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planetary science

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520px for Heavy Late Bombardment
geophysics

Fossil Discoveries Challenge Ideas About Earth’s Start

By Rebecca Boyle
January 22, 2018
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A series of fossil finds suggests that life on Earth started earlier than anyone thought, calling into question a widely held theory of the solar system’s beginnings.

Thinking Places

Jason Morgan Recalls Discovering Earth’s Tectonic Plates

By Natalie Wolchover +2 authors
Olena Shmahalo
Lucy Reading-Ikkanda
August 28, 2017
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Jason Morgan developed the theory of plate tectonics in 1967 while working among a critical mass of talented geophysicists at Princeton University.

Jay Pasachoff
Q&A

Eclipse Hunter Reveals the Science That Can Only Be Done in the Dark

By Dan Falk
August 10, 2017
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Even in the age of sun-observing satellites, astronomers like Jay Pasachoff still seek out total solar eclipses for the tales they can tell about our sun.

planetary science

What Made the Moon? New Ideas Try to Rescue a Troubled Theory

By Rebecca Boyle
August 2, 2017
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Textbooks say that the moon was formed after a Mars-size mass smashed the young Earth. But new evidence has cast doubt on that story, leaving researchers to dream up new ways to get a giant rock into orbit.

Kuiper belt objects, planet nine
Abstractions blog

Planet Nine Is Put on Trial in Absentia

By Natalie Wolchover
June 27, 2017
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Breathless media coverage notwithstanding, the cases for and against a hypothetical Planet Nine in the outskirts of the solar system remain inconclusive.

Journey to the Birth of the Solar System
Multimedia

Journey to the Birth of the Solar System

By Natalie Wolchover
May 25, 2017
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Join David Kaplan on a virtual-reality tour showing how the sun, the Earth and the other planets came to be.

Earth scientists hope that their growing knowledge of the planet’s early history will shed light on poorly understood features seen today, from continents to geysers.
geophysics

Explorers Find Passage to Earth’s Dark Age

By Natalie Wolchover
December 22, 2016
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Geochemical signals from deep inside Earth are beginning to shed light on the planet’s first 50 million years, a formative period long viewed as inaccessible to science.

astrobiology

Scientists Debate Signatures of Alien Life

By Natalie Wolchover
February 2, 2016
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Searching for signs of life on faraway planets, astrobiologists must decide which telltale biosignature gases to target.


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