Planetary Science

  1. Planetary Science

    Touchdown! Phoenix lands on Mars

    The first close-up color images of the northern arctic circle on the Red Planet were recorded by the Mars Phoenix Lander spacecraft only a few hours after its flawless descent at 7:38 p.m. EDT, May 25. The detailed images suggest ice lies beneath the hard soil.

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  2. Planetary Science

    Hop, skip and a jump

    Less gravity on Mars means wind-driven grains of sand travel up to 10 times faster than those blowing along Earth’s surface, new analyses suggest.

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  3. Planetary Science

    BOOK LIST | Titan Unveiled

    Astronomer Lorenz and science writer Mitton provide the details of what we know so far about Saturn’s moon. TITAN UNVEILED Princeton University Press, 2008, 243 p., $29.95

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  4. Planetary Science

    Caught in the Act? Images may reveal planetary birth

    Astronomers, for the first time, have imaged dusty clumps surrounding young stars that could be planets in the making.

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  5. Planetary Science

    Gassy Geysers: Cassini surveys Saturn’s moon

    NASA's Cassini spacecraft had a close encounter with the giant vapor plume gushing from Saturn's tiny moon Enceladus.

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  6. Planetary Science

    Titan may harbor underground ocean

    Observations by the Cassini spacecraft hint that Saturn's smog-shrouded moon Titan may harbor a global ocean of water and ammonia 100 kilometers below its surface.

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  7. Planetary Science

    Dusty Clues: Study suggests no dearth of Earths

    A new study suggests that many, or perhaps most, sunlike stars have planets much like Earth.

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  8. Planetary Science

    A sunlike star’s early development

    A new infrared portrait of an embryonic sunlike star reveals an early, crucial step in the process of planet formation.

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  9. Planetary Science

    Sister Planet: Mission to Venus reveals watery past

    The Venus Express probe has found evidence that Venus once had more water than it does today, and has provided new measurements of the weather on Venus, proof of lightning on the planet, and signs of a formerly unknown hot spot near its south pole.

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  10. Planetary Science

    Chilled Out? Ice could lurk beneath Martian equator

    An immense volume of ice-rich material may underlie a formation that extends about one-quarter of the way around Mars' equator.

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  11. Planetary Science

    Portrait of a Martian crater

    An ultrasharp image of part of Mars' Gale crater shows waterborne sediments and volcanic ash.

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  12. Planetary Science

    Titan: Land of lakes—and drizzle

    A newly assembled mosaic of radar images of Saturn's moon Titan shows what appear to be hydrocarbon lakes and seas.

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