Planetary Science

Planetary Science

NASA’s Perseverance rover found a new potential setting for Martian life

Now atop Jezero Crater, the robotic explorer found quartz indicative of habitable environments and possibly the oldest rocks yet seen in the solar system.

Planetary Science

Mars’ potato-shaped moons could be the remains of a shredded asteroid

Phobos and Deimos could have formed from asteroid debris, a new study suggests. An upcoming sample return mission will help test the idea.

Planetary Science

A first look at rocks from the lunar farside create a volcanic mystery

Rocks returned by China’s Chang’e-6 mission suggest volcanic activity just 2.8 billion years ago but lack telltale heat-generating elements.

Planetary Science

Uranus may have looked weird when NASA’s Voyager 2 flew by

A solar wind event days before the NASA probe flyby in 1986 may have compressed the planet’s magnetosphere, making it look odder than it usually is.

Planetary Science

50 years ago, scientists found a new moon orbiting Jupiter

In 1974, astronomers discovered Jupiter’s 13th moon. They now know of at least 95 moons and have launched missions to study some up close.

Planetary Science

The cataclysmic origins of most of Earth’s meteorites have been found

Just a few smashups in the asteroid belt may account for 70 percent of Earth’s meteorites, limiting what’s known about our solar system’s history.

Planetary Science

NASA’s Europa mission is a homecoming for one planetary astronomer

Over her long career, Bonnie Buratti has seen the search for life in the solar system go from a joke to a flagship mission.

Planetary Science

Saturn’s first Trojan asteroid has finally been discovered

Saturn joins the sun’s other giant planets that have Trojans, space rocks that orbit along the same path.

Planetary Science

Europa Clipper has launched to solve an alien mystery

Launched October 14, the spacecraft will repeatedly buzz Europa in search of water, energy and organic compounds.

Planetary Science

Scientists find a long-sought electric field in Earth’s atmosphere

The Earth’s ambipolar electric field is weak but strong enough to control the shape and evolution of the upper atmosphere.

Planetary Science

The Webb telescope’s peek into a stellar nursery finds baby planets too

Images by the James Webb telescope of six Jupiter-sized worlds, one of which may have a moon-forming disk, reveal clues into how planets and stars form.

Space

Moonquakes are much more common than thought, Apollo data suggest

The discovery of 22,000 previously unseen moonquakes, plus a new idea of what causes them, could help us better prepare for trips there.