Planets
- Planets
Surprising rings circle comet-asteroid hybrid
It’s too small to be a planet. Yet this planet wannabe still resembles Saturn-like giants. It’s the smallest solar system inhabitant to, like them, host rings of orbiting ice.
- Planets
New evidence of a wet Mars
Ten years in to its tour of Mars, the Opportunity rover finds another place on the Red Planet that once might have hosted water.
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- Planets
Jupiter’s long-lasting storm
Most studies of Jupiter’s centuries-old Great Red Spot suggest this giant storm should have petered out after a few decades. A new study traces the storm’s staying power to the vertical movement of its gases.
- Planets
The comet that came in from the cold
Comet ISON is hurtling toward the sun at breakneck speed. During this first (and possibly last) trip around the sun, it will either shoot back into space or be torn apart.
- Planets
So many ‘Earths’
A new analysis suggests humans are not alone in the universe. Our galaxy alone may host billions of Earth-like planets, ones able to support life as we know it.
- Planets
Scratching the Martian surface
What’s Mars made of? Volcanic rock, glassy particles and a poisonous rocket-fuel chemical, among other things. That’s the latest from tests by NASA’s Curiosity rover.
- Planets
Seeing the moon’s water
Rocky details of our moon can be gleaned without the aid of visiting astronauts. The latest example: An orbiting spacecraft may have just spotted water locked within surface rocks.
- Planets
Out-of-this-world atmospheres
Light from a distant, giant world offers clues to the gases in its atmosphere.
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- Planets
Home on the moon
Astronomers say rocky moons orbiting distant planets might support alien life.
- Planets
Ice on Mercury
MESSENGER spacecraft provides evidence for frozen water on planet closest to sun.
