Planets | Science News for Students

Planets

Saturn and moons

Saturn now has the most known moons of any planet in the solar system. The Cassini spacecraft took this image in 2011. It shows Saturn and five of its moons.

Space Science Institute, JPL-Caltech/NASA

Planets
 
Nov 12, 2019
Saturn now reigns as the solar system’s ‘moon king’
full moon

If the moon can exert potent effects on wildlife, from birds to fish and African buffalo, what can it do to people? Right now, the data are mixed and not all that convincing.

MissDareDevil/iStock/Getty Images Plus

Planets
 
Nov 7, 2019
Does the moon influence people?
exoplanet K2 18b

Exoplanet K2 18b, shown in the foreground of this artist’s depiction, might have liquid water. It has clouds and could rain, too.

M. Kornmesser, Hubble/ESA

Planets
 
Oct 25, 2019
Spotted: An exoplanet where it might rain
a photo of James Peebles, Michel Mayor, and Didier Queloz

Three scientists have won the Nobel Prize in physics for revealing hidden aspects of the cosmos. James Peebles of Princeton University (right) studied the structure and evolution of the universe. Michel Mayor of the University of Geneva in Switzerland (center) and Didier Queloz of the University of Geneva and the University of Cambridge in England (left) identified the first exoplanet orbiting a sunlike star.

FROM LEFT: UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE; COURTESY OF INAMORI FOUNDATION; TORBJÖRN ZADIA/ROYAL SWEDISH ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Planets
 
Oct 8, 2019
Physics Nobel rewards discoveries on cosmic evolution and exoplanets
a photo of Buzz Aldrin walking on the moon

This photo, taken in 1969 by Astronaut Neil Armstrong, shows Astronaut Buzz Aldrin walking on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission. Apollo astronauts left a lot on the moon’s surface, from scientific instruments to trash.

NASA

Space
 
Oct 3, 2019
Learning from what Apollo astronauts left on the moon
Aldrin at Tranquility base on the moon

Apollo 11 Astronaut Buzz Aldrin is seen setting up scientific instruments on the moon. They include a seismometer to measure moonquakes and a mirror array to measure the distance between the Earth and moon. The lunar lander and an American flag can be seen in the background. Those items also were left on the moon.

NASA

Planets
 
Oct 3, 2019
Preserving remnants of human culture on the moon
the planet Jupiter, as seen from NASA's Juno spacecraft

Jupiter, shown in an image from NASA’s Juno spacecraft, has 79 moons. Five recently spotted ones have just gotten their official names.

JPL-Caltech/NASA, SwRI, MSSS, Kevin M. Gill

Planets
 
Sep 20, 2019
Students help name 5 of Jupiter’s newly discovered moons
a photo of Lisa Grossman in a bunny suit at NASA's Johnson Space Center

Science News astronomy reporter Lisa Grossman visits the pristine-sample lab at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. The display case holds rocks collected by the Apollo 15 and 16 missions. The 1.5-kilogram (3.3-pound) chunk of volcanic basalt in the center is 3.4 billion years old.

Felix Sanchez

Planets
 
Sep 5, 2019
Welcome to moon rock central
an illustration of a ploonet

There’s a new kind of space object out there. The “ploonet.” This is a moon that escaped the gravity of a gas giant. These ploonets might explain the existence of comets around distant stars, shown here in an artist’s illustration.

Lynnette Cook/Fuse/NASA

Planets
 
Jul 18, 2019
What do you call a moon that escapes its planet? A ‘ploonet’
a photo of InSight lander’s seismometer on Mars

The InSight lander’s seismometer, shown here on Mars (protected by a dome), appears to have detected its first quake.

JPL-Caltech/NASA

Planets
 
Jun 4, 2019
Was that a Marsquake?