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Planetary Sciences news
Forget stardust—it was star ice all along
Carl Sagan famously said that "We're all made of star stuff." But he didn't elaborate on how that actually happened. Yes, many of the molecules in our bodies could only have been created in massive supernovae explosions—hence ...
Planetary Sciences
1 hour ago
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Can scientists detect life without knowing what it looks like? Research using machine learning offers a new way
When NASA scientists opened the sample return canister from the OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample mission in late 2023, they found something astonishing.
Astrobiology
8 hours ago
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XMM-Newton sees comet 3I/ATLAS in X-ray light
The European Space Agency's X-ray space observatory XMM-Newton observed interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS on 3 December for around 20 hours. During that time, the comet was about 282–285 million km from the spacecraft.
Astronomy
8 hours ago
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Interstellar comet keeps its distance as it makes its closest approach to Earth
A stray comet from another star swings past Earth this week in one last hurrah before racing back toward interstellar space.
Planetary Sciences
9 hours ago
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Hubble catches another glimpse of 3I/ATLAS
On July 1st, 2025, the third interstellar object (ISO) ever detected was seen making its way through our solar system. Shortly after being alerted by automated detection systems, astronomers at the European Space Agency (ESA) ...
Astronomy
9 hours ago
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EscaPADE explorer sort of goes to Mars
On 13 November, the Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamic Explorers (EscaPADE) mission launched to space on the New Glenn rocket provided by Blue Origin.
Space Exploration
9 hours ago
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Did a rogue planet reshape our solar system?
The giant planets weren't always where we find them today. Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune formed in a more compact configuration and later underwent a violent reshuffling that scattered them to their current positions. ...
Planetary Sciences
9 hours ago
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Astronomers find planetary and stellar companions to two ultracool dwarfs in Taurus
Astronomers from the University of Hawai'i (UH) at Manoa and elsewhere have observed the Taurus star-forming region, which resulted in the discovery of planetary-mass and stellar companions of two ultracool dwarf stars. The ...
Clues to the origin of hot Jupiters hidden in their orbits
The first exoplanet ever discovered in 1995 was what we now call a "hot Jupiter," a planet as massive as Jupiter with an orbital period of just a few days. Today, hot Jupiters are thought to have formed far from their stars—similar ...
Astronomy
11 hours ago
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The moon-forming event: Why it was by explosive ejection rather than a giant impact
One of the oldest unsolved riddles in planetary science concerns the origin of the moon. Over a century ago, George Darwin proposed that tidal and centrifugal forces on a rapidly rotating proto-Earth caused the moon to be ...
Supernova immersion model suggests Earth-like planets are more common in the universe
Rocky planets like our Earth may be far more common than previously thought, according to new research published in the journal Science Advances. It suggests that when our solar system formed, a nearby supernova (the massive ...
Comet 3I/ATLAS displays greenish hue in new Gemini North telescope images
Gemini North captured new images of Comet 3I/ATLAS after it reemerged from behind the sun on its path out of the solar system. The data were collected during a Shadow the Scientists session—a unique outreach initiative ...
Planetary Sciences
Dec 12, 2025
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Parker Solar Probe spies solar wind 'U-turn'
Images captured by NASA's Parker Solar Probe as the spacecraft made its record-breaking closest approach to the sun in December 2024 have now revealed new details about how solar magnetic fields responsible for space weather ...
Astronomy
Dec 11, 2025
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Unlocking the sun's magnetic secrets: AI-powered mapping reveals intricate 3D details
Researchers at the University of Hawaiʻi Institute for Astronomy (IfA) are helping reshape how scientists study the sun. The UH-led team has developed a new artificial intelligence (AI) tool that can map the sun's magnetic ...
Astronomy
Dec 11, 2025
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Earth's atmosphere may help support human life on the moon
The moon's surface may be more than just a dusty, barren landscape. Over billions of years, tiny particles from Earth's atmosphere have landed in the lunar soil, creating a possible source of life-sustaining substances for ...
Space Exploration
Dec 11, 2025
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Rare image of Tatooine-like planet is closest to its twin stars yet
In a discovery that's fit for a movie, Northwestern University astronomers have directly imaged a Tatooine-like exoplanet, orbiting two suns. While obtaining an image of a planet beyond our solar system is already rare, finding ...
Astronomy
Dec 11, 2025
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Swarm detects rare proton spike during solar storm
The European Space Agency's Swarm mission detected a large but temporary spike of high-energy protons at Earth's poles during a geomagnetic storm in November. It did this not with the scientific instruments for measuring ...
Astronomy
Dec 11, 2025
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The solution to finding an atmosphere on TRAPPIST-1 e
The hunt is on for terrestrial exoplanets in habitable zones, and some of the most promising candidates were discovered almost a decade ago about 40 light-years from Earth. The TRAPPIST-1 system contains seven terrestrial ...
Planetary Sciences
Dec 11, 2025
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Ultra-hot super-Earth shows signs of thick atmosphere despite extreme conditions
Researchers using NASA's James Webb Space Telescope have detected the strongest evidence yet for an atmosphere on a rocky planet outside our solar system.
Astronomy
Dec 11, 2025
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NASA loses contact with its Maven spacecraft orbiting Mars for the past decade
NASA has lost contact with a spacecraft that has orbited Mars for more than a decade.
Space Exploration
Dec 11, 2025
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More news
Uranus and Neptune might be rock giants
A pioneering study on the feasibility of asteroid mining
How Mars impacts Earth's climate
How oxygen first reached Earth's oceans
New NASA sensor goes hunting for critical minerals
NASA robot rover shows that sparks fly in dust storms on Mars
China outlines future plans in new video, including finding Earth 2.0
NASA selects two instruments for Artemis IV lunar surface science
Long ago, Mars had massive watersheds—now finally mapped
A blueprint for visiting an interstellar comet
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Scientists create stable, switchable vortex knots inside liquid crystals
Manta rays create mobile ecosystems, study finds
The hidden physics of knot formation in fluids
How sound moves on Mars
Solar wind storms may explain mystery surrounding Uranus' radiation belts
NASA tests drones in Death Valley, preps for Martian sands and skies
Portable optical scanner reveals hidden ozone damage in plant leaves
Algae-based asphalt binder strengthens roads for cold climates
