The dazzling, icy rings around Saturn – the second largest planet in the Milky Way – were shaped by the gravitational pull of the gas giant’s small moons, astronomers said Thursday, who also discovered the rings are much younger than previously believed.
Read moreResearchers made a startling discovery challenging scientific consensus regarding the composition of the subterranean oceans on Europa, one of 79 moons orbiting Jupiter.
Read moreThe quest to find exoplanets – Earth-like objects orbiting distant stars in our universe – will get a boost from a flower-like spacecraft with metallic petals to block starlight long enough for telescopes to view distant objects like never before, NASA said Tuesday.
Read moreDespite orbiting the sun at an average distance of 3.6 billion miles, Pluto’s subsurface oceans haven’t frozen over, a phenomenon researchers said they’ve solved in a study released Monday.
Read moreA spacecraft designed to probe the depths of Mars’ surface in order to study the origins of our universe has recorded the first Martian quake ever detected, NASA said Tuesday.
Read moreJapan’s space agency said Monday that its Hayabusa2 spacecraft will follow up last month’s touchdown on a distant asteroid with another risky mission — dropping an explosive on the asteroid to make a crater and then collect underground samples for possible clues to the origin of the solar system.
Read moreNASA officials said Monday the agency will leap into a new era of deep space exploration through missions to place humans on the moon again, launch commercial space ventures and deepen the study of life-sustaining conditions on Mars.
Read moreScientists say images of craters taken by European and American space probes show there likely once was a planet-wide system of underground lakes on Mars.
Read moreA NASA rover that discovered signs of water on Mars over a 15-year mission, widely exceeding expectations on interplanetary exploration, was declared dead Wednesday after attempts to communicate with the intrepid explorer were unsuccessful.
Read moreScientists at Rice University say elements essential for the formation of life were left on Earth after a planet the size of Mars crashed into it over 4.4 billion years ago and created the moon.
Read moreA NASA spacecraft designed to study the depths of the Martian surface placed its first instrument on the red planet Wednesday, completing a major milestone in mission that aims to gain insight into the origins of our universe.
Read moreMore than 100 times farther than the Earth is from the sun, a pink dwarf planet nicknamed Farout was recognized by astronomers Monday as the most-distant body ever observed in our solar system.
Read moreA NASA spacecraft designed to burrow beneath the surface of Mars landed on the red planet Monday after a six-month, 300 million-mile journey and a perilous, six-minute descent through the rose-hued atmosphere.
Read moreFinal preparations were underway Friday for the launch of a joint mission by European and Japanese space agencies to send twin probes to Mercury, the closest planet to the sun.
Read moreAfter a year of peering deep into the outer edge of space, Carnegie scientists have discovered 12 new moons orbiting Jupiter.
Read moreNASA’s Dawn spacecraft is sending back incredible close-ups of the dwarf planet Ceres.
Read moreAstronomers say they’ve captured the first confirmed image of a planet forming in the dust swirling around a young star.
Read moreNew Mars discoveries are advancing the case for possible life on the red planet, past or even present. Scientists reported Thursday that NASA’s Curiosity rover has found potential building blocks of life in an ancient Martian lakebed. Hints have been found before, but this is the best evidence yet.
Read moreTeamwork will be crucial for astronauts tackling the multiyear journey to Mars, according to a paper published in American Psychologist, the flagship journal of the American Psychological Association.
Read moreA newly discovered asteroid in Jupiter’s orbit “immigrated” from another solar system and is orbiting in the opposite direction of nearly everything else in our solar system, according to new astronomical research.
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