Planetary Science

  1. Planetary Science

    Surprise found in comet dust

    Scientists find an odd mineral that could offer clues to the solar system's origins.

    By Ashley Yeager
  2. Astronomy

    Visions of dirt

    Phoenix Lander gets first close-up of Martian soil.

    By Ashley Yeager
  3. Planetary Science

    Shake, shake, shake

    Instrument succeeds in capturing first soil sample, allowing Mars Phoenix Lander team to begin scientific studies.

    By Ashley Yeager
  4. Planetary Science

    Colliding moonlets

    New photos of collisions in one of Saturn’s rings provide a local lab for understanding the interactions that might shape young solar system formation.

    By Ashley Yeager
  5. Planetary Science

    Small exoplanet discovered

    Astronomers have discovered the smallest planet known that is beyond the solar system and orbits an ordinary parent body.

    By Ron Cowen
  6. Space

    Making an impression

    In its seventh day after successfully landing on the Red Planet, the Phoenix Lander digs its first trench and is ready to start its ice-hunting.

    By Ashley Yeager
  7. Planetary Science

    Dispatch from Mars, Sol 4

    The good news is a tentative sighting of ice by the Mars Phoenix Lander. The bad news is the discovery of a glitch in the system that will analyze soil samples.

    By Ron Cowen
  8. Planetary Science

    Rarin’ to go

    After a day’s delay, the robotic arm on the Mars Phoenix Lander is free of its shackles and is preparing to dig for ice.

    By Ron Cowen
  9. Planetary Science

    More than a pinch

    Water believed to flow on the Red Planet would have been too salty to foster life, scientists suggest.

    By Ashley Yeager
  10. Planetary Science

    See how it lands

    A camera on a Mars-orbiting spacecraft caught an image of NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander suspended from its parachute just before it descended onto the Red Planet’s northern plains on May 25.

    By Ron Cowen
  11. Planetary Science

    Touchdown! Phoenix lands on Mars

    The first close-up color images of the northern arctic circle on the Red Planet were recorded by the Mars Phoenix Lander spacecraft only a few hours after its flawless descent at 7:38 p.m. EDT, May 25. The detailed images suggest ice lies beneath the hard soil.

    By Ron Cowen
  12. Planetary Science

    Hop, skip and a jump

    Less gravity on Mars means wind-driven grains of sand travel up to 10 times faster than those blowing along Earth’s surface, new analyses suggest.

    By Sid Perkins