Solar System News

August 3, 2024

Top Headlines

Scientists Pin Down the Origins of the Moon's Tenuous Atmosphere

Aug. 2, 2024 — Scientists say they have identified the main process that formed the moon's atmosphere and continues to sustain it today. The team reports that the lunar atmosphere is primarily a product of 'impact ...

Researchers Explore the Effects of Stellar Magnetism on Potential Habitability of Exoplanets

July 22, 2024 — A study extends the definition of a habitable zone for planets to include their star's magnetic ...

Life Signs Could Survive Near Surfaces of Enceladus and Europa

July 21, 2024 — Europa and Enceladus, icy moons of Jupiter and Saturn respectively, have evidence of oceans beneath their crusts. A NASA experiment suggests -- if these oceans support life -- signatures of that life in the form of organic molecules (like amino ...

Astronomers Spot a 'Highly Eccentric' Planet on Its Way to Becoming a Hot Jupiter

July 17, 2024 — The newly discovered planet TIC 241249530 b has the most highly elliptical, or eccentric, orbit of any known planet. It appears to be a juvenile planet that is in the midst of becoming a hot Jupiter, ...

Latest Headlines

updated 8:30pm EDT

Key to Rapid Planet Formation

Aug. 1, 2024 — Researchers have developed a new model to explain the formation of giant planets such as Jupiter, which furnishes deeper insights into the processes of planet formation and could expand our ...

Expiring Medications Could Pose Challenge on Long Space Missions

July 23, 2024 — A new study shows that over half of the medicines stocked in space -- staples such as pain relievers, antibiotics, allergy medicines, and sleep aids -- would expire before astronauts could return to ...

New Analysis of Cassini Data Yields Insights Into Titan's Seas

July 16, 2024 — A new study of radar experiment data from the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn has yielded fresh insights related to the makeup and activity of the liquid hydrocarbon seas near the north pole of ...

Scientific Definition of a Planet Says It Must Orbit Our Sun; A New Proposal Would Change That

July 11, 2024 — The International Astronomical Union defines a planet as a celestial body that orbits the sun, is massive enough that gravity has forced it into a ...

The Origins of Dark Comets

July 10, 2024 — Up to 60% of near-Earth objects could be dark comets, mysterious asteroids that orbit the sun in our solar system that likely contain or previously contained ice and could have been one route for ...

Found With Webb: A Potentially Habitable Icy World

July 9, 2024 — A international team of astronomers has made an exciting discovery about the temperate exoplanet LHS 1140 b: it could be a promising 'super-Earth' covered in ice or ...

Stench of a Gas Giant? Nearby Exoplanet Reeks of Rotten Eggs, and That's a Good Thing

July 8, 2024 — An exoplanet infamous for its deadly weather has been hiding another bizarre feature -- it reeks of rotten eggs, according to a new study of data ...

Organic Material from Mars Reveals the Likely Origin of Life's Building Blocks

July 1, 2024 — Two samples from Mars together deliver clear evidence of the origin of Martian organic material. The study presents solid evidence for a prediction ...

New Class of Mars Quakes Reveals Daily Meteorite Strikes

June 28, 2024 — An international team of researchers combine orbital imagery with seismological data from NASA's Mars InSight lander to derive a new impact rate for meteorite strikes on Mars. Seismology also offers ...

Surprising Phosphate Finding in NASA's OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample

June 26, 2024 — Early analysis of the asteroid Bennu sample returned by NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission has revealed dust rich in carbon, nitrogen, and organic compounds, all of which are essential components for life as ...

Earlier Headlines

Marsquakes May Help Reveal Whether Liquid Water Exists Underground on Red Planet

June 25, 2024 — If liquid water exists today on Mars, it may be too deep underground to detect with traditional methods used on Earth. But listening to earthquakes that occur on Mars -- or marsquakes -- could offer ...

Geologists Expect Chang'e-6 Lunar Surface Samples to Contain Volcanic Rock and Impact Ejecta

June 24, 2024 — On June 25, China's Chang'e-6 (CE-6) lunar probe is set to return to Earth, carrying the first surface samples collected from the farside of the Moon. In anticipation of this historic ...

Iron Meteorites Hint That Our Infant Solar System Was More Doughnut Than Dartboard

June 20, 2024 — Iron meteorites are remnants of the metallic cores of the earliest asteroids in our solar system. Iron meteorites contain refractory metals, such as iridium and platinum, that formed near the sun but ...

Mysterious Mini-Neptunes

June 13, 2024 — This study discovered mini-Neptunes around four red dwarfs using observations from a global network of ground-based telescopes and the TESS space telescope. These four mini-Neptunes are close to ...

Would Astronauts' Kidneys Survive a Roundtrip to Mars?

June 11, 2024 — The structure and function of the kidneys is altered by space flight, with galactic radiation causing permanent damage that would jeopardise any mission to Mars, according to a new study led by ...

The Solar System May Have Passed Through Dense Interstellar Clouds 2 Million Years Ago, Altering Earth's Climate

June 10, 2024 — Astrophysicists calculate the likelihood that Earth was exposed to cold, harsh interstellar clouds, a phenomenon not previously considered in geologic climate ...

In a Significant First, Researchers Detect Water Frost on Solar System's Tallest Volcanoes

June 10, 2024 — An international team of planetary scientists has detected patches of water frost sitting atop the Tharsis volcanoes on Mars, which are not only the tallest volcanic mountains on the Red Planet but ...

Small, Cool and Sulfurous Exoplanet May Help Write Recipe for Planetary Formation

June 10, 2024 — Astronomers observing exoplanet GJ 3470 b saw evidence of water, carbon dioxide, methane and sulfur dioxide. Astronomers hope the discovery of this exoplanet's sulfurous atmosphere will advance ...

In New Experiment, Scientists Record Earth's Radio Waves from the Moon

June 10, 2024 — Odysseus, a tenacious lander built by the company Intuitive Machines, almost didn't make it to the moon. But an experiment aboard the spacecraft managed to capture an image of Earth as it might ...

Lake Under Mars Ice Cap Unlikely

June 7, 2024 — Researchers have provided a simple and comprehensive -- if less dramatic -- explanation for bright radar reflections initially interpreted as liquid water beneath the ice cap on Mars' south ...

Olivine Unlocks the Secrets of the Moon's Interior

June 5, 2024 — New partitioning coefficients of first-transition row elements, Ga and Ge between olivine and silicate melt have been reported. New high-temperature experiments have investigated the effects of ...

Martian Meteorites Deliver a Trove of Information on Red Planet's Structure

May 31, 2024 — Mars has a distinct structure in its mantle and crust with discernible reservoirs, and this is known thanks to meteorites that scientists have analyzed. These results are important for understanding ...

Glimpses of a Volcanic World: New Telescope Images of Jupiter's Moon Io Rival Those from Spacecraft

May 30, 2024 — Combining a new imaging instrument with the powerful adaptive optics capabilities of the Large Binocular Telescope, astronomers have captured a volcanic event on Jupiter's moon Io at a ...

Moon Orbiting 'Dinky' Asteroid Is Actually Two Tiny Moons Stuck Together

May 29, 2024 — The moon orbiting the asteroid Dinkinesh is actually two tiny moons stuck together. Collectively called 'Selam,' the two moonlets bring new insight into the complex processes behind ...

Intriguing Nearby World Sized Between Earth, Venus

May 23, 2024 — Astronomers have discovered a planet between the sizes of Earth and Venus only 40 light-years ...

Planet Hunters Unveil Massive Catalog of Strange Worlds

May 23, 2024 — While thousands of planets have been discovered around other stars, relatively little is known about them. A NASA catalog featuring 126 exotic, newly discovered worlds includes detailed measurements ...

Potentially Habitable 'Exo-Venus' With Earth-Like Temperature Discovered

May 23, 2024 — Astronomers have made the rare and tantalizing discovery of an Earth-like exoplanet 40 light-years away that may be just a little warmer than our own world. The potentially-habitable planet, named ...

Webb Telescope Offers First Glimpse of an Exoplanet's Interior

May 20, 2024 — A surprisingly low amount of methane and a super-sized core hide within the cotton candy -- like planet WASP-107 ...

Squeezed by Neighbors, Planet Glows With Molten Lava

May 9, 2024 — Astrophysicists discovered that an exoplanet is covered with so many active volcanoes that seen from a distance it would take on a fiery, glowing-red ...

Possible Atmosphere Surrounding Rocky Exoplanet

May 8, 2024 — Researchers may have detected atmospheric gases surrounding 55 Cancri e, a hot rocky exoplanet 41 light-years from Earth. This is the best evidence to date for the existence of any rocky planet ...