While InSight’s seismometer has been patiently waiting for the next big marsquake to illuminate its…
Browsing: Planets
Planets are celestial bodies that orbit stars, formed from the gas and dust of young solar systems. They come in a wide variety—from rocky worlds like Earth and Mars to gas giants like Jupiter and ice giants like Neptune. Studying planets helps scientists understand how solar systems form and evolve, including the conditions that might support life. This field includes both planets in our own solar system and exoplanets, planets orbiting stars beyond the Sun, discovered by powerful telescopes and space missions. This page features the latest research and discoveries about planets, their atmospheres, surfaces, and potential habitability.
The mission publishes its first stream of data on the amount of water in Jupiter’s…
Deep within Earth, swirling liquid iron generates our planet’s protective magnetic field. This magnetic field…
A “beating heart” of frozen nitrogen controls Pluto’s winds and may give rise to features…
A type of Martian aurora first identified by NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft in 2016 is actually…
Scientists may have figured out how dust particles can stick together to form planets, according…
Astronomers using ESO’s SPHERE instrument at the Very Large Telescope (VLT) have revealed that the…
There is an as-yet-unseen population of Jupiter-like planets orbiting nearby Sun-like stars, awaiting discovery by…
Venus may have been a temperate planet hosting liquid water for 2-3 billion years, until…
Research of Cassini data suggests icy rings are as old as the solar system itself.…
A Columbia study suggests chunks of an exomoon’s dusty outer layers of ice, gas and…
The search for Earth-like planets has intensified as astronomers continue to look for potential life…
The New Horizons team has discovered a chain of exotic snowcapped mountains stretching across the…
At the end of May, Venus, Jupiter, and Mercury will form a bright triangle only…
A newly published study takes a closer look at WASP-12 b, a planet that is…
Using data from NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope, scientists have verified 41 new transiting planets in…
Using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers discovered a fifth moon, designated P5, orbiting Pluto that…
Tidal heating, which is basically the gravitational heating of a planet via tides, suggests that…