Planetary Science

Astronomy

Close pass by sun didn’t radically alter comet 67P’s landscape

Landslides on comet 67P shot plumes of dust into space, but changes like these might not radically alter the landscape of the comet.

Planetary Science

Saturn’s ‘Death Star’ moon may not conceal an ocean after all

A lack of cracks on Mimas suggests that the icy moon of Saturn doesn’t conceal a subsurface ocean of liquid water.

Planetary Science

Saturn’s ‘Death Star’ moon may not conceal ocean after all

A lack of cracks on Mimas suggests that the icy moon of Saturn doesn’t conceal a subsurface ocean of liquid water.

Planetary Science

Europa lander mission takes another step toward reality

NASA is working on a possible lander mission in which the main science goal would be to search for signs of life on Jupiter’s moon Europa.

Planetary Science

Juno spacecraft won’t go into shorter orbit around Jupiter

Juno will remain in its 53-day orbit around Jupiter due to an issue with two helium check valves, NASA reports.

Planetary Science

Ceres harbors homegrown organic compounds

NASA’s Dawn spacecraft has detected organic matter — the building blocks of life — on the dwarf planet Ceres, a new study suggests.

Planetary Science

Red Planet’s interior may not churn much

The magma fueling a Martian volcanic system remained largely unchanged for billions of years, analysis of a newfound meteorite suggests.

Planetary Science

Oxygen atoms from Earth bombard the moon

Oxygen atoms originating from the upper atmosphere periodically bombard the moon’s surface, researchers propose.

Life

Asteroid barrage, ancient marine life boom not linked

Impacts from asteroid debris probably didn’t trigger the boom in marine animal diversity around 471 million years ago during the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event.

Planetary Science

Weird wave found in Venus’ wind-whipped atmosphere

A 10,000-kilometer-long gravity wave arched across the upper atmosphere of Venus. The feature may have been the largest of its kind in the solar system.

Planetary Science

The moon is still old

New analysis of moon rocks points to our satellite forming about 4.51 billion years ago, roughly 60 million years after the start of the solar system.

Planetary Science

Many tiny moons came together to form moon, simulations suggest

Earth’s moon formed from mini-moons generated by a series of medium to large impacts, rather than from one colossal collision, researchers propose