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Small BodiesStories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.
What is the difference between astronomy and astrology?
The words may be similar, but astronomy (a science) and astrology (a divinatory practice) are very different things.
Are planets with two stars promising places for life?
A look at the potential for habitable planets in binary systems despite their chaotic births.
Your Guide to Water on the Moon
Learn when we discovered lunar water, where it is, and how future missions will study it.
How do planets get rings?
The planets in our Solar System show that no two ring systems are exactly alike.
How Uranus and Neptune are key to unlocking how planets form
A flagship mission to the ice giants — Uranus and Neptune — will forever change our understanding of the origin and evolution of our solar system.
When will we explore Enceladus to find alien life?
While NASA will launch Dragonfly later this decade to Titan, another potentially habitable moon of Saturn, no space agency is currently funding a mission to Enceladus.
The two-faced Moon
Why is our Moon's farside so different from its nearside?
Is life possible on rogue planets and moons?
Our exploration of the solar system combined with two decades of exoplanet research tells us there are several possibilities for life to exist on starless planets and their moons.
Did Scientists Just Find Life on Venus? Here's How to Interpret the Phosphine Discovery
A Venusian biosignature, if confirmed, does not guarantee life, but it does represent a compelling argument for further exploration.
A New Understanding
Abigail Fraeman examines how the Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, changed our view of Mars.
Venus’ Ocean of Air and Clouds
Javier Peralta plumbs the depths of Venus’ atmosphere through the eyes of the Venus Express and Akatsuki orbiters.
The State of Planetary Defense
Vishnu Reddy delivers a sober but hopeful report on our understanding of near-Earth objects, their dangers, and our readiness.
Treasure Hunting With Hayabusa2
IN THE EARLY hours of 22 February, light was just beginning to brighten the campus of JAXA’s Institute of Space and Astronautical Sciences (ISAS) in Kanagawa, Japan. It should have been a quiet time, but the Hayabusa2 control room was packed with people. We were about to land on an asteroid.
Rosetta’s Ancient Comet
Rosetta is a European Space Agency mission with contributions from its member states and NASA. Operating such a complex mission with its 11 instruments and Philae lander is a success story in itself, but Rosetta’s greatest success is the science it delivered.
Chang’e-4 may have discovered material from the Moon’s mantle
The first science results from the unprecedented Chang’e-4 lunar far side mission are in. The mission’s Yutu-2 rover, deployed from the lander shortly after the Chang’e-4 landing on 3 January, has, with the help of the Queqiao relay satellite, returned data which suggests it has discovered material derived from the Moon’s mantle.
Mars Used to Have Water, But We Can't Explain How
Although we have acquired compelling evidence of flowing liquid water on early Mars, the fundamental question about how water could be stable under Martian atmospheric conditions remains unsolved.
Not a Heart of Ice
Mark Marley explains what planetary scientists mean when they say the word
We're going to Jezero!
NASA announced this morning the selection of Jezero crater for the landing site of the Mars 2020 mission. Jezero is a 45-kilometer-wide crater that once held a lake, and now holds a spectacular ancient river delta.
Heiligenschein Throughout the Solar System
When planetary scientist Brittney Cooper was scrolling through the downlinked images of Hayabusa2’s approach of asteroid Ryugu, a familiar sight caught her attention.
Curiosity's organics on Mars
What does it mean that the Mars rover Curiosity found organics in Martian rocks? Emily Lakdawalla translates the science.