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Solar System Science
To know how to protect its astronauts, NASA needs to first understand the threat.
The mutual distance between well-separated galaxies increases with time as the Universe expands. What else expands, and what doesn't?
Total eclipses are a product of a strange and almost eerie cosmic coincidence — one that makes Earth an even rarer world in the galaxy and, by proxy, in the Universe.
The least exciting of all eclipses, a penumbral lunar eclipse, foreshadows the spectacular show that April 8th's total eclipse will bring.
The detection of two celestial interlopers careening through our solar system has scientists eagerly anticipating more.
For now, our Solar System's eight planets are all safe, and relatively stable. Billions of years from now, everything will be different.
Although early Earth was a molten hellscape, once it cooled, life arose almost immediately. That original chain of life remains unbroken.
The Earth that exists today wasn't formed simultaneously with the Sun and the other planets. In some ways, we're quite a latecomer.
NASA's Juno mission, in orbit around Jupiter, occasionally flies past its innermost large moon: Io. The volcanic activity is unbelievable.
Valles Marineris is the Solar System's grandest canyon, many times longer, wider, and deeper than the Grand Canyon. What scarred Mars so?
Figuring out the answer involved a prism, a pail of water, and a 50 year effort by the most famous father-son astronomer duo ever.
As Uranus approaches its solstice, its polar caps, rings, and moons come into their best focus ever under JWST's watchful eye. See it now!
Each December, the Geminid meteor shower puts on a show for skywatchers across Earth. With a new Moon at 2023's peak, it'll be outstanding!
Out of the four rocky planets in our Solar System, only Earth presently has plate tectonics. But billions of years ago, Venus had them, too.
Between the least massive star and most massive planet lies the mysterious brown dwarf: a class of objects that are neither star nor planet.
An annular eclipse is coming to Earth on October 14, 2023. Six months later, a total solar eclipse is headed our way. Here's the reason why.
Whether you call it 10 quintillion, 10 million trillion, or 10 billion billion, it's a 1 followed by 19 zeroes.
Each year in mid-August, Earth plows through the debris stream of an enormous comet, creating the Perseids. 2023's show will be magnificent!
Can two planets stably share the same orbit? Conventional wisdom says no, but a look at Saturn's moons might tell a different story.
The giant impact theory suggests our Moon was formed from proto-Earth getting a Mars-sized strike. An exoplanet system shows it's plausible.
While Saturn and its moons all appear faint and cloudy to JWST, Saturn's rings are the star of the show. Here's the big scientific reason.
There are 40 billion billion black holes in the universe. Here’s how our Solar System stacks up against ten of them.
Exoplanet LP 791-18d is likely to have an atmosphere and liquid water.
The outer planets' clouds hide the weirdness within.
Massive objects like black holes, stars, and rogue planets routinely pass near our Solar System. An ensuing comet storm could destroy us.
Like Mars today, Venus used to be a sci-fi superstar. Recent discoveries could re-ignite our interest in Earth’s “evil twin.”
The next solar eclipse to occur over heavily populated areas is on April 8, 2024. For a spectacular show; here's where the best views are!
The secret ingredient is violence, and it just might indicate that "moonmoons" aren't as uncommon as most astronomers think.
On Earth, microbial growth is common in lava tubes no matter the location and climate, whether it’s ice-volcano interactions in Iceland or hot, sand-floored lava tubes in Saudi Arabia.
