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Planetary Sciences news

NASA's mini rover team is packed for lunar journey
Three small NASA rovers that will explore the lunar surface as a team have been packed up and shipped from the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, marking completion of the first leg of the robots' ...
Space Exploration
3 hours ago
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Astronomers announce largest collection of comets found outside our solar system
For the first time, astronomers have imaged dozens of belts around nearby stars where comets and tiny pebbles within them are orbiting.
Astronomy
5 hours ago
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Yes, the odds of an asteroid striking Earth have doubled. No, you don't need to worry
At the end of 2024, astronomers detected an asteroid in the night sky. It was given the designation Y, since it was discovered in the last half of December, and R4 since it was the 117th rock to be found in the last couple ...
Planetary Sciences
6 hours ago
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Is methane the key to finding life on other worlds?
How would detecting methane help astronomers identify if exoplanets, or even exomoons, have life as we know it, or even as we don't know it? This is what a recent study published in The Astronomical Journal hopes to address ...
Astrobiology
Feb 10, 2025
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Scientists spot candidate for speediest exoplanet system
Astronomers may have discovered a scrawny star bolting through the middle of our galaxy with a planet in tow. If confirmed, the pair sets a new record for the fastest-moving exoplanet system, nearly double our solar system's ...
Planetary Sciences
Feb 10, 2025
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Researchers confirm an exoplanet potentially capable of sustaining life
An international team has confirmed the discovery of a super-Earth orbiting in the habitable zone of a nearby sun-like star. The planet was originally detected two years ago by Oxford University scientist Dr. Michael Cretignier. ...
Astronomy
Feb 8, 2025
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Earth from space: Snow-capped Swiss Alps
The ranges and valleys of the Swiss Alps stand out in this image captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission in December 2024.
Planetary Sciences
Feb 7, 2025
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'Temperamental' stars may be distorting exoplanet observations
"Temperamental" stars that brighten and dim over a matter of hours or days may be distorting our view of thousands of distant planets, suggests a new study led by UCL researchers.
Astronomy
Feb 7, 2025
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Roving the red planet: New paper documents first Mars mission soil samples
A new paper released today documents the first soil, airfall dust, and rock fragment samples collected by NASA for return from Mars. The University of Nevada, Las Vegas astrobiologist leading the specimen selection team discusses ...
Astrobiology
Feb 6, 2025
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NASA CubeSat finds new radiation belts after May 2024 solar storm
The largest solar storm in two decades hit Earth in May 2024. For several days, wave after wave of high-energy charged particles from the sun rocked the planet. Brilliant auroras engulfed the skies, and some GPS communications ...
Planetary Sciences
Feb 6, 2025
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Dusting for a young star's magnetic fingerprint illuminates planet formation
For the first time, astronomers have succeeded in observing the magnetic field around a young star where planets are thought to be forming. The team was able to use dust to measure the three-dimensional structure "fingerprint" ...
Astronomy
Feb 6, 2025
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Enceladus study shows the physics of alien oceans could hide signs of life from spacecraft
Searching for life in alien oceans may be more difficult than scientists previously thought, even when we can sample these extraterrestrial waters directly.
Astrobiology
Feb 6, 2025
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Meteorite discovery challenges long-held theories on Earth's missing elements
Understanding where Earth's essential elements came from—and why some are missing—has long puzzled scientists. Now, a new study reveals a surprising twist in the story of our planet's formation.
Astrobiology
Feb 5, 2025
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Lightning strikes link weather on Earth and weather in space
There are trillions of charged particles—protons and electrons, the basic building blocks of matter—whizzing around above your head at any given time. These high-energy particles, which can travel at close to the speed ...
Planetary Sciences
Feb 5, 2025
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As Scandinavian peninsula rises from sea, new satellite data show gravity changes
Bouncing back from under the weight of Ice Age glaciers which have long since vanished, the Nordic region land mass is slowly rising above sea level.
Planetary Sciences
Feb 5, 2025
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Martian lava rocks shed light on critical period of red planet's history
No matter how many missions to Mars she takes part in, the sheer joy of unearthing discoveries about the red planet never gets old for Mariek Schmidt.
Planetary Sciences
Feb 5, 2025
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En route to Jupiter, Europa Clipper captures images of stars
Three months after its launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the agency's Europa Clipper has another 1.6 billion miles (2.6 billion kilometers) to go before it reaches Jupiter's orbit in 2030 to take close-up ...
Astronomy
Feb 4, 2025
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Burrowing mole-bot could characterize other planets' soil
Burrowing under soil opens up a whole new world, especially when that soil is on other planets. Getting under the top layer of regolith on a world such as Mars could give access to a world still extant with life, whereas, ...
Space Exploration
Feb 4, 2025
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High-precision spectrograph confirms massive exoplanet orbiting a low-mass star
With an assist from the NEID spectrograph, a team of astronomers have confirmed the existence of exoplanet Gaia-4b—one of the most massive planets known to orbit a low-mass star. Gaia-4b is also the first planet detected ...
Astronomy
Feb 4, 2025
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How an ancient asteroid strike carved out 2 grand canyons on the moon
New research shows that when an asteroid slammed into the moon billions of years ago, it carved out a pair of grand canyons on the lunar far side.
Planetary Sciences
Feb 4, 2025
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More news

Trench-like features on Uranus's moon Ariel may be windows to its interior

Lunar rocks help scientists pinpoint when the moon crystallized

Newly spotted asteroid has a tiny chance of hitting Earth in 2032

A balloon mission that could explore Venus indefinitely

Bizarre features on Mars are caused by carbon dioxide geysers

How well could Earth life survive on exoplanets?

Is it time to start classifying exoplanetary systems?
Other news

Synthetic compartments 'turbocharge' bacteria for faster protein production

Crossing the blood–brain barrier with a payload via engineered bacteria

'Structural poverty' maps could steer help to world's neediest

Quantum computers successfully model particle scattering

Moon is not as 'geologically dead' as previously thought, new study reveals

Juno mission spots most powerful volcanic activity on Io to date

Planet formation favors the metal-rich inner Milky Way, suggest scientists

Dynamically stable large space structures via architected metamaterials

Experiments corroborate theory about how Titan maintains its atmosphere

Kitchen experiments shed light on Mars's volcanic rootless cones

There's more than just gravity at work in the solar system

Ingenuity measurements reveal surprising wind speeds on Mars

Exploiting photon colors for a high-performance quantum internet
