Planetary Science

  1. Planetary Science

    Enceladus’ ocean goes global

    A subsurface liquid water ocean envelops Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus.

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  2. Planetary Science

    Mars’ ionosphere mystery explained

    A decades-old disagreement between the Viking landers and spacecraft buzzing around Mars might come down to what time of day each was investigating the Red Planet’s ionosphere.

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  3. Planetary Science

    Satellite captures double solar eclipse in action

    NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory caught a rare double eclipse as both Earth and the moon partially blocked the sun.

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  4. Planetary Science

    Asteroid impacts may explain Venus’ missing oxygen

    Asteroid impacts on Venus might have helped sequester oxygen left behind when Earth’s sister planet lost its water, new simulations show.

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  5. Planetary Science

    The first spacecraft buzzed a comet today in 1985

    Thirty years ago, a spacecraft became the first to fly past a comet.

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  6. Planetary Science

    New Pluto photos show unprecedented detail

    New images from the New Horizons spacecraft show off Pluto and Charon in unprecedented detail.

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  7. Planetary Science

    Ceres’ mysterious bright spots come into focus

    The Dawn spacecraft gets its best look yet at bright spots on Ceres.

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  8. Planetary Science

    The sad magnetic state of the solar system’s rocky worlds

    While a strong magnetic shield protects Earth from the sun’s occasional outbursts, the solar system’s other rocky planets are mostly defenseless.

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  9. Planetary Science

    The wait for more Pluto data is almost over

    As New Horizons prepares to tell us everything it learned about Pluto, fans of the dwarf planet take a crack at imagining what the spacecraft saw.

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  10. Planetary Science

    Life after Pluto: New Horizons to head for Kuiper belt boulder

    The New Horizons spacecraft has a second target in the Kuiper belt: an icy boulder dubbed 2014 MU69.

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  11. Planetary Science

    Mountains, craters revealed in latest images of dwarf planet Ceres

    The Dawn spacecraft sent back postcards from Ceres that show off the dwarf planet’s varied terrain.

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  12. Planetary Science

    Flyby of Dione yields stunning pictures of icy Saturn moon

    Saturn’s moon Dione shows off its ripping landscapes during the Cassini spacecraft’s final flyby.

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