Space
We summarize the week's science breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Planetary Science
NASA moves ahead with a mission to Europa
A NASA mission slated for the 2020s to Jupiter’s icy moon will try to figure out if the ocean there is habitable.
- Astronomy
Mars-sized exoplanet is smallest to have its mass measured
The smallest exoplanet to be weighed is a hot, rocky cousin of the Red Planet.
- Earth
Most of Earth’s impact craters await discovery
Hundreds of undiscovered impact craters probably dot Earth’s surface, new research estimates.
- Astronomy
Pluto at last
Precision matters, whether looking at global temperatures, subatomic particles or the carefully timed approach to a faraway world.
- Planetary Science
Water’s origin story, science and sci-fi and more reader feedback
Readers discuss how Earth got its water, chat about a hot spot's violent past and more.
- Astronomy
Distant galaxy may contain primeval stars
A stockpile of the first generation of stars might be lighting up gas in a galaxy that existed roughly 800 million years after the Big Bang.
- Planetary Science
Methane found in meteorites from Mars
Methane stored in Martian meteorites points to possibly habitable environments beneath the surface of the Red Planet.
- 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.
- Astronomy
Some of sun’s magnetic fields may act more like forests
A swaying forest of mangrovelike magnetic fields on the sun could be the answer to why the solar atmosphere is millions of degrees hotter than the surface.
- 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.
