Planetary Science

Astronomy

Fewer big rogue planets roam the galaxy, recount shows

Jupiter-mass planets without parent solar systems are less common than astronomers thought, a new study suggests.

Planetary Science

Earth might once have resembled a hot, steamy doughnut

Newly proposed space objects called synestias are large, spinning hunks of mostly vaporized rock. They look like a jelly-filled doughnut.

Planetary Science

New Horizons’ next target caught making a star blink

The team behind the spacecraft that visited Pluto has seen its next quarry blocking the light from a distant star.

Planetary Science

Giant mud balls roamed the early solar system

The first asteroids may have been great balls of mud, which would solve some puzzling features of meteorites.

Planetary Science

Here are Juno’s first close-ups of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot

The Juno spacecraft swooped just 9,000 kilometers above Jupiter’s Great Red Spot on July 10. Here are the first pictures.

Planetary Science

Juno will fly a mere 9,000 km above Jupiter’s Great Red Spot

Juno is about to get up close and personal with Jupiter’s Great Red Spot.

Planetary Science

Readers intrigued by Mars’ far-out birth

Readers sent feedback on the Red Planet's formation, jumping genes and more

Planetary Science

The moon might have had a heavy metal atmosphere with supersonic winds

Heat from a glowing infant Earth could have vaporized the moon’s metals into an atmosphere as thick as Mars’, a new simulation shows.

Astronomy

Kepler shows small exoplanets are either super-Earths or mini-Neptunes

The final catalog from the Kepler space telescope splits Earthlike exoplanets into two groups and pinpoints 10 new rocky planets in the habitable zone.

Astronomy

Eclipse watchers catch part of the sun’s surface fleeing to space

A serendipitous eruption during a solar eclipse showed relatively cool blobs of plasma, wrapped in a million-degree flame, streaming from the sun.

Planetary Science

See the latest stunning views of Jupiter

Once every 53 days, NASA’s Juno spacecraft zooms past Jupiter’s cloud tops. A new sequence of images reveals the encounter from Juno’s viewpoint.

Planetary Science

Jupiter’s precocious birth happened in the solar system’s first million years

Jupiter formed within the first million years of the solar system, according to meteorite measurements.