Planetary Science

More Stories in Planetary Science

  1. Planetary Science

    A giant planet may orbit our closest sunlike neighbor

    Alpha Centauri A, four light-years from Earth, may host a gas giant. If confirmed, no Earthlike planets orbit in the star’s habitable zone.

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  2. Planetary Science

    This star offers the earliest peek at the birth of a planetary system like ours

    A young sunlike star called HOPS 315 seems to host a swirling disk of gas giving rise to minerals that kick-start the planet formation process.

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  3. Planetary Science

    New Horizons visited Pluto 10 years ago. We’re still learning from it

    Over the past decade, researchers have been puzzling through Pluto’s mysteries. Meanwhile, the New Horizons probe heads for interstellar space.

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  4. Earth

    An ancient Earth impact could help in the search for Martian life

    Strange cone-shaped rocks led scientists to the hidden remains of one of Earth’s oldest asteroid impacts. It could help us find fossil life on Mars.

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  5. Life

    A barrage of radiation couldn’t kill this hardy life-form

    A type of lichen was able to survive extreme UV radiation in the lab, suggesting that ozone protection might not be required for life on exoplanets.

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  6. Planetary Science

    In a first, the Webb telescope found a planet by actually ‘seeing’ it

    Finding a Saturn-sized world around the young star TWA 7 could pave the way for the Webb space telescope’s direct observation of other exoplanets.

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  7. Planetary Science

    A possible new dwarf planet skirts the solar system’s edge

    For the dwarf planet candidate, one trip around the sun takes over 24,000 years. Its orbit challenges a proposed path for a hypothetical Planet Nine.

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  8. Planetary Science

    Venus’ tectonics may be actively reshaping its surface

    Circular landforms speckling the Venusian surface may be the work of tectonic activity.

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  9. Space

    A passing star could fling Earth out of orbit

    Simulations show that the star's tug could send Mercury, Venus or Mars crashing into Earth — or let Jupiter eject our world from the solar system.

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