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Planetary Sciences news
Scientists simulate cosmic crashes to test whether icy moons gain or lose their ability to sustain life
Many of the moons orbiting Saturn, Uranus and Neptune likely conceal oceans of liquid water beneath miles of icy shell. Because life as we know it needs water, these buried oceans rank among the most promising places to search ...
Astrobiology
18 hours ago
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From the start, the solar system chose fire over ice to build its first bodies
When the solar system first took up the task of building solid bodies—such as planets, moons and protoplanets—it basically had a choice between two ingredients: heat-forged chondrules, which were millimeter-sized bits of ...
Astronomy
Sep 18, 2026
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Time is running out to catch a giant planet's strange orbit
A team of researchers, including those from the University of Tokyo, spotted a rare kind of planet that's unusually hot and eccentric. TOI-1355 b orbits its star, TOI-1355, which is also much hotter than our sun, in a strange ...
Astronomy
Sep 18, 2026
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A glimpse of the solar system's origins: Striking details on the molecules inside a meteorite
Researchers at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory and Brookhaven National Laboratory have teamed up to get a fresh look at the complex makeup of meteorites and glimpse into our solar system's past.
Astrobiology
Sep 17, 2026
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What ancient Mars rocks reveal about its buried carbonate stores
Carbonate minerals are among the best records of past liquid water on Mars: They form when water carrying dissolved carbon dioxide reacts with rock, and their composition reflects the chemistry of both. Yet Mars has surprisingly ...
Planetary Sciences
Sep 17, 2026
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NASA spacecraft discovers a huge new crater on the moon
Scientists have discovered a crater on the moon that's bigger than the Roman Colosseum and is the result of a powerful impact two years ago that initially went undetected.
Space Exploration
Sep 17, 2026
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Snow, monsoons and oceans shift Earth's center of mass each year, satellite tracking shows
Seasonal changes redistribute enough water around Earth to shift the planet's center of mass back and forth by fractions of an inch relative to its geometric center. NASA scientists are on the case, tracking the oscillations ...
Planetary Sciences
Sep 16, 2026
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Newfound 'baby' planet smashes record for youngest known world
Astronomers have confirmed a world less than a million years old as the youngest known planet, using data from archives. Called Elias 2-24 b, the baby planet is still whirling in its natal disk of dust and gas.
Planetary Sciences
Sep 16, 2026
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A 16-minute train delay shows how a solar storm disrupted Victorian technology
A 178-year-old mystery surrounding one of the earliest recorded examples of space weather affecting technology has been solved by an international team led by Lancaster University.
Planetary Sciences
Sep 16, 2026
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A world 20 light-years away reveals surprisingly organized, Jupiter-like weather
Scientists from Trinity College Dublin have developed a way to unravel changing weather patterns on distant worlds. Using this approach, they discovered that the weather on a well-studied brown dwarf, SIMP 0136, previously ...
Space Exploration
Sep 16, 2026
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CubeSat instrument extends solar storm warnings 10x
The sun is the reason life exists on our small, blue planet. It provides solar radiation that warms the planet and ignites intricate biochemical processes like photosynthesis, producing oxygen for life to breathe. However, ...
Astronomy
Sep 15, 2026
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Laser altimeter BELA ready to explore Mercury's surface
Launched on Oct. 20, 2018, the joint ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission has traveled for almost eight years, using a carefully planned but eventful sequence of planetary flybys and solar-electric propulsion to gradually approach ...
Planetary Sciences
Sep 15, 2026
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Could the clues to ancient alien civilizations be hiding in moon dust?
Most of our experience with the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) has focused on capturing radio signals that alien species have sent out, whether intentionally or unintentionally. That creates a huge "synchronicity" ...
Astrobiology
Sep 15, 2026
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How the 2024 solar superstorm drained Earth's radiation belt
In May 2024, Earth experienced its most intense geomagnetic storm since the Halloween storms of 2003. This "superstorm" filled night skies in many parts of the world with colorful aurorae, and it disrupted some infrastructure, ...
Planetary Sciences
Sep 14, 2026
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No cities on the moon—there isn't enough water, scientists say
The discovery of water in dark craters at the moon's poles has sparked a "moon rush" to establish bases there, followed by villages, cities and heavy industry. How sustainable is this rush?
Space Exploration
Sep 14, 2026
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JWST ruled out finding tiny moons around an exoplanet—that's great news
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has opened many wonders of the cosmos to scientists since it began science operations a few years ago. But one thing it hasn't done is find an "exomoon." These still-theoretical moons ...
Planetary Sciences
Sep 13, 2026
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Masked tectonic structures suggest Mercury contracted 40% more than its visible scars alone indicate
The surface of Mercury is filled with craters, ridges and steep cliffs. Over billions of years, as the planet's interior cooled, the planet also shrank. Just as the skin of a drying fruit wrinkles when what is inside it shrinks, ...
Planetary Sciences
Sep 13, 2026
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NASA's next great observatory could spot oceans on distant worlds
We've found more than 5,500 exoplanets so far. Dozens of them are in the habitable zones of their parent stars, where, at least in theory, they could host an ocean. But we've never definitively found a liquid ocean on another ...
Space Exploration
Sep 13, 2026
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Japan's Hayabusa2 achieves first-ever laser ranging experiment with an asteroid
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA) Hayabusa2 spacecraft reached another milestone this summer, a first for space agencies. On Sunday, July 5, the probe conducted the first successful laser-ranging experiment ...
Space Exploration
Sep 12, 2026
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Scientists discover a strange new form of ice that could help explain the interiors of Neptune and Uranus
Scientists have discovered that there is ice deep inside planets like Neptune and Uranus and want to find out what form it takes and how it behaves. They cannot dig for it and transport it all the way back to Earth, so they ...
More news
What's carving active gullies on Mars? It's not water
A new surface atlas of Phobos will help MMX mission collect its samples
Mercury is shrinking more than we thought
Scientists want to 3D print houses on Mars with the help of yeast
Sun's largest sunspots may have potential to trigger superflares
'Fingerprints' inside the sun could reveal if it once swallowed a planet
BepiColombo measures Mercury's particle bombardment up close
JWST discovers that Chariklo's invisible rings are changing
A new mission could rendezvous with Halley's Comet in 2061
New model measures economic risks solar storms pose to US power grid
Spacecraft bound for Mercury begins 'tricky' arrival
Other news
Loss of Y chromosome in men could be an early warning sign of cancer
Protein map reveals how red blood cells rapidly adjust to low oxygen
Physicists extend the search for quantum black holes at the LHC
How Mercury formed its graphite crust and core
Why doesn't Venus have a moon? A new study may have the answer
A pair of spacecraft draw closer to Mercury after nearly decade-long voyage
Perseverance rover watches Earth vanish behind Martian moon
