Planetary Science
- Planetary Science
Comet lander Philae phones home
The European Space Agency has received signals for its comet lander Philae, which touched down on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in November and has been in hibernation since.
- Planetary Science
Rendezvous with Pluto
Earth will get its first good look at Pluto and its five known moons when New Horizons sails past on July 14.
- Planetary Science
Saturn’s widest ring measured
Saturn has an invisible belt that's nearly 270 times as wide as the giant planet, researchers report.
- Planetary Science
WISE satellite measures girth of Saturn’s widest ring
Saturn’s dark, outermost ring is about 270 times as wide as the planet itself.
- Planetary Science
Cassini gets last look at Saturn’s spongy satellite Hyperion
The Cassini spacecraft buzzed Saturn’s spongy moon Hyperion for the final time and sent back more pictures of this odd little satellite.
- Planetary Science
Pluto’s four littlest moons probably born in a crash
On the eve of the arrival of the New Horizons spacecraft, Pluto’s tiny moons hint at a common origin.
- Planetary Science
NASA picks nine instruments for future mission to Europa
NASA has selected nine instruments to fly on a future spacecraft to Jupiter’s ice-covered moon Europa.
- Planetary Science
Sea salt may stripe Europa’s surface
Salt deposits on Jupiter’s moon Europa might be responsible for brown stripes on the icy satellite’s surface.
- Planetary Science
Boulders balance on tiny tips as comet 67P zooms through space
Three boulders on comet 67P resemble balancing rocks that are seen on Earth.
- Earth
Asteroids boiled young Earth’s oceans, remnant rocks suggest
Giant asteroid impacts may have boiled Earth’s oceans around 3.3 billion years ago, snuffing out near-surface life.
- Planetary Science
New Horizons probe takes family photo of Pluto’s moons
The New Horizons spacecraft finally spied Pluto's two tiniest satellites, Kerberos and Styx, in a series of images taken from April 25, 2015 to May 1, 2015.
- 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.
