Planetary Science

  1. Planetary Science

    Bright spots on Ceres may be made of smaller patches of ice

    The Dawn spacecraft took a closer look at bright patches and craters on the dwarf planet Ceres.

    By Christopher Crockett
  2. Planetary Science

    Origin date established for Mercury’s magnetic field

    A 3.8-billion-year-old magnetic field on Mercury provides clues as to how the once volcanically active planet evolved.

    By Christopher Crockett
  3. Planetary Science

    How did Earth get its water?

    Earth is a wet planet that formed in a dry part of the solar system. How our planet’s water arrived may be a story of big, bullying planets and ice-filled asteroids.

    By Christopher Crockett
  4. Planetary Science

    Explore an asteroid with ‘Vesta Trek’

    Vesta Trek lets users explore the asteroid Vesta with data from the Dawn spacecraft.

    By Christopher Crockett
  5. Planetary Science

    MESSENGER mission ends with crash landing on Mercury

    The MESSENGER mission to Mercury came to a spectacular end as the probe crashed into the planet’s surface.

    By Christopher Crockett
  6. Planetary Science

    Pluto’s landscapes come into view as New Horizons closes in

    The New Horizons spacecraft sees surface markings and a possible polar cap on Pluto as it closes in for a July encounter.

    By Christopher Crockett
  7. Planetary Science

    The Martian Diaries

    Curiosity has explored Mars for over two and a half years. What if NASA's rover kept a scrapbook?

    By Alexandra Witze
  8. Planetary Science

    Before moon landings, scientists thought dust or crust might disrupt touchdown

    Moon dust didn’t swallow spacecraft as was suggested in the 1960s. Successful exploration since that has changed our view of the moon.

    By Ashley Yeager
  9. Planetary Science

    The moon is about as old as we thought it was

    Meteorite heat signatures pinpoint the age of the collision that created the moon — confirming many previous lunar age estimates.

    By Helen Thompson
  10. Planetary Science

    Atmospheric water may be giving Saturn its spots

    Planetary scientists think that water in Saturn’s atmosphere could be driving the massive storms that appear every few decades in the ringed planet’s atmosphere.

    By Helen Thompson
  11. Planetary Science

    Comet 67P shows no sign of magnetism

    Philae found no evidence of a magnetic field on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, but did send back some clues about its rough landing.

    By Christopher Crockett
  12. Planetary Science

    A modest Plutonian proposal

    Flagstaff, Echidna, Spock. Naming conventions for the landscapes of Pluto and its moons are proposed ahead of the arrival of the New Horizons probe.

    By Christopher Crockett