Planetary Science

More Stories in Planetary Science

  1. Planetary Science

    NASA’s Europa mission is a homecoming for one planetary astronomer

    Over her long career, Bonnie Buratti has seen the search for life in the solar system go from a joke to a flagship mission.

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  2. Planetary Science

    Saturn’s first Trojan asteroid has finally been discovered

    Saturn joins the sun’s other giant planets that have Trojans, space rocks that orbit along the same path.

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  3. Planetary Science

    Europa Clipper has launched to solve an alien mystery

    Launched October 14, the spacecraft will repeatedly buzz Europa in search of water, energy and organic compounds.

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  4. Planetary Science

    Scientists find a long-sought electric field in Earth’s atmosphere

    The Earth’s ambipolar electric field is weak but strong enough to control the shape and evolution of the upper atmosphere.

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  5. Planetary Science

    The Webb telescope’s peek into a stellar nursery finds baby planets too

    Images by the James Webb telescope of six Jupiter-sized worlds, one of which may have a moon-forming disk, reveal clues into how planets and stars form.

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  6. Space

    Moonquakes are much more common than thought, Apollo data suggest

    The discovery of 22,000 previously unseen moonquakes, plus a new idea of what causes them, could help us better prepare for trips there.

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  7. Planetary Science

    NASA’s Perseverance rover finds its first possible hint of ancient life on Mars

    The NASA Mars rover examined a rock containing organic compounds and “leopard spots” that, on Earth, are associated with microbial life.

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  8. Space

    A planet needs to start with a lot of water to become like Earth

    Rocky planets around fiery stars could hide their water for later use, but it takes 3 to 8 times the amount in our world’s oceans to end up Earthlike.

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  9. Planetary Science

    Jupiter’s Great Red Spot may be less than 200 years old

    An analysis of images spanning hundreds of years suggests a dark spot spied in the late 1600s and early 1700s is distinct from the Red Spot seen today.

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