planetary science

Robots are about to venture into the sunless depths of lunar craters to investigate ancient water ice trapped there, while remote studies find hints about how water arrives on rocky worlds.

The Tonga eruption in January was “basically like Krakatoa 2.” This time, geophysicists could explain the tiny tsunamis that cropped up all over the planet, solving a 139-year-old mystery about Tonga’s predecessor.

We might have a past faint sun to owe for life’s existence. This has consequences for the possibility of life outside Earth.

The James Webb Space Telescope has the potential to rewrite the history of the cosmos and reshape humanity’s position within it. But first, a lot of things have to work just right.

Over the past decade, researchers have completely rewritten the story of how gas giants such as Jupiter and Saturn form. They’re now debating whether the same process might hold for Earth.

Jupiter and Saturn should be freezing cold. Instead, they’re hot. Researchers now know why.

Federica Coppari uses the world’s most powerful laser to recreate the cores of distant worlds.

Scientists have long struggled to understand how common planets form. A new supercomputer simulation shows that the missing ingredient may be magnetism.

The new volcanic fissures are more otherworldly than they first appear.