https://www.smithsonianmag.com/rss/tag/planets/RSS feed for PlanetsenFri, 04 Sep 2026 18:48:20 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/after-an-eight-year-journey-two-spacecraft-have-begun-their-arrival-to-mercury-the-inner-solar-systems-most-mysterious-planet-180989458/The BepiColombo mission, by the European Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, is only the third to study our smallest planetary neighborFri, 04 Sep 2026 18:48:20 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/after-an-eight-year-journey-two-spacecraft-have-begun-their-arrival-to-mercury-the-inner-solar-systems-most-mysterious-planet-180989458/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a-mysterious-decagon-unexpectedly-appeared-around-saturns-south-pole-the-ten-sided-shape-seems-to-be-a-wave-in-the-atmosphere-180989449/Decades ago, scientists found a hexagon around Saturn’s north pole. Now, recent images reveal a decagon in the planet’s southern hemisphere—and it seems to have recently formedThu, 03 Sep 2026 19:01:23 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a-mysterious-decagon-unexpectedly-appeared-around-saturns-south-pole-the-ten-sided-shape-seems-to-be-a-wave-in-the-atmosphere-180989449/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/mars-southern-half-is-weirdly-warm-underground-the-thermal-anomaly-might-explain-why-the-planets-hemispheres-look-so-different-180989424/Researchers used a novel technique to figure out what's going on inside the Red Planet. The work suggests that the interior of the southern hemisphere is hundreds of degrees hotter than that of the northern hemisphere and partially moltenTue, 01 Sep 2026 15:47:38 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/mars-southern-half-is-weirdly-warm-underground-the-thermal-anomaly-might-explain-why-the-planets-hemispheres-look-so-different-180989424/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/nasas-nancy-grace-roman-space-telescope-launches-to-find-exoplanets-and-unravel-mysteries-of-dark-matter-and-dark-energy-180989268/The new observatory will complete three surveys of the universe in five years, although it's designed to function at least twice as long. Its data could change scientists' basic understanding of the cosmosSun, 30 Aug 2026 11:26:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/nasas-nancy-grace-roman-space-telescope-launches-to-find-exoplanets-and-unravel-mysteries-of-dark-matter-and-dark-energy-180989268/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/once-the-solar-systems-ninth-planet-pluto-was-reclassified-20-years-ago-heres-why-planetary-scientists-and-the-public-alike-love-the-small-icy-body-180989383/Pluto is now the most well known of the outer worlds beyond Neptune—and the darling of the solar systemMon, 24 Aug 2026 17:00:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/once-the-solar-systems-ninth-planet-pluto-was-reclassified-20-years-ago-heres-why-planetary-scientists-and-the-public-alike-love-the-small-icy-body-180989383/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a-spacex-rocket-part-just-slammed-into-the-moon-creating-a-dust-plume-and-crater-heres-what-some-scientific-instruments-saw-180989299/The Korea Aerospace Research Institute captured before-and-after images of the impact site, and a telescope in Chile detected signs of the plume. However, no one was able to watch the collision liveFri, 07 Aug 2026 21:26:02 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a-spacex-rocket-part-just-slammed-into-the-moon-creating-a-dust-plume-and-crater-heres-what-some-scientific-instruments-saw-180989299/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/neptune-may-have-once-witnessed-a-lunar-massacre-that-turned-its-original-moons-inside-out-180989266/A new study identifies an unexpected mineral in two of the planet’s inner moons, pointing to a destructive past in which a large object got pulled into the system and obliterated the former, larger satellitesWed, 05 Aug 2026 20:51:47 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/neptune-may-have-once-witnessed-a-lunar-massacre-that-turned-its-original-moons-inside-out-180989266/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/new-images-provide-the-best-evidence-yet-that-supergiant-star-betelgeuse-does-inded-have-a-long-theorized-stellar-companion-180989225/The research team is mostly convinced by the data, but they want to capture additional observations in 2027 to confirm what they've foundMon, 03 Aug 2026 20:07:35 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/new-images-provide-the-best-evidence-yet-that-supergiant-star-betelgeuse-does-inded-have-a-long-theorized-stellar-companion-180989225/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/is-this-giant-celestial-body-a-moon-a-planet-or-something-in-between-the-strange-object-calls-astrononomical-labels-into-question-180989183/The newly found object, estimated to be roughly as massive as Jupiter, orbits a brown dwarf—a "failed star"—which in turn circles a small star. For now, researchers are calling the puzzling body an "exosatellite"Fri, 24 Jul 2026 17:14:09 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/is-this-giant-celestial-body-a-moon-a-planet-or-something-in-between-the-strange-object-calls-astrononomical-labels-into-question-180989183/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/could-life-exist-on-this-nearby-world-in-a-first-astronomers-find-an-atmosphere-on-an-earth-like-exoplanet-in-the-habitable-zone-180989149/While the celestial body seems to host three features that could make a livable environment—an atmosphere, a rocky composition and a temperature that could allow liquid water to sit on the surface—researchers have not currently detected any residentsTue, 21 Jul 2026 16:23:23 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/could-life-exist-on-this-nearby-world-in-a-first-astronomers-find-an-atmosphere-on-an-earth-like-exoplanet-in-the-habitable-zone-180989149/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/astronomers-noticed-a-mysterious-spot-appearing-in-telescope-images-it-turned-out-to-be-the-faintest-exoplanet-ever-imaged-from-earth-180989133/The gas giant, called Beta Pictoris d, had been hiding in plain sight for more than a decade, until two independent teams verified its existenceWed, 15 Jul 2026 19:40:22 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/astronomers-noticed-a-mysterious-spot-appearing-in-telescope-images-it-turned-out-to-be-the-faintest-exoplanet-ever-imaged-from-earth-180989133/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/new-images-reveal-that-this-asteroid-is-actually-two-conjoined-space-rocks-that-form-a-peanut-shaped-object-called-a-contact-binary-180989090/A flyby conducted by the Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa2 uncovered the asteroid's strange shape. Data gathered by the probe will also help defend the planet against potentially threatening space rocksWed, 08 Jul 2026 21:21:25 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/new-images-reveal-that-this-asteroid-is-actually-two-conjoined-space-rocks-that-form-a-peanut-shaped-object-called-a-contact-binary-180989090/