Planetary Science

  1. A blue split stream of dust and rock wafting off the asteroid Dimorphos seen after the DART spacecraft mission
    Planetary Science

    NASA’s DART mission successfully shoved an asteroid

    Data obtained since the spacecraft intentionally crashed into an asteroid show that the impact altered the space rock’s orbit even more than intended.

    By Lisa Grossman
  2. image of Mars’ south polar ice cap
    Planetary Science

    Mars’ buried ‘lake’ might just be layers of ice and rock

    Evidence grows that possible detections of liquid water buried near Mars’ south pole might not hold water.

    By Katherine Kornei
  3. Robin Wordsworth stands in front of a martian meteorite exhibit wearing a gray sweater and glasses
    Planetary Science

    Robin Wordsworth re-creates the atmosphere of ancient Mars

    Robin Wordsworth studies the climates of Mars and other alien worlds to find out whether they could support life.

    By Nikk Ogasa
  4. The asteroid moonlet Dimorphos, taken by DART just seconds before the spacecraft smashed into it.
    Planetary Science

    NASA’s DART spacecraft just smashed into an asteroid — on purpose

    If the first-ever attempt to knock a space rock off course works, it could provide a blueprint to protect Earth from a killer asteroid.

    By Maria Temming
  5. Neptune and its rings as seen in infrared by JWST
    Planetary Science

    Here is the first direct look at Neptune’s rings in more than 30 years

    In 1989, the Voyager 2 spacecraft took the first pics of Neptune’s rings. Now, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is providing a more detailed look.

    By Christopher Crockett
  6. Saturn from an angle of roughly 45 degrees from the plane defined by its rings. The sunlight casts a shadow of the planet across its rings.
    Planetary Science

    Saturn’s rings and tilt might have come from one missing moon

    The hypothetical moon, dubbed Chrysalis, could have helped tip the planet over before getting shredded to form the rings, researchers suggest.

    By Lisa Grossman
  7. illustration of the Milky Way
    Planetary Science

    Passing through the Milky Way’s arms may have helped form Earth’s solid ground

    Barrages of comets stirred up by the early solar system’s journey around the center of the galaxy could explain the timing of ancient rock formation.

    By Katherine Kornei
  8. blurry illustration of the exoplanet Wasp-39 b with its star in the background
    Astronomy

    The James Webb telescope spotted CO2 in an exoplanet’s atmosphere

    The first definitive detection of the gas on a world in another solar system paves the way for detections in planets that are more Earthlike.

    By Lisa Grossman
  9. An illustration of a huge asteroid crashing into ocean. An ancient sea creature is visible under the water
    Earth

    Not one, but two asteroids might have slain the dinosaurs

    A craterlike structure found off West Africa’s coast might have been formed by an asteroid impact around the same time the dinosaurs went extinct.

    By Nikk Ogasa
  10. Comet Leonard streaking across the night sky, with a greenish tinge at its head
    Planetary Science

    Oort cloud comets may spin themselves to death

    How icy objects from the solar system’s fringe break up as they near the sun is a long-standing mystery. One astronomer now thinks he has an answer.

    By Lisa Grossman
  11. Glassy debris creates the bluish tinge and radiating black stripes around an impact crater on Mars
    Planetary Science

    Asteroid impacts might have created some of Mars’ sand

    Roughly a quarter of the Red Planet’s sand is spherical bits of glass forged in violent impacts, new observations reveal.

    By Katherine Kornei
  12. photo of an inflated balloon in a field before launch in the Seychelles
    Space

    How balloons could one day detect quakes on Venus

    A new study opens the door for future balloon-based missions to study the geology of other worlds.

    By Freda Kreier