Planetary Science

Hera will arrive in 2026 at Dimorphos, an asteroid deliberately struck by NASA’s DART spacecraft

Claims of worlds orbiting Barnard’s star have been made before. But an advanced instrument could provide the breakthrough that finally confirms the star hosts a planetary system

Sooner or later a doomsday asteroid will wipe out most life on Earth—unless, that is, we prevent threatening space rocks from hitting us in the first place

We are in a new and different kind of moon race, one the U.S. is losing. To win, says a former NASA official, we need new strategies

A small asteroid, 2024 PT5, will spend the next two months alongside our planet as a mini moon before swooping back to deep space

Scientists are putting a new spin on the creation of binary asteroids

We can’t yet tell how life got its start on Earth. That’s one great reason to keep looking for life elsewhere

The world’s richest man, Elon Musk, owes his superstar success to self-satisfied competitors who blew obvious opportunities

Wispy whorls on the moon’s surface are as lovely as they are strange. Scientists are starting to unravel their origins

The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer spacecraft took a shortcut to the giant planet by way of the Earth and the moon

August’s supermoon will be the first of four supermoons in a row

Surging solar activity means enormous sunspots are in the space-weather forecast. Here’s how to view them safely