Planets | featured news

The atmosphere of a relatively nearby extrasolar planet - just three times bigger than Earth - has been measured in a pioneering experiment.

Scientists have discovered the first planet from another galaxy, sort of. While some 500 planets have been identified in other parts of our galaxy — the Milky Way— none has been reported in other galaxies.

Invoking the spirit of "Star Trek" in a scholarly article entitled "To Boldly Go," two scientists contend human travel to Mars could happen much more quickly and cheaply if the missions are made one-way. They argue that it would be little different from early settlers to North America, who left Europe with little expectation of return.

Discovery of a "Goldilocks" planet smack in the middle of the "habitable zone" of the nearby star, Gliese 581 is the news of the day. This is certainly newsworthy result. Finding a rocky, Earthlike, planet in the habitable zone is a major milestone.

Thirty-four years after NASA's Viking missions to Mars sent back results interpreted to mean there was no organic material - and consequently no life - on the planet, new research has concluded that organic material was found after all.

New images of an ancient crater on Mars look just like a bootprint -- and the high res pics have failed to solve the age-old mystery for planetary scientists. If anything, the high-resolution images of the "Footprint Crater" -- otherwise known as Orcus Patera -- have puzzled Mars-watchers even further as to how the Red Planet was originally scarred with the 240-mile-long depression.

After Venus sets, it's Jupiter that takes over for the rest of the night, outshining everything in the night sky but the moon.

The night sky will put on a show in the coming days – and you don't need a telescope to appreciate it, according to University of Virginia astronomer Ed Murphy. The annual Perseid Meteor Shower, which typically produces 50 to 60 ...

California 7th graders discovered this Martian pit feature at the center of the superimposed red square in this image while participating in a program that enables students to use the camera on NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter.

A vast ocean likely covered one-third of the surface of Mars some 3.5 billion years ago, according to a new study. While the notion of a large, ancient ocean on Mars has been repeatedly proposed and challenged over the past two decades, the research provides further support for the idea of a sustained sea on the Red Planet more than 3 billion years ...