Planetary Science

  1. Planetary Science

    How Earth’s radiation belt gets its ‘stripes’

    The rotation of the Earth may give the planet's inner radiation belt its zebralike stripes.

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  2. Space

    Exoplanet oxygen may not signal alien life

    Oxygen in an exoplanet atmosphere may come from water and ultraviolet light, not alien life.

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  3. Planetary Science

    Mercury is more shriveled than originally thought

    Like a week-old party balloon, Mercury has shrunk over the last 4.6 billion years.

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  4. Planetary Science

    Feedback

    Readers respond to a special report on neuroscience and discuss moon dust.

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  5. Planetary Science

    Mojave Crater may be source of many Martian meteorites

    Many of the roughly 150 Martian meteorites found on Earth probably came from the Mojave Crater on Mars.

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  6. Planetary Science

    Asteroid disintegrates while spinning too fast

    Asteroid P/2013 R3 is shattering into a cloud of debris in these images captured by the Hubble Space Telescope.

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  7. Planetary Science

    Lunar asteroid impact caught on video

    On September 11, a dishwasher-sized meteoroid slammed into the nearside of the moon, exploding with the equivalent of 16 tons of TNT — and a lucky team of Spanish astronomers caught it on video.

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  8. Planetary Science

    Moon like blue cheese?

    The lunar surface turns out to have more grit than scientists thought.

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  9. Planetary Science

    Big space rock makes an impact on Mars

    An orbiting spacecraft snapped images of a huge crater and blast marks on the surface of the Red Planet.

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  10. Planetary Science

    Asteroid shows its inner differences

    The peanut-shaped space rock is more compact on one side than on the other.

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  11. Planetary Science

    Mars ‘air’ found thinner

    Readers get an update on the Red Planet's atmosphere and how new probes land there with parachutes.

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  12. Planetary Science

    China’s moon rover may be beyond repair

    If the rover’s electronics are exposed to the extremely cold temperatures on the moon, they will break, leaving Jade Rabbit inoperable.

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