So Those Water Vapors on Europa Might Not Actually Be a Thing
In 2014, a monumental Science paper showed that Hubble data pointed to intermittent plumes of water vapor on…
A Gigantic Atmospheric Anomaly Keeps Showing Up on Venus. Astronomers Finally Know Why
In 2016, a Japanese Venus orbiter repeatedly spotted colossal waves of acidic clouds sweeping the planet’s atmosphere. For…
Mercury has a 10-mile-thick layer of diamonds under its surface
Mercury does not look like a world built for extravagance. It is small, battered, sun-scorched and gray. Yet…
Kuljeet Kaur Marhas becomes first Indian woman Fellow of Meteoritical Society
In a landmark moment for Indian planetary science, Kuljeet Kaur Marhas has become the first Indian woman to…
‘Make Pluto a planet again’? NASA chief revives debate that divides astronomers
Will Pluto become a planet again?Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute Many of us are…
Why Most Alien Worlds May Be Too Dry for Life
This image of Venus taken by NASA’s Mariner 10 spacecraft (left) is paired with an artist’s depiction of…
Volunteers Help NASA Astronauts Record Lunar Flashes
As NASA’s Artemis II astronauts zipped around the Moon in early April, they observed flashes of light caused…
Mars has air, but almost none of it can keep you alive
For all the drama around getting to Mars, the harder question starts after landing. A person can step…
Monster Storms on Jupiter Unleash Lightning Beyond Anything on Earth
Scientists analyzing data from NASA’s Juno spacecraft have uncovered evidence that lightning on Jupiter can be vastly more…
NASA’s Curiosity rover detects never-before-seen organic compounds on Mars
A drill hole in an ancient Martian rock has yielded something more complicated than a simple yes-or-no answer…
NASA’s Curiosity Rover Discovers ‘Origin-of-Life’ Molecules Never Before Seen on Mars
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover has spent more than 13 years exploring the 3.5-billion-year-old Gale crater, slowly climbing a…
Scientists Found Literal Ink From Ballpoint Pens in Martian Meteorites
Stuff from Mars often makes headlines for a variety of reasons, but here’s something that you’ve probably never…