Planets, Astronomy | featured news

Scientists said Tuesday they have found the best evidence yet of ice volcanoes on Saturn's giant moon Titan. Unlike volcanoes on Earth, such ...

A Japanese probe reached Venus on Tuesday and prepared to enter orbit on a two-year mission that would mark a major milestone for Japan's space program and could shed light on the climate of Earth's mysterious neighbor....

But Dr. Brown has a unique distinction: He was, for a few hours in 2005, the only person on Planet Earth to know that the standard nine-planet solar system model was going to require rejiggering. He had just discovered a 10th potential planet, but he had also come to see that neither Pluto nor this new heavenly body (first nicknamed Xena, then officially named Eris) really measured up to the other eight.

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

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 ...