An artist’s illustration of hydrogen disappearing from Venus.
Aurore Simonnet/ Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics/ University of Colorado Boulder
Saturn’s moon Enceladus has geysers shooting tiny grains of ice into space. These grains could hold traces of life − but researchers need the right tools to tell.
NASA isn’t the only space agency with exciting missions to watch for in 2024.
AP Photo/John Raoux
Expect lots of space missions to launch this coming year, with exciting new science to follow.
Artists impression of what WASP-17b could look like, based on.
data gathered by Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) and other ground- and space-based
telescopes, including the Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes.
NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI)
Two new NASA missions – VERITAS and DAVINCI+ – are headed to Venus. The missions will use radar and a probe to learn about Earth’s hard-to-study and potentially prophetic neighbor.
Artist’s impression of CHEOPS in orbit above Earth. In this view the satellite’s telescope cover is closed.
ESA / ATG medialab
The primary objective of CHEOPS is to better understand the planets that we’ve already found. And its mission is now in full swing.
A natural color image of Pluto taken by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft in 2015.
(NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute/Alex Parker)
NASA scientists have discovered a new planet orbiting around a nearby star that is in a habitable zone. But does this planet have liquid oceans that can support life?
In 2015, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft looked back toward the sun and captured this near-sunset view of the rugged, icy mountains and flat ice plains extending to Pluto’s horizon.
NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI
Many people are still upset that Pluto was demoted from being a planet. But definitions of various celestial objects are fairly fluid. So whether it is an asteroid or moon or planet is up for debate.
It is always exciting to discover new planets beyond our Solar System. Now a planetary astrophysicist is using a star’s chemistry to predict which ones are likely to host giant planets.
Planetary scientists believe that Earth was formed by the conglomeration of meteorites and comets – which also brought water.
Festa/SHutterstock.com
The source of water on Earth, the Moon and planets in our solar system is hotly debated. Some in the planetary science community argued that it came from asteroids and comets. Now they have proof.