Planetary Science

Planetary Science

Hubble telescope ramps up search for Europa’s watery plumes

Astronomers are redoubling their efforts to confirm that the icy moon Europa spews water from its south pole.

Planetary Science

How to keep humans from ruining the search for life on Mars

As the race to put humans on Mars heats up, researchers worry they are running out of time to find life on the Red planet.

Planetary Science

NASA is headed to Earth’s outermost edge

NASA’s upcoming GOLD mission will study the charged border between Earth and space.

Astronomy

Aliens ruled out for why Tabby’s star flickers

The first real-time observations of Tabby’s star flickering put the final nail in the “alien megastructure” coffin.

Astronomy

86 stars get official names

The International Astronomical Union has released 86 newly official star names, based, in part, on historical star names from various indigenous cultures.

Planetary Science

Here’s what you might have missed in space this year

Missions to Jupiter and Saturn made big headlines, and 2017 also saw exciting updates from missions of years past.

Astronomy

NASA’s next stop will be Titan or a comet

The finalists for NASA’s next solar system mission aim to send a drone to Saturn’s largest moon or to return samples from a comet.

Planetary Science

Saturn’s rings are surprisingly young and may be from shredded moons

Final data from the Cassini spacecraft put a date and a mass on the gas giant’s iconic rings.

Astronomy

New Horizons’ next target might have a moon

New Horizons’ next target, Kuiper Belt object MU69, may have a small moon.

Planetary Science

Jupiter’s massive Great Red Spot is at least 350 kilometers deep

NASA’s Juno spacecraft has measured the depth of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot for the first time.

Earth

Watching this newborn island erode could tell us a lot about Mars

The birth and death of a young volcanic island in the Pacific Ocean may shed light on the origins of volcanoes in Mars’ wetter past.

Planetary Science

Saturn’s rings mess with the gas giant’s atmosphere

Data from Cassini’s shallow dives into Saturn’s ionosphere show that this charged layer in the atmosphere interacts with the planet’s rings.