HS-ESS1-6

Apply scientific reasoning and evidence from ancient Earth materials, meteorites, and other planetary surfaces to construct an account of Earth's formation and early history.

  1. Space

    Ingenuity helicopter makes history by flying on Mars

    The copter's 40-second-long flight in the Red Planet’s thin air is only the first in a planned series of daring flights.

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  2. Space

    There’s water on sunny parts of the moon, scientists confirm

    The new observations were made by a telescope on board a jet in Earth’s atmosphere. They confirm the presence of water on sunlit areas of the moon.

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  3. Earth

    A rainforest once grew near the South Pole

    A forest flourished within 1,000 kilometers of the South Pole. That was a while ago, as in millions of years ago.

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  4. Space

    Rover finds ‘layer cake’ below ground on moon’s farside

    China’s rover finds the moon’s farside is more rugged and cratered than the nearside. Now scientists want to know why.

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  5. Earth

    Study appears to rule out volcanic burps as causing dino die-offs

    New data on when massive volcanic eruptions happened do not match when the dinosaur mass extinction took place.

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  6. Planets

    Glass beads help scientists puzzle out how baby planets grow

    Researchers have mimicked the first stages of planet formation in the lab. All they needed were glass beads and a catapult.

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  7. Space

    Explainer: Understanding meteors and meteor showers

    Meteors regularly enter Earth’s atmosphere. Most ‘shooting stars’ pose few risks to life on the ground, but the rare big ones can be lethal.

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  8. Earth

    Explainer: Understanding geologic time

    Geologic time is unimaginably long. Geologists puzzle it out using a calendar called the Geologic Time Scale.

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  9. 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.

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  10. Planets

    Jupiter may be the solar system’s oldest planet

    Jupiter’s early existence may explain the odd arrangement of planets in the solar system, a new study suggests.

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  11. Planets

    Jupiter gets surprisingly complex new portrait

    NASA’s Juno spacecraft has sent back unexpected details about Jupiter, giving scientists their first close-up of this gas giant.

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  12. Planets

    How Earth got its moon

    How did our moon form? Scientists are still debating the answer. It may be the result of some one big impact with Earth — or perhaps many small ones.

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