Suggested Searches

Planetary Science Stories

NASA Research Examines the Multicellular Behavior of Unique Bacteria
3 min read

In a recent study, NASA-supported researchers gained new insight into the lives of bacteria that survive by grouping together as if they were a multi-cellular organism. The organisms in the study are the only bacteria known to do this in…

Article
20-Year Hubble Study of Uranus Yields New Atmospheric Insights
5 min read

The ice-giant planet Uranus, which travels around the Sun tipped on its side, is a weird and mysterious world. Now, in an unprecedented study spanning two decades, researchers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have uncovered new insights into the planet’s…

Article
NASA’s Webb Captures Neptune’s Auroras For First Time
6 min read

Long-sought auroral glow finally emerges under Webb’s powerful gaze For the first time, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has captured bright auroral activity on Neptune. Auroras occur when energetic particles, often originating from the Sun, become trapped in a planet’s…

Article
NASA’s Curiosity Rover Detects Largest Organic Molecules Found on Mars
6 min read

Lee esta historia en español aquí. Researchers analyzing pulverized rock onboard NASA’s Curiosity rover have found the largest organic compounds on the Red Planet to date. The finding, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests prebiotic…

Article
New Modeling Assesses Age of Next Target Asteroid for NASA’s Lucy
4 min read

Although NASA’s Lucy spacecraft’s upcoming encounter with the asteroid Donaldjohanson is primarily a mission rehearsal for later asteroid encounters, a new paper suggests that this small, main belt asteroid may have some surprises of its own. New modeling indicates that…

Article
NASA’s Hubble Finds Kuiper Belt Duo May Be Trio
5 min read

The puzzle of predicting how three gravitationally bound bodies move in space has challenged mathematicians for centuries, and has most recently been popularized in the novel and television show “3 Body Problem.” There’s no problem, however, with what a team…

Article
NASA’s Lucy Spacecraft Takes Its 1st Images of Asteroid Donaldjohanson
3 min read

NASA’s Lucy spacecraft has its next flyby target, the small main belt asteroid  Donaldjohanson, in its sights. By blinking between images captured by Lucy on Feb. 20 and 22, this animation shows the perceived motion of Donaldjohanson relative to the…

Article
Sharing PLANETS Curriculum with Out-of-School Time Educators
2 min read

Out of school time (OST) educators work with youth in afterschool, community, and camp programs. Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) learning in OST can be challenging for multiple reasons, including lack of materials and support for educators. The NASA…

Article
Is There Potential for Life on Europa? We Asked a NASA Expert: Episode 52
2 min read

That’s a great question. And it’s a question that NASA will seek to answer with the Europa Clipper spacecraft. Europa is a moon of Jupiter. It’s about the same size as Earth’s Moon, but its surface looks very different. The…

Article
How Long Does it Take to Get to the Moon… Mars… Jupiter? We Asked a NASA Expert: Episode 51
2 min read

So how long does it take to get from Earth to the Moon, to Mars or to Jupiter? As with most things in life, the answer is: it depends.

Article