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Planetary science

An illustration of a protoplanet crashing into Jupiter

Protoplanet smackdown may explain Jupiter’s core makeup

Science

Scientists say Jupiter may have been hit head-on by protoplanet not long after being formed — a violent collision with apparent lasting effects on the planet’s core

STEVE

The mysterious aurora known as ‘Steve,’ explained

Science
It might be raining diamonds on Neptune

After Cassini, where to next?

Science
This natural color view of Ganymede was taken on June 26, 1996, from the Galileo spacecraft during its first encounter with the Jovian moon.

Looking for water? Try Jupiter’s largest moon.

Science
This artist's concept shows NASA's Dawn spacecraft arriving at the dwarf planet Ceres

NASA’s Dawn spacecraft is already historic, and it’s just getting started

Science
An artist's rendering if Kepler 186f, a world extremely similar to Kepler 438b, an Earth-like exoplanet orbiting an M-class dwarf star in the habitable zone.

Up close, ‘Earth-like’ planets are still wildly unfamiliar worlds

Science

The Kepler Space Telescope is on the hunt for potentially habitable planets, but even the most “Earth-like” planets can look dramatically different than our home. One of them, Kepler-438b, is a case study in just how tough finding a second Earth can be.

A NASA graphic illustrating the interior of the Earth.

How the Earth made its own water — out of rocks

Science

Recent research has strongly suggested the ancient Earth was dry and could not support life until icy comets left behind the water necessary to create life as we know it. Now a new study suggests something very different: Our planet made its own water through geologic processes, and is still doing so all the time.

Galaxy formation

The water on Earth is even older than the sun

Science

Astronomy and planetary science often reach mind-bending results. This is no exception.

Mount Redoubt eruption

Humanity is the great species killer

Environment

There have been five mass extinction events in the Earth’s history, and a new book makes the case that humans are creating the sixth right now.There have been five mass extinction events in the Earth’s history, and a new book makes the case that humans are creating the sixth right now.

The planet Saturn is seen backlit by the sun, as seen from the Cassini spacecraft on July 19, 2013.

Saturn shows us how a moon might be born

Environment

Scientists thought the solar system’s planets all had the moons they were going to have — but Peggy challenges that very notion. Peggy appears to be a new moon for Saturn, emerging from the rocky debris that makes up the planet’s famous rings.