A new model shows how the migration of Titan could have destroyed another moon, creating Saturn’s rings and the moon Hyperion. And, the model suggests, this all happened in the past billion years.
planets
Posted inFeatures
Small, Faint, or Fast, Rubin Will Find It
The Vera C. Rubin Observatory is set to redraw the map of the solar system by discovering millions of small, fast-moving objects hidden all around us.
Posted inNews
Solar Flare Spotlights the Martian Ionosphere
A “lucky” linkup between orbiters helped scientists study how the Red Planet’s ionosphere responds to solar events.
Posted inNews
The Planet That Shouldn’t Be There
A newly discovered exoplanet suggests that a different way to build planetary systems could be possible.
Posted inNews
Planet-Eating Stars Hint at Earth’s Ultimate Fate
A sampling of aging Sun-like stars demonstrates that they likely eat their closest planets.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Maybe That’s Not Liquid Water on Mars After All
A “very large roll” of a radar instrument offers new insight into a highly reflective area near the Martian south pole.
Posted inNews
Planets Might Form When Dust “Wobbles” in Just the Right Way
A liquid metal experiment has shown how magnetic rotational instability might allow dust to pool together in disks around young stars to form new worlds.
Posted inENGAGE, News
Tilted Planet System? Maybe It Was Born That Way
New observations could shed light on the degree to which misalignment in a planet-forming disk contributes to skewed planetary orbits.
Posted inNews
A Survey of the Kuiper Belt Hints at an Unseen Planet
An analysis of more than 150 objects in the far reaches of the solar system suggests that a planet more massive than Mercury could be lurking beyond the orbit of Pluto.
Posted inFeatures
How an Interstellar Interloper Spurred Astronomers into Action
Valuable lessons from previous interstellar objects allowed scientists to develop a more rapid response when the third one arrived in July.