Our journalists and guest bloggers bring you stunning imagery and the space stories that matter most.
Heather Hunter • August 18, 2017
The upcoming solar eclipse isn’t just about watching the Moon block out the Sun. A suite of NASA-funded science experiments will to study the unseen effects of the eclipse on Earth's atmosphere.
Justin Cowart • July 08, 2016 • 7
With Juno arriving at Jupiter, Justin Cowart gives us a lesson on the giant planet's varied cloud patterns.
Anna Scott • June 07, 2016 • 4
Jet streams are found in planetary atmospheres throughout our solar system. But what exactly are they?
Anna Scott • May 05, 2016 • 3
Why do we need to slice up atmospheres into classifications like the troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, and thermosphere?
Anna Scott • April 20, 2016 • 4
There are two types of atmospheric waves that are critically important on Earth and other planets: gravity waves and planetary waves.
Sarah Hörst • March 24, 2016 • 4
What types of aerosols do we find in the atmospheres around the Solar System, and why does what we call them—clouds vs. haze vs. dust—matter? Sarah Hörst explains.
Emily Lakdawalla • April 08, 2015 • 10
What is the solar system moon with the densest atmosphere? Most space fans know that the answer is Titan. A few of you might know that Triton's is the next densest. But what's the third? Fourth? Do any other moons even have atmospheres? In fact, they do; and one such atmosphere has just been discovered.
Emily Lakdawalla • March 04, 2015 • 5
After several months of near-silence, ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission has released on Facebook the first data product from its Methane Sensor For Mars. Don't get too excited about methane yet: there is no positive or negative detection. The news here is that the Methane Sensor for Mars is working, systematically gathering data. They also released several new photos of Mars.
Bruce Betts • February 04, 2015 • 2
Our own Dr. Bruce Betts is once again teaching his Introduction to Planetary Science and Astronomy college course online. Come join him.
Emily Lakdawalla • December 30, 2014 • 6
At the American Geophysical Union meeting, the Curiosity mission announced that an instrument had finally definitively detected methane in Mars' atmosphere. It exists at a low background level, but there was a spike to about ten times that, which lasted for a couple of months before disappearing. What that means is unclear.
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