A long-lived mineral grain, such as zircon, can be an invaluable tool for reconstructing impact events. But those long lives make for complex stories.
planetary evolution
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Twin Spacecraft Ready to Head for a Martian Escapade
A pair of probes have taken a circuitous path to Mars but are now ready to leave their “loiter” orbit for a 10-month cruise to the Red Planet.
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Was the Moon-Forming Impact Squishy or Crunchy?
A new computer simulation adds a crust to the Earth-smashing planet Theia, showing how a proto-Moon could form from the leftovers.
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White Dwarf Spotted Devouring the Planet It Birthed
Exotic chemical elements in the atmosphere of a dead star hint at the presence of a planet that formed after the star’s death—the first such second-generation planet ever seen.
Posted inOpinions
What We Could Lose by Trying to Make Mars Habitable
The rock, ice, and atmosphere of Mars hold a largely unread archive. Terraforming could erase it before the biggest scientific questions are answered.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Super-Earths May Be Solid Deep Inside Their Mantles
New estimates show that a mineral likely common in these rocky planets’ interiors is resistant to melting, even at high temperatures.
Posted inFeatures
Kelsey Young: “Copy, Moon Joy”
She came to NASA with the goal of making planetary science front and center of the Artemis missions. She succeeded.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
What Australian Lakes Showed Us About Martian Hydrology
Studying the hydrology of the Yilgarn Craton reveals how the Red Planet may have evolved.
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Oddball Moon Might Be a Neptune Original After All
Infrared observations of Nereid hint that it might have formed in orbit around Neptune, unlike most of the planet’s other satellites.
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Interstellar Comet Was Born in a Very Cold Place
3I/ATLAS’s chemistry suggests that it formed in a much colder environment than our solar system did.