Search results for Planetary Systems

Planetary Sciences Jul 5, 2026

Deuterium in comets tells interesting tales

Comets have played an interesting role in the history of astronomy. Since antiquity, many cultures saw them as omens or spirits, portending good or bad news for kings, queens and emperors. Over the past few hundred years, ...

Space Exploration Jul 5, 2026

Japan space probe skims asteroid in test for planetary defense

A Japanese space probe performed a flyby of a near-Earth asteroid on Sunday in a test mission for technology that could help protect the planet from space rocks.

Astronomy Jul 2, 2026

Comet from another star has a composition unlike anything else in our solar system

Astronomers have revealed new details about the makeup and age of a visiting comet that was born around a distant star. They conclude that the composition of 3I/Atlas is strikingly different from any object found in our solar ...

Astrobiology Jul 1, 2026

New star activity catalog could sharpen hunt for habitable worlds

Searching for habitable worlds beyond our solar system involves more than having a planet orbit within its star's habitable zone, the region where temperatures could be just right for liquid water to exist on the surface. ...

Astronomy Jul 1, 2026

TESS just found a planet in a new way—and more may be hiding in its eight years of data

For the first time, NASA's TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) mission has identified a planet orbiting a distant star thanks to its warping of space-time. Unlike the star-hugging transiting planets TESS regularly ...

Planetary Sciences Jul 1, 2026

13,000 tons of space junk clutters Earth orbit. Here's how it could be cleaned up

Seventy years ago, Earth had only one satellite: the moon. Now it has more than 15,000—about 10,000 of which are owned by Elon Musk's SpaceX. The world's first trillionaire plans to launch 1 million more satellites, each ...

Space Exploration Jul 1, 2026

Martian dust storms may generate atmospheric electrical conditions that could impact future missions

A new study by a doctoral researcher at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), part of The University of Alabama System, suggests global dust storms on Mars may organize the Martian atmosphere into regions favorable ...

Space Exploration Jul 1, 2026

ESA outlines high-tech lander instruments for 2050 Enceladus

Saturn's moon Enceladus has become a prime solar system target for astrobiologists. This is because the small moon, which is just over 10% the diameter of Earth's moon, harbors a vast subsurface ocean beneath its icy crust. ...

Astronomy Jul 1, 2026

How a giant planet survived its star's death, then migrated inward

When astronomers discovered a giant planet orbiting a dead star in 2020, they wondered how it survived its star's violent demise. Now, observations from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) may finally explain the planet's ...

Astrobiology Jun 30, 2026

Earth microbes can survive individual martian hazards—and evade astronaut immune systems

Hopefully, we're about to travel back to the moon relatively soon. And while the original "giant leap for mankind" was taken by a human, Neil Armstrong brought a plethora of other forms of life along with him. Humans themselves ...

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