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News Articles: planetary science

The Chang'e 6 capsule landed in the Chinese province of Inner Mongolia on Tuesday.

Tagged as: 

  • Space

China has just returned the first-ever samples from the far side of the moon

The far side of the moon looks very different from the near side, and with the Chang'e 6 mission, scientists are hoping to learn why.

June 26, 2024
|
By:
  • Geoff Brumfiel
Asteroid moonlet Dimorphos as seen by NASA's DART spacecraft 11 seconds before the impact that shifted its path through space, in the first test of asteroid deflection.

Tagged as: 

  • Science

Asteroid headed toward Earth? NASA simulation explores how the nation might respond

NASA and other federal agencies recently did a tabletop simulation of an Earth-threatening asteroid to see how they'd handle it

June 21, 2024
|
By:
  • Nell Greenfieldboyce
The images taken by Voyager 2 when it passed Neptune in 1989 were originally processed to better reveal its distinctive features, but as a result they made the planet look too blue.

Tagged as: 

  • Space

Don't look so blue, Neptune: Now astronomers know this planet's true color

Neptune has long been depicted as a deeper, darker blue than its fellow ice giant Uranus, but a new study shows that both are a similar shade of light greenish blue.

January 05, 2024
|
By:
  • Nell Greenfieldboyce
An artistic depiction of the planet WASP-107b. Observations by the James Webb Space Telescope suggest this hot gas giant has clouds made of sand.

Tagged as: 

  • Space

Clouds made of sand make for a strange kind of rain on this hot planet

On Earth, clouds and rain are made of water. But the James Webb Space Telescope has found that on a planet called WASP-107b, the rain and clouds are made of sand.

November 15, 2023
|
By:
  • Nell Greenfieldboyce
An artist's conception of the Psyche spacecraft approaching an asteroid that's largely composed of metal.

Tagged as: 

  • Space

This next NASA mission to an asteroid is seriously metal

A NASA mission called Psyche is about to launch on a mission out to an unusual asteroid that's scientists believe is largely composed of metal.

October 11, 2023
|
By:
  • Nell Greenfieldboyce
This mosaic composed of images of the asteroid Bennu taken by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft shows its surprisingly rubble-strewn surface.

Tagged as: 

  • Space

NASA effort to bring home asteroid rocks will end this weekend in triumph or a crash

NASA's first effort to retrieve samples from an asteroid will send a capsule that contains extraterrestrial pebbles and dust plunging towards a Utah desert on Sunday.

September 22, 2023
|
By:
  • Nell Greenfieldboyce
An artist's impression of an aging star swelling up and beginning to engulf a planet, much like the Sun will do in about 5 billion years.

Tagged as: 

  • Space

This star ate its own planet. Earth may share the same fate

For the first time, astronomers have caught a star in the act of swallowing a planet, providing a glimpse into how the sun may eventually eat up Earth.

May 04, 2023
|
By:
  • Nell Greenfieldboyce
An artist's vision of the first interstellar object discovered in the solar system, 'Oumuamua.

Tagged as: 

  • Science

Scientists think they know why interstellar object 'Oumuamua moved so strangely

A strange comet-like object discovered over five years ago was the first known visitor from another solar system. Its movement was so odd that scientists struggled to explain it, until now.

March 24, 2023
|
By:
  • Nell Greenfieldboyce
This computer-generated 3D model of Venus' surface shows the summit of Maat Mons. A new study found one of the volcano's vents became bigger and changed during 1991.

Tagged as: 

  • Science

Volcanic activity on Venus spotted in radar images, scientists say

Data from an old NASA spacecraft reveals a volcano erupted on the surface of Venus in 1991, a new study in Science says.

March 17, 2023
|
By:
  • Ari Daniel
This imagery from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope shows the debris blasted from the surface of Dimorphos 285 hours after NASA's DART spacecraft smashed into the asteroid's surface.

Tagged as: 

  • Science

Astronomers still have their eyes on that asteroid NASA whacked

NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test slammed a spacecraft into an asteroid, directly altering its path through space. Scientists are still studying the space rock to learn more.

March 04, 2023
|
By:
  • Nell Greenfieldboyce
This composite was made with images from NASA's Juno mission and shows the shadow on Jupiter cast by Io, one of its many moons.

Tagged as: 

  • Science

Here's why Jupiter's tally of moons keeps going up and up

The first astronomer to discover moons around Jupiter was Galileo, back in the year 1610, but astronomers are still finding more and more moons around this gas giant.

February 09, 2023
|
By:
  • Nell Greenfieldboyce
A probe that will land on Saturn's moon Enceladus, seen here in false color, is one of the priorities outlined in the new report.

Tagged as: 

  • Space

NASA advisers call for a visit to Uranus, plus more science during moon landings

NASA should send probes to the ice giant planet of Uranus and to a moon of Saturn where conditions could be right for life. Those are some of the recommendations in a new report to the space agency.

April 19, 2022
|
By:
  • Nell Greenfieldboyce
This composite image created with data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter shows the far side of the moon. A mysterious piece of space junk is set to crash into the far side Friday morning.

Tagged as: 

  • Space

In a first, a mysterious rocket part is about to slam into the moon — by accident

A rocket part set to slam into the far side of the moon Friday morning highlights the growing issue of space junk in orbit around Earth, experts say

March 03, 2022
|
By:
  • Brendan Byrne
The planet-hunting telescope TESS depicted in front of a lava world orbiting a small red star.

Tagged as: 

  • Space

Astronomers find a new planet that's mostly made of iron

NASA's TESS telescope finds a small, iron-rich planet which could help explain the origins of Mercury, the innermost planet in our solar system

December 03, 2021
|
By:
  • Nell Greenfieldboyce
An illustration of the DART spacecraft approaching two asteroids; it will crash into the smaller one to try to change how this space rock orbits its larger companion.

Tagged as: 

  • Space

In a first test of its planetary defense efforts, NASA's going to shove an asteroid

NASA is about to launch the first mission of its new planetary defense office. A spacecraft will attempt to knock a small asteroid off course by ramming into it.

November 22, 2021
|
By:
  • Nell Greenfieldboyce

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