Planets

Planets

Mars appears to have a lake of liquid water

A 15-year-old Mars orbiter has spotted signs of a salty lake beneath the Red Planet’s southern polar ice sheets.

Planets

Thick atmosphere boosts how fast Venus spins

The thick atmosphere on Venus can change by a few minutes every day how long it takes the planet to rotate.

Planets

Pluto’s heart has dunes of methane ice

Pluto’s heart-shaped plains are striped with sand dunes. The sand is made of methane ice.

Chemistry

Diamonds and more suggest unusual origins for asteroids

Inside a meteorite, scientists found sulfur and iron wrapped in tiny diamonds. Those gems hint the rock formed inside a long-lost planet.

Planets

Uranus has stinky clouds

Hydrogen sulfide makes Uranus reek of rotten eggs.

Planets

Asteroids may have delivered water to early Earth

Scientists shot mineral pellets at a simulated planet. It showed an impact wouldn’t have boiled off all of an asteroid’s water.

Planets

Flared! How a planetary ‘neighbor’ may have been fried

Hoping for life on the planet our stellar neighbor Proxima Centauri? Don’t hold your breath. Its star may have sterilized its Earthlike exoplanet.

Planets

Here’s why Venus is so unwelcoming

Venus is hard to study. Scientists also find it hard to get money to send spacecraft there. But researchers have ideas about how to tackle both challenges.

Space

Preparing for that trip to Mars

These scientists are working to make a human mission to Mars a reality.

Planets

Saturn’s rings might be shredded moons

Final data from the Cassini spacecraft put a mass and a date of birth on the gas giant’s iconic rings.

Earth

Hot on the trail of Antarctic meteorites

For intrepid scientists, spotting meteorites against Antarctica’s dazzling whiteness is easy. Then what?

Planets

Space toilet may teach scientists how to scout for life on distant icy moons

Lessons learned from flushing space toilets may help plan life-hunting missions on distant icy moons.