Planetary Science

  1. Planetary Science

    Portrait of a Martian crater

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

    By Ron Cowen
  2. 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.

    By Ron Cowen
  3. Planetary Science

    Martian rovers survive storm

    Three months after being stymied by a planet-wide dust storm, NASA's twin Mars rovers are back in action.

    By Ron Cowen
  4. Planetary Science

    Neptune’s balmy south pole

    Neptune's south pole is about 10°C warmer than any other place on the planet.

    By Ron Cowen
  5. Planetary Science

    Muddying the Water? Orbiter drains confidence from fluid story of Mars

    New images of Mars diminish the evidence that liquid water has flowed on some parts of the planet, but bolster the case in other places.

    By Ron Cowen
  6. Planetary Science

    Survivor: Extrasolar planet escapes stellar attack

    An extrasolar planet survived after its aging parent star ballooned into a red giant that almost engulfed it.

    By Ron Cowen
  7. Planetary Science

    A different view of Uranus’ rings

    The rings of Uranus are now tilted edge on to Earth, revealing small, inner rings made of fine dust.

    By Ron Cowen
  8. Planetary Science

    Geyser gawker: Plans for a closer look at Enceladus

    The Cassini spacecraft will change course to take a close look next March at plumes of water vapor emanating from the south pole of Saturn's moon Enceladus.

    By Ron Cowen
  9. Planetary Science

    Idiosyncratic Iapetus

    The strange appearance of Saturn's moon Iapetus suggests that it was frozen in shape soon after birth, providing a glimpse into conditions in the early solar system.

    By Ron Cowen
  10. Planetary Science

    Deep Impact and Stardust: Still on assignment

    Two sturdy NASA spacecraft have new assignments, studying comets and looking for exoplanets.

    By Ron Cowen
  11. Planetary Science

    G Whiz! Craft identifies source of faint Saturnian ring

    The Cassini spacecraft has discovered the source of particles that make up Saturn's G ring.

    By Ron Cowen
  12. Planetary Science

    Saturn’s retinue: 60 and counting

    A little moon, two kilometers across, is Saturn's 60th satellite.

    By Ron Cowen