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Planetary Sciences news
With an eye toward exploration, researchers map moon's regolith thickness
New research by lunar scientists from Brown University provides critical new insights into the thickness of the moon's regolith, the layer of loose dust and rock that drapes the entire lunar surface.
Planetary Sciences
12 hours ago
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The spin of Pluto's moon, Charon, may be slowing down
Evidence of the slowing of Charon's spin period (despinning) is recorded in tectonic features on the surface of Pluto's icy moon, according to a modeling study published in Nature Communications. The findings offer insights ...
Planetary Sciences
15 hours ago
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Data-driven tool can find mineral biosignatures on other worlds
A technique for judging whether a common mineral formed through biological activity could aid the search for ancient life on Earth and Mars. Apatite is a ubiquitous phosphate mineral found in terrestrial and extraterrestrial ...
Astrobiology
17 hours ago
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Most of the moon's water likely remains chemically bound in its deep interior
After decades of analyzing reams of lunar rocks back here on Earth, the canonical view of the moon was that it was anhydrous; that it had extraordinarily little water. That all began to change in 2009 with new data from NASA's ...
Planetary Sciences
Jul 13, 2026
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Six massive landslides discovered on icy Pluto
Scientists have detected evidence of landslides on Pluto for the first time. A paper published in the journal Icarus reports that images taken by the New Horizons spacecraft during a flyby revealed six large landslides in ...
Distant exoplanets may be hiding water beyond Webb Telescope's reach, study finds
The planets that appear most common in the universe could have a lot of water—but it could be hiding where telescopes can't detect it, according to a new study led by scientists with the University of Chicago.
Astronomy
Jul 13, 2026
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The US just approved a giant space mirror to test 'sunlight on demand.' Low Earth orbit is getting weird
A giant mirror to create "sunlight on demand" was just approved by the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC), despite opposition from astronomers and the public, and real safety concerns.
Space Exploration
Jul 13, 2026
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To ancient astronomers, Theta Eridani was brighter for 1,000 years—now we know why
There's a bit of a historical mystery surrounding the star Theta Eridani. Ptolemy in the second century A.D. and al-Sufi in A.D. 964 both recorded Theta Eridani as one of the 13 brightest stars in the sky. Hipparchus may ...
Astronomy
Jul 10, 2026
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Could exoplanets locked in eternal day and endless night support life?
Ever so slightly bigger than Earth, the exoplanet LHS 3844b orbits its parent star, LHS 3844, a red dwarf 48.5 light-years from our solar system. Its rotational speed mirrors its orbital speed. The result? One side of LHS ...
Astrobiology
Jul 10, 2026
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Warm Jupiter exoplanet transiting a sun-like star discovered
An international team of astronomers reports the discovery of a new exoplanet orbiting a sunlike star as part of the Next Generation Transit Survey (NGTS). The newfound alien world, designated NGTS-39 b, is a Jupiter-sized ...
Astronomers reveal how clouds shape the hidden interiors of the galaxy's most common planets
Sub-Neptunes are the most common type of planet in our galaxy. Bigger than Earth but smaller than Neptune, these worlds remain deeply mysterious because scientists still do not know what they are made of. What astronomers ...
Astronomy
Jul 10, 2026
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Capturing the cosmic 'drift' before a star is born
Stars like our sun are formed from the collapse of stellar objects called prestellar cores, cold and dense concentrations of gas and dust held together by gravity. While many questions remain about the exact mechanisms of ...
Astronomy
Jul 10, 2026
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A 'smart ruler' could help swarms of space telescopes image exoplanets
We've talked plenty of times here about the infeasibility of launching a mirror big enough to directly image exoplanets using current rocket fairings—at least as long as we're not sending them 500-plus AU away to a gravitational ...
Astronomy
Jul 9, 2026
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Image: Curiosity rover sees Martian sulfur up close
This close-up view shows fragments of sulfur crystals, the first ever seen on the Red Planet.
Planetary Sciences
Jul 9, 2026
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Young giant gas planet Beta Pic B refuses to reveal its origin
The young planetary system of the 23-million-year-old star Beta Pictoris (short: Beta Pic) is regarded as an iconic circumstellar dust disk, which hosts at least three giant gas planets. Discovered in 2008 by direct imaging, ...
Planetary Sciences
Jul 9, 2026
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Primordial mini-moons may explain meteorite composition
A new Southwest Research Institute-led study proposes a solution to a longstanding puzzle in planetary science: What caused the concentration, assembly, and preservation of millimeter-sized, spherical mineral grains within ...
Planetary Sciences
Jul 8, 2026
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Scientists discover rare 'super-Jupiter' planet with 180-day long orbit
Scientists from Queen's University Belfast have led an international team in the discovery of a rare new planet, which is larger than Jupiter and orbits a distant star every 180 days. Named NGTS-38 b, it is an exoplanet—a ...
Astronomy
Jul 8, 2026
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From the lab to the moon: Lunar cement alternative survives 6 months on ISS and returned stronger in some tests
Building material samples from the University of Delaware spent six months mounted outside the International Space Station, where the harsh conditions of low Earth orbit tested their limits.
Space Exploration
Jul 8, 2026
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Another success for Hayabusa 2 as it completes a flyby of asteroid Torifune
Hayabusa 2's primary mission is now well in the past. JAXA's asteroid-sampling spacecraft rendezvoused with asteroid Ryugu in June 2018. It studied the asteroid for 1.5 years and gathered a sample that was returned to Earth ...
Space Exploration
Jul 8, 2026
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Baseline tool could separate alien life signals from geology on ocean worlds
When it comes to the search for life elsewhere in the universe, methane and other chemical compounds are seen as signs of biology because they are often produced by living microbes. However, scientists can be misled because ...
More news
Japan releases snowman-like asteroid image after flyby
Discrepancies in AI lunar crater catalogs discovered
Japan space probe skims asteroid in test for planetary defense
Mars express captures dozens of dust devils in Mars valley
Deuterium in comets tells interesting tales
Hot Jupiter winds reveal exoplanet magnetic fields for first time
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Why we may still be choosing our friends like it's the Stone Age
Mystery of why some toads survive deadly fungus revealed
How tides and river water combine to amplify floods
ESA outlines high-tech lander instruments for 2050 Enceladus
Sound waves reconstruct Alaska fireball path after cameras miss key details
Giant exoplanet may hold a magnetic grip on its host star
New atomic trap boosts quantum performance by using surface forces
New cell imaging method shines a light on blind spots
