Planetary Science
- Planetary Science
Rosetta spacecraft’s comet develops dusty envelope
Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, the target of ESA’s Rosetta mission, has developed a dust coma.
- Planetary Science
The ice of a distant moon
Jupiter’s moon Europa hides a liquid ocean, and conceivably life, under kilometers of ice. The challenge for engineers is how to penetrate that frozen barrier with technology that can be launched into space and operated remotely.
- Planetary Science
Mountains on Saturn moon may have come from space
A mountainous ridge around the equator of Iapetus, one of Saturn’s moons, may have formed from cosmic debris.
- Planetary Science
RIP LADEE: 9/6/2013 – 4/18/2014
NASA’s Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) mission ended April 18.
- Planetary Science
Saturn may be getting a new moon
An icy object within Saturn's rings may be a new moon in the making.
- Astronomy
Early Mars couldn’t hold liquid water long
Small rocks hit Mars 3.6 billion years ago, suggesting an early atmosphere too thin for liquid water to hang around very long.
- Astronomy
Neutrinos from space rain down from all directions
Using Earth as a filter, scientists detect thousands of neutrinos from beyond the solar system.
- Planetary Science
Mercury’s surface once exploded in volcanoes
Newly released images show ancient vents and ash scattered within craters on Mercury's surface.
- Planetary Science
Subsurface sea hides below ice of Saturn moon
Astronomers add to evidence for a subsurface ocean on Enceladus using subtle variations in the moon’s gravity.
- Planetary Science
Moon gets younger age estimate
The moon may have formed about 95 million years after the birth of the solar system, up to 70 million years later than some scientists previously predicted.
- Planetary Science
Icy rings found around tiny space rock
Astronomers discover an icy ring around the planetoid Chariklo, held in place by unseen moons.
- Planetary Science
Icy planetoid found lurking at edge of solar system
Astronomers discovered an icy planetoid orbiting beyond the edge of the Kuiper belt.
