research, based on first detailed measurements of the melting point of diamond, found diamond behaves like water during freezing and melting, with solid forms floating atop liquid forms. The surprising revelation

givesscientists a new understanding about diamonds and some of the most distant planets in our solar system.

From Discovery News

The NASA Mars Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, where only designed to operate for 3 months on the Martian surface, but after a five year anniversary, they are still collecting data and exploring the planet.

The rovers are now showing some serious signs of wear and tear.
Spirit has to drive backwards everywhere it goes because of a jammed wheel; and Opportunity’s robotic arm has a glitch in a shoulder joint because of a broken electrical wire.
There have been times also when the vehicles’ have been dangerously short on power because of the dust covering on their solar panels.

[From BBC News]

A detailed analysis of the measurements of five different satellites has revealed the existence of warm cloak of plasma around Earth.

This newfound feature is part of the magnetosphere, a shield of magnetic fields and electrically charged particles that surround and protect Earth from the onslaught of the solar wind.

The northern and southern polar lights – aurora borealis and aurora australis – are the only parts of the magnetosphere that are visible, but it is a critical part of Earth’s space environment.

[From Space.com]

“The Nine planets in the solar system have a total of 153 currently known moons.”
[wikipedia]

“The planet Venus rotates backwards and very slowly compared to the other planets in the solar system.”
[source]

“Several of the elements in the periodic table are named after the planets or other bodies of the solar system. For example, Cerium is named for the asteroid Ceres, and Helium comes from Helios, which is Greek for the Sun.”
[source]