Solar System

An artist’s conception of a distant Solar System Planet X, which could be shaping the orbits of smaller extremely distant outer solar system objects like 2015 TG387.

New Discovery Stirs Up Signs of the Elusive Planet 9

A new minor planet called "the Goblin" is the second most distant known object in the solar system

Artist's rendering of "Orbital Reflector," a reflective space sculpture set to be launched into space this October

Astronomers Say This Reflective Space Sculpture Will Cause Unneeded Light Pollution. The Artist Argues Otherwise

‘Orbital Reflector,’ a 100-foot long, diamond-shaped balloon, aims to inspire humans to gaze up at the night sky with a renewed sense of wonder

An eroded area of the Medusae Fossae Formation.

Most of Mars' Dust Comes From One Place

Erosion of the Medusae Fossae Formation has, over billions of years, likely covered the entire planet in 10 feet of volcanic dust

Jupiter Officially Has 12 New Moons

The new satellites are mostly tiny and include one oddball that is on a collision course with some of the 78 other moons orbiting the planet

A 2018 colorized image of Jupiter's south pole created by citizen scientist Gabriel Fiset, using data from NASA's Juno spacecraft.

How Jupiter May Have Gifted Early Earth With Water

A new model of the solar system suggest we have gas giants to thank for our watery world

An illustration of lightning on Jupiter's northern hemisphere, using an image from the JunoCam.

Jupiter's Lightning Is More Earth-Like Than We Thought

Juno is providing scientists with new insights into the gas giant's flashes of light

Illustration of Sedna, a minor planet with an unusual orbit.

Is the Mysterious Planet Nine Just a Swarm of Asteroids?

Researchers investigate alternative explanations for wacky orbits of objects in our solar system

Images of 2015 BZ509 captured by the Large Binocular Telescope Observatory.

Is This Backwards-Orbiting Asteroid an Interstellar Visitor?

The space rock could have been captured from another star system during the early days of our solar system

Asteroid 2010 WC9 as it appeared on May 15, 2018, at a distance of 453,600 miles.

An Asteroid Will Hurtle Past Earth Tonight in Close Flyby

While the space rock poses no danger to our planet, such a close pass is uncommon for asteroids of this size

Europa

A New Look at Old Data Suggests Europa Shoots Watery Plumes Into Space

Scientists made the surprising discovery by turning the powers of modern computing on 1997 data collected during the Galileo mission

Venus shines brightly in the distance in this picture taken on the International Space Station.

Venus and Jupiter May Meddle With Earth's Orbit and Climate

In 405,000-year cycles, the tug of nearby planets causes hotter summers, colder winters and drier droughts on our home planet

Perhaps our sun will produce something as beautiful as the Cat's Eye Nebula.

The Sun Will Produce a Beautiful Planetary Nebula When It Dies

A new model of stellar death shows our low-mass star has enough juice to produce a beautiful ring of gas and dust before winking out

Gaia's all-sky view of our Milky Way Galaxy and neighboring galaxies, based on measurements of nearly 1.7 billion stars.

New Star Map Could Change Everything We Know About the Milky Way

The map includes 1.7 billion stars and is already revealing new details about star evolution and the formation of our galaxy

A piece of the Almahata Sitta in Sudan

Diamonds Trapped in Strange Meteorite Came From Solar System's Earliest Planets

Impurities in the diamonds could only have formed within a planet the size of Mercury or Mars

70,000 Years Ago, a Passing Star Shook Up Our Solar System

The red dwarf likely came within one light-year of the sun, altering the course of some asteroids and comets

Saturn's hazy moon Titan

Purple Haze: Alien Atmospheres Recreated In the Lab

By combining various gases with plasma, researchers are learning about the haze around distant planets

The eight cyclones orbiting Jupiter's north pole.

New Juno Data Gives Unprecedented Glimpse Beneath Jupiter's Stormy Shell

The massive planet's storm go much deeper than previously suspected and its interior rotates nearly as a solid mass

Some of Earth's Deep Sea Microbes Could Survive on Saturn's Moon

A methane-producing archaea survived simulations of Enceladus' extreme conditions, hinting at the possibility of similar extraterrestrial life

KBO 2012 HZ84 (left) and 2012 HE85 (right)

New Horizons Snaps Farthest Image Ever Taken From Earth

Drifting 3.79 billion miles from home, the NASA probe took pictures of two Kuiper Belt objects

Is SpaceX Being Environmentally Responsible?

Falcon Heavy’s flashy space car may not have been the best idea—for Mars

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