Space

Planetary Science

An early cosmic wallop for life on Earth?

New evidence from lunar meteorites suggests that debris bombarded the moon some 3.9 billion years ago, about the same time that life may have formed on Earth.

Planetary Science

Mars Rovers: New evidence of past water

Twin rovers on opposite sides of the Red Planet have found additional evidence that liquid water once flowed there.

Planetary Science

Martian water everywhere

Combining data taken from two craft orbiting Mars with images and spectra collected by one of the Mars rovers, a scientist has found evidence that a body of water greater in area than all the Great Lakes combined once covered the Red Planet.

Astronomy

Planet Signs? Sifting a dusty disk

Infrared spectra of a disk of debris surrounding the young star Beta Pictoris reveals three distinct bands of dust, suggesting the location of a possible planet flanked by belts of asteroids or comets.

Astronomy

More space sugar

Astronomers have found a second, colder source of the simple sugar glycoaldehyde in a dust and gas cloud 26,000 light-years from Earth.

Astronomy

Big Smash: Galaxy clusters in collision

Astronomers have unveiled the most detailed image ever taken of the collision of two clusters of galaxies.

Planetary Science

Tiny scope spies distant planet

Using a telescope not much bigger than Galileo's, astronomers have discovered a planet orbiting a star 500 light-years from Earth.

Astronomy

Sky Lights: Picture might show an extrasolar planet

A faint point of red light may be the first picture ever taken of a planet outside the solar system.

Astronomy

Crashing Genesis

Scientists are trying to salvage the fragile samples of the solar wind collected by the Genesis spacecraft, which crashed to Earth on Sept. 8 after its parachutes failed to open.

Astronomy

Beryllium data confirm stars’ age

Measuring trace amounts of beryllium in two elderly stars, astronomers have found additional evidence that the first stars in the universe formed less than 200 million years after the Big Bang.

Planetary Science

Exploring Mars

Here’s your chance to help NASA explore the surface of Mars. At its Marsoweb site, the agency provides detailed maps, engineering data, and interactive tools for studying the Red Planet’s alien terrain. Visitors are invited to look for and report important geologic features that haven’t yet been catalogued or even viewed by researchers. Go to: […]

Planetary Science

A really cool map

A new infrared image of Saturn's rings provides the most detailed temperature map ever taken of these icy particles.