Planets

Video

Hours before its doom, NASA’s Cassini probe takes its parting shots at Saturn

by Alan Boyle on September 14, 2017September 15, 2017 at 7:58 amComment

The final pictures from NASA’s 13-year-long Cassini mission at Saturn are flowing in – and they’re good to the last drop. Or even better, good to the last moonset. Raw images,… Read More

Video

Cassini orbiter’s team turns Saturn crash into cause for celebration – and for science

by Alan Boyle on September 14, 2017September 14, 2017 at 4:10 amComment

Twenty years after its launch to Saturn, NASA has set the Cassini orbiter on a course for certain destruction on Friday – but there’s a decidedly positive spin to the… Read More

Video

Project Blue tries again with crowdfunding campaign for planet-watching telescope

by Alan Boyle on September 6, 2017September 6, 2017 at 5:42 pmComment

Project Blue is launching a second try to attract crowdfunding for a space telescope designed to study planets in the Alpha Centauri system, months after the first try fizzled. This… Read More

Why these scientists argue that we are turning Earth into an alien planet

by Alan Boyle on September 6, 2017September 6, 2017 at 11:55 amComment

A trio of scientists has just laid out a new classification scheme for planets that would put Earth into a hybrid category, making the transition from a diverse, photosynthetic-based biosphere… Read More

Video

Hubble keeps hope alive for water on potentially habitable TRAPPIST-1 planets

by Alan Boyle on August 31, 2017August 31, 2017 at 12:38 pmComment

Do some of the Earth-sized planets around a dwarf star called TRAPPIST-1, just 40 light-years away, have liquid water? Newly reported findings from the Hubble Space Telescope give astrobiologists continued… Read More

Podcast

Science fiction has won the war: Best-selling author Greg Bear on the genre’s new ‘golden age’

by Frank Catalano on August 22, 2017August 22, 2017 at 10:37 amComment

From the perspective of one of science fiction’s best-selling and longtime authors, the state of science fiction is golden. Golden age, that is. Greg Bear, whose popular works include three… Read More

Video

Scientists say there may be yet another unseen planet at solar system’s edge

by Alan Boyle on June 21, 2017June 21, 2017 at 4:03 pm1 Comment

Astronomers say they’ve found hints that an unseen planetary-mass object may lurk in the outer reaches of our solar system. And no, they’re not talking about Planet Nine, Planet X,… Read More

Video

NASA’s Kepler space telescope points to 10 new planets in the habitable zone

by Chelsey Ballarte on June 19, 2017June 20, 2017 at 2:27 pm1 Comment

Astronomers say they’ve used NASA’s Kepler space telescope to discover 10 Earth-sized planet candidates where life could lurk. The 10 prospects are a part of a larger pool of 219… Read More

Video

NASA’s Juno orbiter maps Jupiter’s super cyclones and monstrous magnetism

by Alan Boyle on May 25, 2017May 25, 2017 at 5:13 pmComment

NASA’s Juno orbiter has been sending back stunning pictures of Jupiter for months, but now the mission’s scientists are sharing their first peer-reviewed findings about the planet’s previously unseen polar… Read More

Video

Astronomers use the music of the spheres to track TRAPPIST-1’s seventh planet

by Alan Boyle on May 22, 2017May 22, 2017 at 1:52 pm1 Comment

An international research team led by a University of Washington astronomer has worked out the intricate dance of seven planets circling an ultracool dwarf star known as TRAPPIST-1, nailing down… Read More

Video

Newfound super-Earth could be the best planet for analyzing alien atmospheres

by Alan Boyle on April 19, 2017May 22, 2017 at 1:28 pm 2 Comments

It’s not the closest potentially habitable planet, but astronomers say a world 40 percent wider than Earth could be one of the best places to target in the search for life… Read More

It’s a UFO! It’s a walnut? No … It’s Pan, one of Saturn’s weirdest-looking moons

by Alan Boyle on March 10, 2017March 10, 2017 at 3:27 pm 3 Comments

Astronomers have long known that Pan, one of the “shepherd moons” in Saturn’s rings, had a weird shape. But it took this week’s high-resolution images from the Cassini orbiter to… Read More

Video

Looking for life: Scientists find 7 possibly Earthlike planets orbiting ultracool star

by Alan Boyle on February 22, 2017August 31, 2017 at 12:23 pmComment

A second look at an exoplanet system 40 light-years from Earth has brought a bonanza for astronomers: not two, not three, but seven alien worlds – some of which could have… Read More

Hunt for Planet Nine leads to mini-worlds

by Alan Boyle on August 29, 2016August 29, 2016 at 8:10 pmComment

The hypothetical world known as Planet X or Planet Nine hasn’t yet been found, but thanks to the search, astronomers have discovered smaller worlds on the solar system’s edge. Mapping such objects could… Read More

Proxima Centauri b confirmed! Potentially habitable planet orbits the star next door

by Alan Boyle on August 24, 2016August 24, 2016 at 11:27 am 12 Comments

The rumors you’ve heard are mostly true: Scientists say the star that’s closest to our solar system has a planet that could be at the right temperature for liquid water and… Read More

Revived Kepler mission confirms 104 new planets, and two could be a lot like Earth

by Alan Boyle on July 18, 2016July 18, 2016 at 5:48 pmComment

Astronomers say they’ve confirmed the existence of 104 worlds to add to the list of extrasolar planets detected by NASA’s Kepler K2 mission, and at least two of them appear… Read More

Astronomers say they’ve spotted a dwarf planet that’s farther out than Pluto

by Alan Boyle on July 11, 2016July 11, 2016 at 2:13 pm1 Comment

Astronomers have found an icy world that ranges far beyond the orbit of Neptune and may well rank as a dwarf planet alongside Pluto. The newly detected object, designated 2015 RR245,… Read More

Scientists explain how a giant impact created Mars’ past and present moons

by Alan Boyle on July 4, 2016July 4, 2016 at 11:46 am1 Comment

Are Mars’ two moons asteroids that were captured by the Red Planet’s gravitational field, or are they the result of an ancient smash-up? Astronomers have now laid out a series… Read More

Juno meets Jupiter: NASA’s giant mission to the giant planet hits its climax on video

by Alan Boyle on July 1, 2016February 9, 2017 at 11:13 am 5 Comments

Everything about NASA’s Juno mission to Jupiter is big: the destination (giant planet, duh!), the cost ($1.1 billion), the travel time (five years to cruise 1.8 million miles), even the solar… Read More

Have any alien civilizations ever existed? Astronomers say the chances are sky-high

by Alan Boyle on June 11, 2016June 11, 2016 at 10:14 pm 3 Comments

Are we alone? Fifty-five years ago, astronomer Frank Drake came up with an equation that weighed the odds for aliens, and now two astronomers have tweaked the formula to come… Read More

New Horizons provides the best close-up of Pluto some of us might ever see

by Alan Boyle on May 27, 2016May 27, 2016 at 5:24 pm1 Comment

Almost a year after NASA’s New Horizons probe flew past Pluto, the team behind the mission has put together a long mosaic strip that includes all of the highest-resolution images.… Read More

Dwarfy McPlanetface? The icy world known as 2007 OR10 cries out for a name

by Alan Boyle on May 12, 2016May 12, 2016 at 5:51 pm 2 Comments

Observations made by NASA’s Kepler space telescope suggest that the icy world known as 2007 OR10 is bigger than astronomers thought –and that’s adding to the pressure to give the probable… Read More

1,284 new worlds! Kepler mission doubles its tally of planets in one fell swoop

by Alan Boyle on May 10, 2016May 10, 2016 at 2:49 pmComment

The scientists behind NASA’s Kepler mission are using statistics to put their campaign to identify new planets into overdrive: New software that automates the process has verified 1,284 candidates as genuine… Read More

Video

Hours before its doom, NASA’s Cassini probe takes its parting shots at Saturn

Cassini orbiter’s team turns Saturn crash into cause for celebration – and for science

Project Blue tries again with crowdfunding campaign for planet-watching telescope

Why these scientists argue that we are turning Earth into an alien planet

Hubble keeps hope alive for water on potentially habitable TRAPPIST-1 planets

Science fiction has won the war: Best-selling author Greg Bear on the genre’s new ‘golden age’

Scientists say there may be yet another unseen planet at solar system’s edge

NASA’s Kepler space telescope points to 10 new planets in the habitable zone

NASA’s Juno orbiter maps Jupiter’s super cyclones and monstrous magnetism

Astronomers use the music of the spheres to track TRAPPIST-1’s seventh planet

Newfound super-Earth could be the best planet for analyzing alien atmospheres

It’s a UFO! It’s a walnut? No … It’s Pan, one of Saturn’s weirdest-looking moons

Looking for life: Scientists find 7 possibly Earthlike planets orbiting ultracool star

Hunt for Planet Nine leads to mini-worlds

Proxima Centauri b confirmed! Potentially habitable planet orbits the star next door

Revived Kepler mission confirms 104 new planets, and two could be a lot like Earth

Astronomers say they’ve spotted a dwarf planet that’s farther out than Pluto

Scientists explain how a giant impact created Mars’ past and present moons

Juno meets Jupiter: NASA’s giant mission to the giant planet hits its climax on video

Have any alien civilizations ever existed? Astronomers say the chances are sky-high

New Horizons provides the best close-up of Pluto some of us might ever see

Dwarfy McPlanetface? The icy world known as 2007 OR10 cries out for a name

1,284 new worlds! Kepler mission doubles its tally of planets in one fell swoop

NASA keeps its eye on a trio of potentially habitable planets just 40 light-years away

Hubble Space Telescope spots a moon circling faraway dwarf planet Makemake

Siberian unicorns? Five incredible science tales that aren’t April Fool’s jokes

‘Planet Nine’? Astronomers boost the case for a large, unseen Planet X

Postal Service geeks out with space stamps for Pluto, planets, the moon and Star Trek

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