Solar system

Quirks of orbital mechanics make a cadre of sun-orbiting asteroids appear to be moons of Earth

At least one in a dozen binary stars shows signs of eating their planets

Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks is hiding a strange spiral in its icy heart—and it may tell scientists about the comet’s innards

New analyses cast doubt on claims that a meteor witnessed over the South Pacific in 2014 came from another star system and raise questions about a high-profile expedition to recover the fireball’s fragments from the seafloor

Snapshots of a plethora of planet-forming disks offer more than just eye candy—they also reveal some fundamental aspects of how worlds are born

NASA’s partnership with private industry to accelerate the U.S.’s return to the moon is delivering lunar payloads—and mixed results

NASA is reaching across more than 15 billion miles to rescue its malfunctioning Voyager 1 probe—but this hallowed interstellar mission can’t live forever

Japan’s SLIM lander has sparked a new era of precision landings, with big implications for lunar science and exploration

Earthlings are very lucky to see the spectacle of a total solar eclipse

The next year of science for the James Webb Space Telescope has been selected. It includes remote galaxy observations and, at last, a hunt for exomoons

The subsurface ocean of Jupiter’s moon Europa may have far less oxygen—and less potential for life—than previously believed, according to data from NASA’s Juno spacecraft

Eris and Makemake—two icy worlds beyond the orbit of Pluto—have seemingly fresh methane on their surface, a sign of unexpectedly hot interiors