planets

  • An image of Saturn highlighted in blue with purple rings and the moon Titan shown as a small dot floating nearby.
    alien life

    Saturn’s moon could have life, but only a little bit

    While Titan could possibly harbor simple, microscopic life, it likely could support only a few pounds of biomass overall, research finds.
  • A blue marble with bubbles inside it sits on a white surface.
    planets

    Planets hold more water than we thought

    "It is only in recent years that we have begun to realize that planets are more complex than we had thought."
  • A shot of Jupiter shows its swirling spot on the southern hemisphere of the planet.
    Jupiter

    Why is Jupiter’s Great Red Spot shrinking?

    A steady diet of smaller storms may be what fuels Jupiter’s Great Red Spot—and a decline in small storms may be causing it to shrink.
  • A child holds a snowball in gloved hands while standing outside in winter.
    planets

    Icy planet shows signs of an atmosphere

    “This is the first time we have ever seen a hint of an atmosphere on a habitable zone rocky or ice-rich exoplanet."
  • A person holds a small vintage globe in the palm of their hand against a deep blue sky in the background.
    planets

    Small planets may be best targets in hunt for ‘second Earth’

    A rocky planet with a large moon may have good potential to host life, given that the moon controls essential aspects for life on Earth.
  • Light shines through a glass marble with red and yellow swirls in it.
    planets

    Weird ‘Phoenix’ sheds light on how planets evolve

    A planet that should have been stripped to bare rock by its nearby host star's intense radiation somehow grew a puffy atmosphere instead.
  • An aerial shot of a the volcano Olympus Mons on Mars with frost on the top shaded in blue.
    Mars

    There’s water frost on top of volcanoes on Mars

    For the first time, researchers have found frost on Mars' Tharsis volcanoes, challenging previous assumptions about the planet's climate.
  • A shot of Pluto against a black background shows a brown surface.
    Pluto

    New calculations offer a closer peek at Pluto’s ocean

    New research offers a peek at the ocean that likely covers Pluto under a shell of nitrogen, methane, and water ice.
  • A shot of Pluto against the blackness of space shows the "heart" on its surface.
    Pluto

    Collision may explain the mystery of Pluto’s ‘heart’

    A large heart-shaped structure non the dwarf planet Pluto has puzzled scientists for years. Now they may have some answers.
  • Gas and light stream from a swirling gaseous disk in space.
    planets

    Webb Telescope snaps a pic of the end of planet formation

    "With unprecedented glimpses into these disks surrounding young stars, the birthplaces of planets, JWST helps us uncover how planets form."
  • A soap bubble freezing in the winter cold.
    asteroids

    Asteroid strikes could be the answer to ‘Snowball Earth’ mystery

    Asteroids hitting Earth may have caused "Snowball Earth" periods where ice covered the planet's surface for thousands or millions of years.
  • A reddish, flat Martian landscape fades into the horizon.
    Mars

    Lava flows on Mars reveal a turbulent history

    When researchers reconstructed lava flows on Mars, they realized the red planet is a lot more active than they previously thought.