Jupiter’s moon Europa is one of the most enticing objects in our solar system, and a future NASA mission may help reveal whether it is a suitable for life.
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Articles on Planets
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Some atomic ratio detective work on our solar system neighbors tells us a lot about their watery pasts. That Venus and Mars are mostly dry now could be a cautionary tale for us on the Blue Planet.
Who gets to name the craters and features on our planets was once an ad hoc affair. But now the public can have a say with just days left to vote.
The search for life on other planets gets a boost thanks to an old calculation that found Uranus in our solar system.
The icy moon Europa is perhaps the most tantalising destination in our solar system. Scientists have been trying for years to kickstart a mission to Jupiter’s most enigmatic moon, with very Earth-like…
2015 is already shaping up to be a big year in astronomy and planetary exploration, with the best yet to come. Here are some highlights to keep your eye on throughout the year. Opportunity January 25 marked…
NASA has revealed that a whiff of methane has been detected twice in the last couple of years at the Martian surface by the Curiosity Rover. The source of the methane is uncertain. It is not even clear…
New observations of a youthful binary star system, reported today in the journal Nature, may help to explain one of exoplanetary science’s greatest unanswered questions – the peculiar orbits of so many…
Research by NASA scientists suggests that distant planets that share Earth-like qualities may use friction to move from volatile…
Over the past two decades, almost 1,500 exoplanets have been discovered orbiting distant stars – but Dutch astronomers have determined for the very first time just how fast one of those exoplanets is spinning…
A new, planet-like body has been found on the outer edges of the solar system. This object, called 2012VP113, is the second body of its class found since the identification of the dwarf planet Sedna in…
Rocky planets larger than Earth could not sustain life because their thick, crushing hydrogen atmospheres would be deadly…
The Earth’s biosphere teems with life. From its upper atmosphere to the depths of its oceans, even down into the rocks that make up the planet’s crust. All of it, all these billions of tonnes of carbon-based…
While research suggests that Jupiter’s Great Red Spot should have disappeared by now due to fluid dynamics, a new study has…
New research published in the planetary science journal Icarus, shows the moon may have been formed by a glancing collision with an “impactor” in the violent days of the early solar system. Contrary to…
As you’re reading this, people all over the world are gearing up to witness this century’s final transit of Venus. Over a period of around six hours and 40 minutes tomorrow, from early morning until the…
NASA is aiming the Hubble Telescope at a crater on the moon to observe the transition of Venus. The telescope is unable to…
Our galaxy may be teeming with so-called ‘nomad planets’, which travel through space rather than orbiting stars, according…
By the time the Apollo Program ended in 1972 it had cost NASA roughly US$170 billion dollars (in today’s terms). It was seen as a waste of money by some, but almost 40 years since the launch of Apollo…
Mercury might once have orbited the sun in a “synchronous” rotation, before being hit by a large asteroid that flicked the…
Top contributors
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Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland
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Senior Curator (Astronomy), Museums Victoria and Honorary Fellow at University of Melbourne, Museums Victoria Research Institute
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Senior Lecturer in Physics, Nottingham Trent University
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Professor of Planetary Geosciences, The Open University
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PhD Candidate, University of Southern Queensland
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Associate Professor in Astronomy, Monash University
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Professor of Physics, Deputy Director (Solar System) at the Mullard Space Science Laboratory, UCL
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University Distinguished Professor of Astronomy, University of Arizona
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Post Doctoral Research Fellow in Space Science, University of Birmingham
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Lecturer, University of Southern Queensland
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Research Scholar, Academia Sinica
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Professor of Astrophysics, University of Sydney
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Sterrenkenner, History & Philosophy of Science, The University of Melbourne
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Professor of Astronomy, Vanderbilt University
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Professor of Planetary and Space Sciences, The Open University
