Planetary Science
- Earth
Early life probably fell victim to massive space rocks
Planet-sterilizing impacts probably snuffed out early life on Earth until around 4.3 billion years ago.
- Planetary Science
Comet ISON fell apart earlier than realized
Comet ISON disintegrated at least eight hours before it grazed the surface of the sun last fall, new observations show.
- Planetary Science
Rosetta spacecraft sees possible ‘double’ comet
The comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko may actually be two objects stitched together.
- Planetary Science
Titan’s origins linked to Oort cloud
The building blocks of Titan may have formed in the early solar system, not from a warm disk around Saturn when the planet was young.
- Planetary Science
Mystery patch found floating on Titan’s seas
Changes on the surface of a methane lake on one of Saturn’s moons may signal the onset of summer there.
- Astronomy
Rosetta spacecraft is closing in on comet 67P/C-G
The Rosetta spacecraft is still on track to pull up and park next to comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko in August.
- Planetary Science
Moon’s origins revealed in rocks’ chemistry
A new chemical measurement of rocks from Earth and from the moon supports the giant impact hypothesis, which explains how the moon formed billions of years ago.
- Planetary Science
Do-it-yourself solar system
If you've always wanted to build your own solar system, roll up your sleeves — SuperPlanetCrash is an online solar system simulator, set up as a game.
- Astronomy
Young, hot exoplanet takes title for longest year
Newly discovered exoplanet sits a whopping 2,000 times farther from its star than Earth does from the sun.
- Planetary Science
Titan’s haze gives clues to clouds on exoplanets
Titan’s hazy atmosphere may help astronomers better understand what’s going on in the clouds of exoplanets.
- Planetary Science
Rosetta spacecraft’s comet develops dusty envelope
Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, the target of ESA’s Rosetta mission, has developed a dust coma.
- Planetary Science
The ice of a distant moon
Jupiter’s moon Europa hides a liquid ocean, and conceivably life, under kilometers of ice. The challenge for engineers is how to penetrate that frozen barrier with technology that can be launched into space and operated remotely.
