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.
By Sid Perkins - 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.
By Ron Cowen - Planetary Science
Martian moon probably pretty porous
Phobos may be a mass of rocky rubble, not a captured asteroid.
By Sid Perkins - Earth
Gravity lows mark burial sites of ancient tectonic plates
Dips in Earth's gravitational field are tied to 'slab graveyards'
By Sid Perkins - Planetary Science
Warmth in the dark age
Lower reflectivity kept Earth from freezing under a fainter young sun.
By Sid Perkins - 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.
By Sid Perkins - Earth
Irrigation draining California groundwater at ‘unsustainable’ pace
The GRACE satellites have tracked water movement from the Central Valley since 2003.
By Sid Perkins - Planetary Science
Pluto’s cloud components verified
Newly analyzed observations suggest that particles are tiny spherules of frozen nitrogen and carbon monoxide.
By Sid Perkins - Earth
Deep hole spotted on moon
The feature may be a ‘skylight’ in an underground lava tube.
By Sid Perkins - 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.
By Ron Cowen - Ecosystems
Windy with a chance of weevils
Scientists have traced the reappearance of cotton pests in west-central Texas to a tropical storm.
By Sid Perkins - Planetary Science
Award named for late Science News writer
Jonathan Eberhart's name lives on in a new planetary-sciences award.
By Janet Raloff