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Planetary Sciences news
Uranus, Neptune may be magma worlds, not ice giants
Uranus and Neptune remain two of the most mysterious objects in the solar system, primarily because they have been visited only by NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft in 1986 and 1989, respectively. Their "ice giant" moniker comes ...
Planetary Sciences
10 hours ago
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May 2024 superstorm drew most ring current ions from Earth, not solar wind, research reveals
In May 2024, auroras were observed at unusually low latitudes across the globe, lighting up skies that rarely see such displays. Inside Earth's magnetosphere, the region of space surrounding our planet and dominated by its ...
Astronomy
15 hours ago
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How NASA taught four astronauts to read the moon
How do you teach someone to look at the moon? Not glance at it, the way we all have on a clear night, but truly read it, the way a geologist reads a hillside. That was the challenge NASA set itself before Artemis II, because ...
Space Exploration
16 hours ago
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The US and China are planning moon bases: Designs may cut construction waste and improve life on Earth
The NASA Artemis program, now supported by 67 countries under the Artemis Accords, plans to return humans to the moon by 2028. A recent White House Executive Order has gone further, directing NASA to establish a permanent ...
Space Exploration
20 hours ago
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Scientists find evidence of vast hidden magma systems inside Mars
Researchers from the University of Oxford have uncovered evidence that Mars once hosted enormous, Earth-like magmatic systems deep beneath its surface—despite the planet lacking the plate tectonics long thought necessary ...
Astrobiology
Jun 26, 2026
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Ancient stellar flyby may still be steering long-period comets today
The Gaia mission has allowed researchers to understand the motions of stars like never before, even revealing possible interactions between our solar system and nearby stars. Planetary Science Institute Senior Scientist Nathan ...
Astronomy
Jun 25, 2026
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'Super-puff' planets less dense than cotton candy discovered by international team
An international collaboration has discovered two of the lowest-density giant planets ever detected: rare "super-puff" planets with densities lower than candy floss. The study—led by the University of Oxford, in collaboration ...
Astronomy
Jun 24, 2026
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108
Did gravitational tides cause Earth's extinctions?
Life on Earth took a long evolutionary journey that eventually created us, the purportedly intelligent species that dominates the planet. But there was no grand plan or design, only happenstance, nature and luck. Life on ...
Planetary Sciences
Jun 24, 2026
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261
Organic carbon detected in Bright Angel rock formation on Mars
In September 2025, NASA announced that its Perseverance rover had discovered a potential biosignature, which is a substance or structure that might have a biological origin. A new paper, published in Science Advances, unambiguously ...
Astrobiology
Jun 24, 2026
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Solar blast's magnetic cloud grew by one-fifth en route to Earth, spacecraft reveal
A University of Iowa-led physics team has detailed the extreme expansion of a magnetic cloud that originated from a huge, gaseous explosion on the sun. In a new study, the researchers describe the inflated magnetic cloud ...
Astronomy
Jun 24, 2026
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Images: Perseverance reaches 'marathon' milestone on Mars
NASA's Perseverance rover appears as a green speck on the Martian surface on June 13, 2026, a day before the robotic explorer marked a distance milestone, having traveled a full marathon (26.2 miles, or 42.195 kilometers) ...
Planetary Sciences
Jun 24, 2026
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We discovered a new rock type containing garnet inside a meteorite fragment from Mars
On Earth, garnet is best known as the fiery red January birthstone—popular in jewelry since the Bronze Age and valued highly by ancient Egyptians.
Astrobiology
Jun 24, 2026
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Asteroid zooming past Earth on Saturday visible to stargazers
A large asteroid that will zoom harmlessly past Earth on Saturday will be visible to stargazers using a small telescope or large binoculars, the European Space Agency announced Wednesday.
Planetary Sciences
Jun 24, 2026
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Hot Jupiter endures star-powered barbecue
You're the grillmaster at the annual family Fourth of July barbecue, and you're sweating bullets standing over the grill in the sweltering summer heat. You're trying to stay cool by pressing a cold beer can to your forehead, ...
Planetary Sciences
Jun 24, 2026
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Happy Asteroid Day! Prize-winning plan focuses on space infrastructure
For decades, astronomers and policymakers have been working on plans to protect our planet from killer asteroids. But now there's a new realm to protect: the thousands of satellites we're putting in orbit.
Planetary Sciences
Jun 23, 2026
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How long can plants survive on Earth? New model suggests up to 2 billion more years
Vegetarians need not worry yet—plants will be on Earth for a long time to come. But not forever. The sun will ultimately determine the long-term existence of life on Earth. Its total energy output, called luminosity, has ...
Making sense of Mars' tiny moon Phobos
Mars' innermost moon, Phobos, has long puzzled planetary scientists, who have continually debated whether it's a captured asteroid or formed from debris after a giant impactor struck the Martian surface. The key to solving ...
Planetary Sciences
Jun 22, 2026
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How solar wind forecasting will help define heliosphere's boundaries
Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) scientists are using a solar wind forecasting method combined with analytic and numerical heliosphere models to find out where the first plasma boundary of the outer heliosphere lies as ...
Planetary Sciences
Jun 22, 2026
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Astronomers want to build a swarm of telescopes to find life
Current plans for flagship telescopes in the 2040s are focused on answering a simple question: Are we alone? Our best telescopes to date, such as the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), have given us only tantalizing glimpses ...
Planetary Sciences
Jun 22, 2026
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Titan and Pluto exhibit the same mysterious spectral feature—and researchers can't figure out its origin
Researchers are constantly sifting through new spectral data gathered by powerful telescopes, like the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Most of the time, when they identify spectral features—specific absorption or emission ...
More news
Radio scans find no alien tech from the latest interstellar comet
The Sun may not engulf Earth after all, scientists say
Desert field test with NASA advanced rover prototype
NASA mission to study space weather impacts of Earth's atmosphere
Energetic neutral atoms may help map Uranus's odd magnetic environment
Asteroid Donaldjohanson wobbles as it rotates, Lucy flyby reveals
Dozens of active dust devils caught swirling across Mars canyon system
Other news
Clean crystal surface lets single molecules hit ultimate quantum limit
Secrets of how we see color revealed at the molecular level
Lava planet has hydrogen-rich, active atmosphere
Could Earth have sent life to Jupiter's moon Europa?
Future Martian colonists will need a new relativistic clock
Screen reveals new proteins that control RNA processing
Elusive thorium–thorium bonding directly observed using Hirshfeld atom refinement
Do animal behavior experiments give a distorted view of cooperation?
How bacteria use circadian clocks to colonize their world
