
Jupiter, Destroyer of Worlds, May Have Paved the Way for Earth
Careening toward the sun, Jupiter cleared the way for Earth to form—with help from Saturn, too

Jupiter, Destroyer of Worlds, May Have Paved the Way for Earth
Careening toward the sun, Jupiter cleared the way for Earth to form—with help from Saturn, too

NASA Chooses a Boulder as the Next Destination for Its Astronauts
The agency's controversial Asteroid Redirect Mission no longer calls for redirecting an asteroid into high lunar orbit


After a Martian Marathon, NASA's Opportunity Rover Faces Uncertain Future
It's been a long time coming, but this week NASA's Mars Opportunity rover completed the first-ever Martian marathon. After landing on the Red Planet in January 2004 on a mission originally planned to only last 90 days, Opportunity has instead endured for more than a decade, and has taken eleven years and two months to [...]

Fact or Fiction?: Dark Matter Killed the Dinosaurs
A new out-of-this-world theory links mass extinctions with exotic astrophysics and galactic architecture

Enceladus Might Be a Methane Hotspot
NASA’s Cassini spacecraft spotted a surprising amount of methane erupting from Saturn’s moon Enceladus, suggesting it harbors more methane than we thought. Clara Moskowitz reports

Looking for Life In Our Soggy Solar System
Scientists are finding liquid water, the cornerstone for life as we know it, in surprising nooks and crannies of the solar system. Following Wednesday's news that there seem to be hydrothermal vents churning away in the warm, alkaline seas inside Saturn's moon Enceladus, researchers announced airtight evidence yesterday that Jupiter's moon Ganymede also has a [...]

Have We Got Solar System Habitability Backwards?
Enceladus, Europa, Ganymede, Titan, Triton, Pluto, Eris…they may all have, or have had, large oceans of liquid water trapped beneath a frozen crust.

First Active Hydrothermal System Found beyond Earth
Saturn's icy moon Enceladus has a surprisingly warm inner world

Dawn Spacecraft Arrives at Ceres, Becomes First to Orbit a Dwarf Planet
Shortly after 7:30 am Eastern time this morning, a seven-year space voyage at last reached its final destination: NASA's Dawn mission entered orbit around Ceres, a small, icy world orbiting the sun between Mars and Jupiter.

Titan Could Host Life "Not As We Know It"
Saturn's moon Titan is too cold for cell membranes to form as they do on Earth. But researchers have come up with a cell membrane that could exist on Titan. Christopher Intagliata reports

Ultracold-Resistant Chemical on Titan Could Allow It to Harbor Life
Computer simulations reveal that a compound found on Saturn’s largest moon may be able to form a freeze-resistant, flexible membrane that could encapsulate cells or organelles

Tricksy Mars may be Obscuring Signs of Organic Matter
Picture a hot volcanic spring. Mineral-laden acidic water flows through sulfur-rich rocks. A foul odor hangs in the air. For us it’s a nasty environment, best enjoyed through the lens of a tourist’s camera.