Planetary Science
- Earth
Hazy antidote to a faint young sun
A new theory suggests atmospheric answer to the continuing paradox of why early Earth wasn’t icy.
- Planetary Science
Jupiter’s crash of ’09
The body that crashed into Jupiter last summer was likely an asteroid, and such impacts might occur as frequently as every 10 to 15 years, new studies suggest.
- Planetary Science
Martian moon probably pretty porous
Phobos may be a mass of rocky rubble, not a captured asteroid.
- Earth
Gravity lows mark burial sites of ancient tectonic plates
Dips in Earth's gravitational field are tied to 'slab graveyards'
- Planetary Science
Warmth in the dark age
Lower reflectivity kept Earth from freezing under a fainter young sun.
- Planetary Science
Signs of giant comet impacts found in cores
An uptick in ammonium may be evidence of a 50-billion-ton strike at the end of the ice age.
- Earth
Irrigation draining California groundwater at ‘unsustainable’ pace
The GRACE satellites have tracked water movement from the Central Valley since 2003.
- Planetary Science
Pluto’s cloud components verified
Newly analyzed observations suggest that particles are tiny spherules of frozen nitrogen and carbon monoxide.
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- Planetary Science
Mercury, As Never Seen Before: MESSENGER visits innermost planet
The first spacecraft to visit Mercury in 33 years imaged 25 percent of the crater-pocked surface that had never before been seen close-up.
- Ecosystems
Windy with a chance of weevils
Scientists have traced the reappearance of cotton pests in west-central Texas to a tropical storm.
- Planetary Science
Award named for late Science News writer
Jonathan Eberhart's name lives on in a new planetary-sciences award.
