Planetary Science

Despite an eye-watering price tag, bringing pieces of Mars back to Earth promises to revolutionize our understanding of life’s place in the early solar system

China’s Chang’e 6 mission has successfully returned samples from the moon’s far side, opening a new phase of the nation’s lunar space race with the U.S.

Pollution from skyrocketing numbers of satellites burning up in Earth’s atmosphere could threaten our planet’s protective ozone layer

Scientists have found signs of fresh flowing lava on Venus in decades-old data from NASA's Magellan spacecraft

The massive sunspot region that gave Earthlings stunning auroral displays earlier in May is back from its trip around the far side of the sun

Solar storms that create auroras affect Earth’s magnetic field and may cause migratory species, such as many whales and birds, to lose their way

A new theory tested on Apollo-era data suggests that high-speed moon dust could pose engineering hazards—and diplomatic headaches

A supernova showering Earth with radioactive debris is a surprisingly common cosmic occurrence

Northern and southern lights produced by a recent bout of severe space weather may rival the most intense auroras of the past 500 years

Years of careful planning helped safeguard against last weekend’s severe space weather, but we still don’t know how we’d cope with a monster event

An exploding star is a catastrophe on a cosmic scale, but here on Earth we’re safe from such astral disasters—for now

Alien worlds that glow like lightbulbs or harbor molten-rock rain are revealing planets’ profound cosmic diversity—and pointing the way toward finding those that truly resemble our own familiar Earth