Planetary Science

  1. two researchers crouched on the ground in a field examining and collecting pieces of the Winchcombe meteorite
    Planetary Science

    The pristine Winchcombe meteorite suggests that Earth’s water came from asteroids

    Other meteorites have been recovered after being tracked from space to the ground, but never so quickly as the Winchcombe meteorite.

    By Lisa Grossman
  2. Mars' Cerberus Fossae region, seen as a barren landscape with a prominent fault line running through it
    Planetary Science

    Marsquakes hint that the planet might be volcanically active after all

    Seismic data recorded by NASA’s InSight lander suggest molten rock moves tens of kilometers below the planet’s fractured Cerberus Fossae region.

    By Katherine Kornei
  3. A close up of orange bacteria on a yellow background
    Microbes

    Ancient bacteria could persist beneath Mars’ surface

    Radiation-tolerant microbes might be able to survive beneath Mars’ surface for hundreds of millions of years, a new study suggests.

    By Sid Perkins
  4. A blue split stream of dust and rock wafting off the asteroid Dimorphos seen after the DART spacecraft mission
    Planetary Science

    NASA’s DART mission successfully shoved an asteroid

    Data obtained since the spacecraft intentionally crashed into an asteroid show that the impact altered the space rock’s orbit even more than intended.

    By Lisa Grossman
  5. image of Mars’ south polar ice cap
    Planetary Science

    Mars’ buried ‘lake’ might just be layers of ice and rock

    Evidence grows that possible detections of liquid water buried near Mars’ south pole might not hold water.

    By Katherine Kornei
  6. Robin Wordsworth stands in front of a martian meteorite exhibit wearing a gray sweater and glasses
    Planetary Science

    Robin Wordsworth re-creates the atmosphere of ancient Mars

    Robin Wordsworth studies the climates of Mars and other alien worlds to find out whether they could support life.

    By Nikk Ogasa
  7. The asteroid moonlet Dimorphos, taken by DART just seconds before the spacecraft smashed into it.
    Planetary Science

    NASA’s DART spacecraft just smashed into an asteroid — on purpose

    If the first-ever attempt to knock a space rock off course works, it could provide a blueprint to protect Earth from a killer asteroid.

    By Maria Temming
  8. Neptune and its rings as seen in infrared by JWST
    Planetary Science

    Here is the first direct look at Neptune’s rings in more than 30 years

    In 1989, the Voyager 2 spacecraft took the first pics of Neptune’s rings. Now, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is providing a more detailed look.

    By Christopher Crockett
  9. Saturn from an angle of roughly 45 degrees from the plane defined by its rings. The sunlight casts a shadow of the planet across its rings.
    Planetary Science

    Saturn’s rings and tilt might have come from one missing moon

    The hypothetical moon, dubbed Chrysalis, could have helped tip the planet over before getting shredded to form the rings, researchers suggest.

    By Lisa Grossman
  10. illustration of the Milky Way
    Planetary Science

    Passing through the Milky Way’s arms may have helped form Earth’s solid ground

    Barrages of comets stirred up by the early solar system’s journey around the center of the galaxy could explain the timing of ancient rock formation.

    By Katherine Kornei
  11. blurry illustration of the exoplanet Wasp-39 b with its star in the background
    Astronomy

    The James Webb telescope spotted CO2 in an exoplanet’s atmosphere

    The first definitive detection of the gas on a world in another solar system paves the way for detections in planets that are more Earthlike.

    By Lisa Grossman
  12. An illustration of a huge asteroid crashing into ocean. An ancient sea creature is visible under the water
    Earth

    Not one, but two asteroids might have slain the dinosaurs

    A craterlike structure found off West Africa’s coast might have been formed by an asteroid impact around the same time the dinosaurs went extinct.

    By Nikk Ogasa