Space
Stunning images of swirling gas and dust may show a planet forming
Infrared images show a spiral of gas and dust around a star 520 light-years away. A smaller, tantalizing twist hints at where a planet is coalescing.
Planetary Science
More Stories in Planetary Science
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SpaceSalty water might exist on Mars, but it’s probably too cold for life
Salty liquids may last for several hours on the Red Planet but be too chilly for any known microorganisms from Earth to survive, simulations suggest.
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Planetary SciencePlanets with hydrogen-rich atmospheres could harbor life
Lab experiments show yeast and E. coli survive and reproduce in hydrogen gas, suggesting new environments to seek alien life.
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Planetary ScienceThis is the most comprehensive map of the moon’s geology yet
Cartographers merged Apollo-era maps and modern lunar observations to into a new geologic map of the moon.
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SpaceInterstellar comet Borisov has an unexpected amount of carbon monoxide
The second known visitor from outside the solar system has three times as much CO relative to H2O than any comet seen in the inner solar system.
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Planetary ScienceUnlike Earth, the gases in Venus’ atmosphere aren’t uniformly mixed
Measurements of Venus’ atmospheric nitrogen show that a planet’s upper atmosphere doesn’t necessarily match the lower atmosphere.
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Space‘Spacefarers’ predicts how space colonization will happen
In Spacefarers, Christopher Wanjek provides an optimistic yet realistic view on how humans might colonize the rest of our solar system.
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SpaceSaturn’s auroras may explain the planet’s weirdly hot upper atmosphere
Data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft could help solve Saturn’s mysterious “energy crisis.”
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Planetary ScienceIf Pluto has a subsurface ocean, it may be old and deep
New analyses of images from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft suggest that Pluto may have had a sea beneath its icy shell for roughly 4.5 billion years.
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Planetary ScienceThe asteroid Ryugu has a texture like freeze-dried coffee
Only about half of the asteroid Ryugu is rock; the rest is airy holes, a finding that could help reveal details of how the planets formed.