SOFIA finds clues hidden in Pluto's haze

When the New Horizons spacecraft passed by Pluto in 2015, one of the many fascinating features its images revealed was that this small, frigid world in the distant solar system has a hazy atmosphere. Now, new data helps explain ...

New insights into the origin of life

A famous experiment in 1953 showed that amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, could have formed spontaneously under the atmospheric conditions of early Earth. However, just because molecules could form doesn't mean ...

Titan features steep, liquid-filled canyons

Although Saturn's largest moon, Titan, is surrounded by a thick, hazy atmosphere, Cornell astronomers have revealed that the moon's terrain features deep, steep-sided canyons filled with liquid hydrocarbons.

NASA team investigates complex chemistry at Titan

(Phys.org) —A laboratory experiment at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., simulating the atmosphere of Saturn's moon Titan suggests complex organic chemistry that could eventually lead to the building blocks ...

Land Ho! Huygens Plunged to Titan Surface 5 Years Ago

(PhysOrg.com) -- The Huygens probe parachuted down to the surface of Saturn's haze-shrouded moon Titan exactly five years ago on Jan. 14, 2005, providing data that scientists on NASA's Cassini mission to Saturn are still ...