Last update:
Planetary Sciences news
Saturn's moon Titan could harbor life, but only a tiny amount, study finds
Titan, Saturn's largest moon, is a strange, alien world. Covered in rivers and lakes of liquid methane, icy boulders and dunes of soot-like "sand," its topography has long fascinated scientists and invited speculation on ...
Astrobiology
14 hours ago
0
37
FengYun-3 satellites improve global diurnal land surface temperature tracking
A recent study published in the ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing highlights how China's FengYun-3 (FY-3) meteorological satellites have improved global tracking of land surface temperature (LST) throughout ...
Planetary Sciences
Apr 7, 2025
0
0
A day at Uranus just got 28 seconds longer
A day at Uranus just got a little longer.
Astronomy
Apr 7, 2025
0
33
NASA and ESA want to bring Martian rocks to Earth. Here's what will happen to the samples once they get here
A mission will deliver rock and soil from Mars to laboratories on Earth in the 2030s. Mars Sample Return (MSR) is led by NASA with participation from the European Space Agency (ESA). The mission will allow scientists to use ...
Planetary Sciences
Apr 7, 2025
0
12
In the search for life on exoplanets, finding nothing is something too
What if humanity's search for life on other planets returns no hits? A team of researchers led by Dr. Daniel Angerhausen, a Physicist in Professor Sascha Quanz's Exoplanets and Habitability Group at ETH Zurich and a SETI ...
Astrobiology
Apr 7, 2025
0
47
Hubble helps determine Uranus' rotation rate with unprecedented precision
An international team of astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have made new measurements of Uranus' interior rotation rate with a novel technique, achieving a level of accuracy 1,000 times greater than previous ...
Astronomy
Apr 7, 2025
0
117
Methane detected in the atmosphere of the nearest T dwarf
Using the 10.4-m Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC), European astronomers have detected methane in the atmosphere of WISEA J181006.18−101000.5—the closest T dwarf to Earth. The finding was reported in a research paper published ...
Here's how we could quickly raise temperatures on Mars
Multiple plans exist to explore Mars in the coming decades using robotic and crewed missions. The ultimate goal of these missions is to determine whether human beings could actually live there someday. This requires access ...
Planetary Sciences
Apr 4, 2025
11
74
Massive Jupiter storm churns ammonia deep into planet's atmosphere
A pair of planetary scientists at the University of California, working with a colleague from the California Institute of Technology, has discovered that a massive amount of ammonia is churned up and down in Jupiter's atmosphere ...
Perseverance rover witnesses one Martian dust devil eating another
The six-wheeled explorer recently captured several red planet mini-twisters spinning on the rim of Jezero Crater.
Planetary Sciences
Apr 3, 2025
0
180
Rising odds asteroid that briefly threatened Earth will hit moon
A huge asteroid that was briefly feared to strike Earth now has a nearly 4% chance of smashing into the moon, according to new data from the James Webb Space Telescope.
Space Exploration
Apr 3, 2025
0
123
Exploring Titan's icy hydrocarbon cycle
Though wildly different in so many ways, Earth and Saturn's moon Titan have something important in common. Among all the objects in the solar system, they're the only two with liquids on their surfaces. There are parallels ...
Planetary Sciences
Apr 3, 2025
0
53
Students design a mission to Venus on the cheap
Sometimes, the best way to learn how to do something is just to do it. That is especially true if you're learning to do something using a specific methodology. And in some cases, the outcome of your efforts is something that's ...
Space Exploration
Apr 3, 2025
0
4
Studying Uranian moons using passive radar sounding
How can Uranus be used to indirectly study its moons and identify if they possess subsurface oceans? This is what a recent study presented at the 56th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference hopes to address as a team of scientists ...
Planetary Sciences
Apr 3, 2025
0
1
Solar wind compresses Jupiter's magnetosphere, creating a hot region spanning half the planet's circumference
A massive wave of solar wind that squished Jupiter's protective bubble has been detected for the first time.
Planetary Sciences
Apr 3, 2025
0
135
Webb telescope captures photos of the asteroid that won't hit Earth in 2032
The Webb Space Telescope has captured pictures of the asteroid that caused a stir earlier this year when it topped Earth's hit list.
Planetary Sciences
Apr 3, 2025
0
82
Q&A: Webb finds asteroid 2024 YR4 is building-sized
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope recently turned its watchful eye toward asteroid 2024 YR4, which we now know poses no significant threat to Earth in 2032 and beyond.
Planetary Sciences
Apr 2, 2025
0
0
How space law aims to regulate 'space junk' and protect Earth
While life on Earth has been dramatic enough lately, there's also been an unusual amount of news from space in the early months of 2025. So far, debris from SpaceX and Blue Origin rockets has landed in locations including ...
Space Exploration
Apr 2, 2025
0
6
Asteroid impact threat estimates improved for the Earth and the moon
Asteroid 2024 YR4, first discovered in December 2024, triggered a first-ever notification from the International Asteroid Warning Network (IAWN) on January 29, 2025. The early calculations predicted an impact probability ...
Planetary Sciences
Apr 2, 2025
0
24
New distant warm Jupiter discovered with TESS
Using the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), an international team of astronomers has detected a new warm Jupiter exoplanet located more than 1,000 light years away. The newfound alien world, designated TOI-2005 ...
More news
Fixing cracks in space bricks with bacteria
How can we find cryovolcanoes on Europa?
Sampling the plumes of Jupiter's volcano moon, Io
Video: Is space debris a crisis?
Hubble's 20-year study of Uranus yields new atmospheric insights
Could convection in the crust explain Venus's many volcanoes?
NASA's dust shield successfully repels lunar regolith on moon
When glaciers roamed Mars
How NASA's Perseverance is helping prepare astronauts for Mars
The future of studying exoVenuses looks bright
Other news
Using orbital cycles to understand early life
Scientists shed light on life and times of 'Fiona' the pregnant ichthyosaur
A new dissipation-based method to probe quantum correlations
New research finds fluorescence in feathers of Long-eared Owls
Predicting animal movements under global change
Sperm don't just swim, they screw their way forward
Nurturing mothers help baby monkeys recognize key facial expressions
Shocking spherules on Mars
A NASA spacecraft will make another close pass of the sun
NRL's narrow field imager launches on NASA's PUNCH mission
