Space
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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Space
Images show puny plume from moon crash
Data from another craft suggest iron and mercury, not frozen water, were kicked up when a spent rocket plunged into a lunar crater
By Ron Cowen - Space
Solar system’s edge surprises astronomers
New observations reveal a dense ribbon structure that current models don't explain.
By Ron Cowen - Ecosystems
Windy with a chance of weevils
Scientists have traced the reappearance of cotton pests in west-central Texas to a tropical storm.
By Sid Perkins - Space
Europa’s proposed ocean could be rich in oxygen
A proposed ocean on Jupiter’s moon Europa may receive about 100 times more oxygen than previously estimated.
By Ron Cowen - Space
Too much plume promise
BLOG: NASA hype over moon crash may have clouded value of real data.
By Ron Cowen - Space
Moon crash delivers no obvious plume
But the two impacts still yield data that could help in search for water
By Ron Cowen - Planetary Science
Award named for late Science News writer
Jonathan Eberhart's name lives on in a new planetary-sciences award.
By Janet Raloff - Space
Ice confirmed on an asteroid
Reporting from the American Astronomical Society meeting in Puerto Rico, planetary scientists confirm, for the first time, the presence of frozen water on an asteroid.
By Ron Cowen - Space
Jupiter’s second greatest hit
Features of a bruise in the Jovian atmosphere suggest an asteroid may be what pummeled the planet this summer.
By Ron Cowen - Space
Largest known planetary ring discovered
Researchers have found a dusty band that circles Saturn and has a radius of more than 12 million kilometers.
By Ron Cowen - Space
Water on the moon: How much?
Ron Cowen reports from the annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society’s Division for Planetary Sciences.
By Ron Cowen - Space
Inspecting an asteroid that hit Earth
Researchers have analyzed fragments from 2008 TC3, the first asteroid ever tracked during its descent.
By Ron Cowen