Hubble and Spitzer Identify the Atmosphere of Mid-Size Planet
Two NASA space telescopes have teamed up to identify, for the first time, the detailed chemical “fingerprint” of a planet between the sizes of Earth…
Planetary Science News
Successful Orion Test Brings NASA Closer to Mars Mission
NASA successfully demonstrated Tuesday the Orion spacecraft’s launch abort system can outrun a speeding rocket and pull astronauts to safety during an emergency during launch….
TESS Mission Discovers Smallest Planet to Date
NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has discovered a world between the sizes of Mars and Earth orbiting a bright, cool, nearby star. The planet,…
Saturn’s Moon Titan Might Be Encrusted With Alien Crystals
The frigid lakeshores of Saturn’s moon Titan might be encrusted with strange, unearthly minerals, according to new research being presented here. Scientists re-creating Titan-esque conditions…
Astronomers Confirm the Low Density of Kepler Exoplanets
The Kepler mission and its extension, called K2, discovered thousands of exoplanets. It detected them using the transit technique, measuring the dip in light intensity…
Martian Dust Storms Can Regenerate and Sustain Themselves
Dust is a critical component in the Martian atmosphere. It influences the atmosphere’s circulation by heating or cooling it and is in turn redistributed around…
Inward Migration of Mimas Helped Shape Saturn’s Rings
The Solar System’s second largest planet both in mass and size, Saturn is best known for its rings. These are divided by a wide band,…
Astronomers Discover ‘Forbidden’ Planet in the ‘Neptunian Desert’
A Neptunian planet has been found in what should be a ‘Neptunian Desert’ by telescopes run by the University of Warwick in an international collaboration…
Astronomers Discover 18 Earth-Sized Planets Beyond Our Solar System
Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS), the Georg August University of Göttingen, and the Sonneberg Observatory have discovered 18 Earth-sized…
Strange Martian Mineral Deposit Likely From Volcanic Ash
Ashfall from ancient volcanic explosions is the likely source of a strange mineral deposit near the landing site for NASA’s next Mars rover, a new…
Scientists Believe Pluto May Have a Hidden Subsurface Ocean
Computer simulations provide compelling evidence that an insulating layer of gas hydrates could keep a subsurface ocean from freezing beneath Pluto’s icy exterior, according to…
Juno Discovers Changes in Jupiter’s Magnetic Field
NASA’s Juno mission to Jupiter made the first definitive detection beyond our world of an internal magnetic field that changes over time, a phenomenon called…
Astrophysicists Publish a ‘Survival Guide’ for Exoplanets
Small, hardy planets packed with dense elements have the best chance of avoiding being crushed and swallowed up when their host star dies, new research…
Our Moon is Shrinking, Generating Wrinkles and Moonquakes
The Moon is shrinking as its interior cools, getting more than about 150 feet (50 meters) skinnier over the last several hundred million years. Just…
Mars Orbiter Reveals Why Martian Full Moon Looks Like Candy
For the first time, NASA’s Mars Odyssey orbiter has caught the Martian moon Phobos during a full moon phase. Each color in this new image…
NASA’s Dart Mission to Demonstrate Planetary Defense Technique
The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) – NASA’s first mission to demonstrate a planetary defense technique – will get one chance to hit its target,…
Space Rock Hits the Moon at 61,000 Kilometers an Hour
Observers watching January’s total eclipse of the Moon saw a rare event, a short-lived flash as a meteorite hit the lunar surface. Spanish astronomers now…
New Model Reveals How Earth’s Moon Formed
For more than a century, scientists have squabbled over how the Earth’s moon formed. But researchers at Yale and in Japan say they may have…
