Research news on Planets & planetary systems

Subaru telescope captures comet 3I/ATLAS composition change

The Subaru Telescope observed the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS on January 7, 2026, after it made its closest approach to the sun. By observing colors in the coma around the comet, astronomers could estimate the ratio of carbon ...

Moon race: How China is challenging the US

Walking on the moon by 2030, building a lunar base, and then perhaps on to Mars: after 30 years of honing its expertise, China is challenging the United States' supremacy in spaceflight.

Large craters offer clues to the origin of asteroid 16 Psyche

Even 200 years after asteroid 16 Psyche was discovered, astronomers continue to puzzle over its formation. Psyche is the 10th-most massive asteroid in the main belt between Mars and Jupiter, and the largest known metallic ...

'Ionic liquids' could redefine the habitable zone

"Follow the water" has been a guiding mantra of astrobiology, and even space exploration more generally, for decades. If you want to find life, it makes sense to look for the universal solvent that almost all types of life ...

Astronomers collect rare evidence of two planets colliding

Anastasios (Andy) Tzanidakis was combing through old telescope data from 2020 when he found an otherwise boring star acting very strangely. The star, named Gaia20ehk, was about 11,000 light-years from Earth near the constellation ...

Curiosity rover captures Martian spiderwebs up close

For about six months, NASA's Curiosity Mars rover has been exploring a region full of geologic formations called boxwork, low ridges standing roughly 3 to 6 feet (1 to 2 meters) tall with sandy hollows in between. Crisscrossing ...

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