planetary-science

Phobos is speeding toward its inevitable destruction, but scientists have uncovered a surprising twist in its timeline. Could it break apart even sooner than expected?

Far beyond Neptune, in one of the coldest and darkest regions of our solar system, astronomers have discovered something unexpected: a small icy object with an atmosphere that shouldn’t really be there. This object, known as 2002 XV93, belongs to a group of distant bodies called trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs). These objects orbit the Sun at […] The post How can this tiny world have an atmosphere?…

On January 10, 2024, a dim star in the constellation Gemini began to disappear. Not dramatically, not all at once, but gradually, its light thinning by degrees as something cold and dark slid in front of it. From three stations across Japan, astronomers watched the light curves on their monitors and saw what they hadn’t expected to see: a gradual fade where physics said there should be an abrupt …

Our Moon is still guarding its secrets decades after the last of the Apollo missions lifted off the lunar surface. Lunar scientists still puzzle over just when and how a giant Earth impactor formed our Moon, completely altering our early Earth in the process.

A team of astronomers in Japan has detected a thin atmosphere around (612533) 2002 XV93, a trans-Neptunian object about 500 km in diameter -- an object far too small and cold to retain one. The post Small, Frozen World beyond Pluto Appears to Have Thin Atmosphere appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News .

Astronomers aren’t sure why The post A Tiny Rock in the Outer Solar System Has an Atmosphere—But It Shouldn’t appeared first on Nautilus .

Nature Astronomy, Published online: 04 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41550-026-02846-1 A stellar occultation campaign reveals a thin atmosphere around the plutino 2002 XV93, showing that even a modest-sized trans-Neptunian object can host an atmosphere, perhaps through cryovolcanism or a recent impact.

Io is a world of extremes. It is by far the most volcanically active world in our solar system. Being continually squeezed in the never-ending tug-of-war between Jupiter and its larger satellites will do that to a moon. As a result, Io has over 400 “paterae” - volcanic depressions that spew lava up onto its surface. And, according to a new paper available in pre-print on arXiv and utilizing data …

A 500-kilometre-wide object in a similar orbit to Pluto challenges our assumptions about small bodies in the outer solar system

A new study reveals that Mars subtly reshapes Earth’s orbit and deep ocean cycles over millions of years.

A brief stellar eclipse suggests the tiny 2002 XV 93 has a thin atmosphere — a first for any solar system body farther from the sun than Pluto.

Using data from NASA’s Juno spacecraft, planetary scientists have produced the most precise measurements of Jupiter’s size in half a century and found the Solar System’s largest planet is slimmer and flatter than long believed. The post Jupiter is Little Smaller Than We Thought appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News .

Two newly identified minerals in Moon dust are offering fresh insight into how the Moon formed and evolved.

What would Earth be like if there were no Moon? Peter Allen RhodesNorth Bellmore, New York Without the Moon, Earth’s geology, biology, and climate — as well as human philosophy — would be different in many significant ways. If Earth had no Moon, the postulated origin of the Moon through a collision between the proto-Earth Continue reading "What would Earth be like if there were no Moon?" The post…

At the centre of a water molecule, tucked inside its hydrogen atom, there is usually just a single proton. Nothing else. But in a small fraction of the water on Earth, and in comets and asteroids scattered throughout our solar system, that proton has a neutron companion, making the hydrogen heavier, turning H2O into something denser and slightly more sluggish: deuterated water, or HDO. The ratio …

NASA has released sweeping new views of Mars that seem to place distant regions side by side in a single glance.

A new study reveals how radar-equipped drones could pinpoint accessible water ice on Mars with unprecedented precision.

During the week of April 20, Planetary Science Institute members participated in various events in Washington, D.C. to garner Congressional support for space sciences. On Monday, they joined the more than 130 space advocates at ... Read More

Nature Geoscience, Published online: 01 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41561-026-01968-5 Geological maps are integral to understanding the Earth and other rocky planetary bodies. As technological advances enable the geological mapping of extreme terrestrial and planetary environments, we must strengthen collaboration, standardization and data accessibility to ensure that the knowledge gained is cohesive,…

On May 1, 1949, astronomer Gerard Kuiper spotted a new moon of Neptune while examining photographic plates from McDonald Observatory’s 82-inch telescope. It would be the last moon discovered at that planet until Voyager 2 flew by in 1989. Kuiper proposed calling it Nereid, after the water nymphs who attended Neptune in mythology. Kuiper had Continue reading "May 1, 1949: The discovery of Nereid" …