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Planetary Sciences news
Could we actually terraform Mars? A new scientific roadmap lays out the blueprint—and the risks
Reading the "Mars Trilogy" by Kim Stanley Robinson brings the benefits and pitfalls of efforts to terraform the red planet into sharp relief. Since the 1970s, when Carl Sagan first suggested the possibility that we could ...
Space Exploration
2 hours ago
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A Mercury rover could explore the planet by sticking to the Terminator
The closest planet to our sun, Mercury, experiences extreme temperature variations. Since the planet has no atmosphere to speak of, it is in a constant cycle where one side is extremely hot and the other extremely cold. On ...
Space Exploration
6 hours ago
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New solar telescope turns sunspots into exoplanet-finding weapons
The Paranal solar ESPRESSO Telescope (PoET), installed at the European Southern Observatory's (ESO's) Paranal site in Chile, has made its first observations. The telescope will work with ESO's ESPRESSO instrument to study ...
Astronomy
9 hours ago
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Student research on coronal holes improves space weather forecasting
Fast solar winds originating from the sun can have direct impacts on Earth—disrupting systems like GPS, aviation, electrical grids, and satellite and radio communications. A new paper by New Mexico State University astronomy ...
Astronomy
Apr 8, 2026
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How Jupiter cultivated more large moons than Saturn
The two largest planets in our solar system, Jupiter and Saturn, also have the largest satellite systems, or the most moons. At present, Jupiter's reported moon count stands at more than 100 moons, and along with its many ...
Astronomy
Apr 7, 2026
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Water on the moon? New study narrows down the most likely locations
Water likely accumulated on the moon slowly over billions of years, rather than during one big event, according to a new study by an international team of scientists. The researchers, including Paul Hayne, a planetary scientist ...
Planetary Sciences
Apr 7, 2026
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If life exists in Venus's atmosphere, it could have come from Earth
The theory of panspermia holds that life is spread through the cosmos via asteroids, comets, and other objects. When the building blocks of life emerge on one planet, impacts can eject surface material into space, which then ...
Astrobiology
Apr 6, 2026
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'Hot Jupiter' orbiting a metal-poor star discovered
Using NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), an international team of astronomers has discovered a new "hot Jupiter" exoplanet. The newfound alien world, designated TOI-7169 b, orbits a metal-poor star, which ...
Looking up? How to photograph the moon with your phone
Eyes are on the sky this week as four astronauts get the closest humans have been to the moon for more than 50 years on NASA's Artemis II mission. Join the millions of people looking up while it's on its way and we'll show ...
Astronomy
Apr 6, 2026
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An aerobot with ISRU capabilities could explore Venus' atmosphere for years
In Dante's "Divine Comedy," Hell is described as an "inferno" with nine concentric circles, the entrance of which has a sign that reads "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here." For the planets of the solar system, Venus is ...
Planetary Sciences
Apr 6, 2026
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Bennu sample reveals how water flowed through the newly forming asteroid
A team of US astronomers has carried out one of the deepest analyses to date of a sample from the asteroid Bennu, revealing new details about how water and organic material interacted during the earliest stages of the solar ...
TESS spots the rise of a black hole X-ray binary system
Designed to hunt for new alien worlds, NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has serendipitously observed the rising outburst of a black hole X-ray binary known as AT 2019wey. The observations, which may help ...
The largest survey of exoplanet spins confirms a long-held prediction
For some time, astronomers have theorized that there is a connection between planetary mass and rotation. In the solar system, Jupiter and Saturn both rotate rapidly, completing a rotation in roughly ten hours, while accounting ...
Planetary Sciences
Apr 5, 2026
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Image: NISAR views Mount St. Helens
This image captured by U.S.-Indian Earth satellite NISAR on Nov. 10, 2025, shows Washington's Mount St. Helens. The image is cropped from a much larger swath spanning the Pacific Northwest on a cloudy day; NISAR's L-band ...
Planetary Sciences
Apr 5, 2026
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NASA's water-hunting tool will help scout moon's South Pole
NASA is joining international partners to hunt for ice on the moon in support of future human exploration. The agency is providing a water-detecting instrument, the Neutron Spectrometer System (NSS), to the Lunar Polar Exploration ...
Space Exploration
Apr 4, 2026
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The depths of Neptune and Uranus may be 'superionic'
The interiors of ice giant planets like Uranus and Neptune could be home to a previously unknown state of matter, according to new computational simulations by Carnegie's Cong Liu and Ronald Cohen. Their work, published in ...
Planetary Sciences
Apr 3, 2026
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Earth from space: Eyes on our moon
In an unusual perspective for an Earth-observing satellite, the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission captured this image of the moon, Earth's only natural satellite. The Sentinel-2 mission acquired this lunar image by rolling one ...
Planetary Sciences
Apr 3, 2026
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Webb eyes a pair of planet-forming disks
This month's NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope Picture of the Month offers us a two-for-one on brand new stars—with some potential planets thrown in as well. This visual highlights Webb's views of the protoplanetary ...
Planetary Sciences
Apr 3, 2026
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Early data from Vera C. Rubin Observatory reveals over 11,000 new asteroids
Using preliminary data from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, scientists have discovered over 11,000 new asteroids. The data were confirmed by the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center (MPC), making this the ...
Planetary Sciences
Apr 2, 2026
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'Serendipitous' discovery of Martian ripple marks reveals an ancient sandstorm
The search for life on Mars involves the efforts of scientists from many different disciplines. An important aspect of that search is to study Martian sedimentary rocks for information about the planet's environment when ...
Astrobiology
Apr 2, 2026
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More news
Saturn's magnetic bubble is lopsided compared to Earth's, suggests new study
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Could a solar storm derail the Artemis II mission?
Terraforming Mars: Modeling engineered aerosols to warm the planet
Uranus mission concept CASMIUS to probe ice giant secrets
How the solar wind really works
Mars-like worlds near M-dwarfs may lose air in millions of years
How plants could betray themselves across the galaxy
Image: NISAR's View of Mount Rainier
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Megawatt structured light arrives with 3,070 optical vortices in one array
Liquid-like histone H1 'glues' nucleosomes, reshaping how DNA compacts
Hydroxyl radicals in UV-exposed water reveal surprising reaction pathway
Hidden ocean feedback loop could accelerate climate change
A smarter way to build vaccines: Scientists harness AI to target emerging alphaviruses
The time capsule in the salt flat
The moon that tipped a planet
Giant craters may reveal if Psyche is a lost planetary core
The northern lights' dark twin is a wild card for the power grid
Hubble detects first-ever spin reversal of tiny comet
What if dark matter came in two states?
