February 13, 2019
Some of Earth's water originated in the solar system's birth
When Earth first formed, the oceans of water we know today were nowhere in sight. The long-standing consensus about where our planet’s water came …
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23 articles · Page 1 of 1
June 15, 2017
The only Earth: Exploring the link between plate tectonics and life on the blue planet
Earth is the only planet known to have active plate tectonics, and also the only place that hosts life. Could that be a coincidence? It’s …
May 17, 2017
Ceres' homemade organic materials
Researchers analyzing data from NASA’s Dawn spacecraft have found signs of organic compounds that arose on the surface of Ceres, a dwarf planet …
March 15, 2017
Down to Earth With: Planetary geologist James W. Head III
In the late 1960s, as James W. Head III was finishing his graduate degree in geology at Brown University in Providence, R.I., he decided one day …
October 19, 2016
Pluto may still have liquid ocean
Last year, images from NASA’s New Horizons flyby of Pluto revealed geologic activity that suggested a liquid ocean may have once lurked beneath …
October 18, 2016
Dust orbiting Jupiter is going the wrong way
Periodically, micrometeoroids strike one of the four Galilean moons of Jupiter — Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto — sending dust into space, …
June 21, 2016
Benchmarks: April 9, 1895: James Edward Keeler confirms Saturn's rings not solid
On April 9 and 10, 1895, astronomer James Edward Keeler snapped the most important photographs of his life. With a 13-inch (33-centimeter) …
January 8, 2016
Jupiter's shrinking Great Red Spot
Like a kid sitting for her annual school portrait, Jupiter lines up with the Hubble Space Telescope for a series of photographs once a year. The …
October 26, 2015
Conjunction injunction: Recent and future planetary alignments
February 1962: The five planets visible to the naked eye, as well as the sun and moon, all appeared within 17 degrees of each other in the sky. A …
October 26, 2015
Benchmarks: February 4, 1962: Five planets align - but no end of the world
In the movie “2012,” released in theaters last November, an alignment of five planets in our solar system — supposedly foretold by the Mayans …
July 6, 2015
A pair of moons with underground oceans
Jupiter and Saturn are both gas giants boasting multiple moons. Now, two separate studies have identified another similarity: Each appears to …
March 9, 2015
Two new looks at Titan's dunes
Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, is covered with extensive fields of sand dunes around its equator. From a distance, the wind-swept landscape looks …
March 2, 2015
A journey to Pluto and beyond with New Horizons
Last year was an exciting one for space exploration. On Oct. 19, spacecraft at Mars got a close-up of Comet Siding Spring as it passed within …
January 13, 2015
Down to Earth With: The Geographers of the Solar System
Certain government officials have super cool titles: for example, Planetary Protection Officer (NASA’s Catharine Conley) and Oceanographer of the …
December 9, 2014
Red Planet Roundup: January 2015
As two rovers patrol the surface of Mars, five spacecraft orbit above and scientists back here on Earth study the Red Planet from afar, new …
November 4, 2014
Nanoflares power the sun's superheated corona
The sun’s outer atmosphere, or corona, reaches temperatures of more than 1 million degrees Celsius, hundreds of times hotter than its visible …
October 6, 2014
Red Planet Roundup: November 2014
As Curiosity and Opportunity rove around Mars, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), Mars Express and Mars Odyssey orbit above, and scientists …
October 5, 2014
New lunar research answers old questions, poses others
From its close perch in the sky, the moon has long mystified artists, lovers and scientists. Now a quartet of recent papers — all of which touch …
October 5, 2014
Mercury formed by hit and run?
The solar system was once as busy as a store parking lot on Black Friday. Collisions were common in the early days, and new evidence of a …
September 3, 2014
Cassini spots new moon in Saturn's rings
Saturn is famous for its rings, but the sixth planet from the sun also has dozens of moons — 62 at last count, 53 of which have names — and now, …
September 3, 2014
Saturn's polar hexagon stable over time
Saturn’s peculiar polar “hexagon” has proven perplexing for scientists studying the atmospheric phenomenon since Voyager 1 and 2 first observed …
July 21, 2014
Rings not just for planets anymore
Reporting their findings in Nature, an international team of more than 60 astronomers recently announced the detection of two rings — an inner …
January 5, 2012
Super-Earths: Mirrors of our world?
Fifty light-years from Earth, in the constellation Pegasus, burns a yellow star not unlike our sun. The star, called 51 Pegasi, was one of 142 …