Space
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Planetary Science
Two unseen moons may circle Uranus
Two more moons might be lurking around Uranus, causing material in the planet’s rings to clump up, Voyager 2 data suggest.
- Planetary Science
First peek under clouds reveals Jupiter’s surprising depths
Jupiter’s colorful bands originate several hundred kilometers beneath the cloud tops, the Juno spacecraft reveals.
- Planetary Science
Mars lander silent as mission scientists work out what went wrong
Schiaparelli lander is still silent on the surface of Mars while mission scientists try to understand what happened during the probe’s descent.
- Planetary Science
Experts don’t agree on age of Saturn’s rings
Saturn’s rings could be almost as old as the solar system, and the Cassini craft is poised to help find out.
- Planetary Science
Juno spacecraft goes into ‘safe mode,’ continues to orbit Jupiter
The Juno spacecraft has gone into safe mode while in orbit around Jupiter. Mission scientists are also closely monitoring a fuel valve issue on the probe.
- Planetary Science
Mission scientists await signal from Mars lander
The ExoMars mission’s Schiaparelli lander went silent before its scheduled landing on the Red Planet.
- Planetary Science
Possibly cloudy forecast for parts of Pluto
Reflective patches on Pluto could be hints of rare cloud formation on the dwarf planet.
- Planetary Science
ExoMars mission set to arrive at Red Planet on October 19
The European ExoMars mission is about to arrive at the Red Planet, dropping a lander on the surface and putting a spacecraft into orbit.
- Planetary Science
Lava may be flowing from Venus volcano
Lava flows might explain a hot spot seen in data from Venus Express spacecraft.
- Planetary Science
Comet 67P cracking under pressure
Cracks developing on comet 67P are signs of stress building in the neck of the comet that could lead to its two ends snapping apart.
- Astronomy
Cosmic census of galaxies updated to 2 trillion
A new census of the cosmos suggests that there might be 2 trillion galaxies in the observable universe, about 10 times as many as previous estimates.
- Cosmology
‘Voyage of Time’ is Terrence Malick’s ode to life
With “Voyage of Time,” director Terrence Malick brings the history of the universe — and the evolution of life on Earth — to the big screen.
