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Small BodiesStories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.
Our planet’s day in the sun
Celebrate Earth Day by appreciating some of the unique and quirky characteristics of our home world.
Are we trashing space?
Humans have left many objects throughout space — whether it's archaeology or simply littering is up for debate.
Planetary Science Decadal Survey: After the Red Planet, an Ice Giant
After completing Mars Sample Return, Uranus should be the target of NASA's next major planetary mission, according to a major new report by the National Academies of Sciences.
Earthlings off-planet
Celebrate 61 years of humans in space, and take a look at the latest news from our exploration of the cosmos.
When will we explore Enceladus to find alien life?
While NASA will launch Dragonfly later this decade to Titan, another potentially habitable moon of Saturn, no space agency is currently funding a mission to Enceladus.
The value of knowledge
Space exploration comes at a cost, but the investment is always worthwhile.
Not a planet? Not a problem.
Pluto, everyone’s favorite former planet, takes center stage in this week’s Downlink.
Join the exoparty
With new instruments and a growing number of discoveries, exoplanet and exomoon research is just getting started.
Where are the moons that orbit exoplanets?
Astronomers are searching for exomoons, or moons orbiting exoplanets. Although this idea has been around for a while, astronomers have only recently started having success in finding these elusive worlds.
Beyond the far side
Explore the two-faced Moon and meet two new projects paving the way for the future of space science.
The two-faced Moon
Why is our Moon's farside so different from its nearside?
Dive into these ocean worlds
Intriguing moons that may hide water beneath their surfaces, and what it takes to visit them.
A fascination with Europa
A look back at when the Voyager spacecraft sparked a love affair with an ocean moon.
Where are the ocean worlds in our solar system?
Ocean worlds are among the best candidates to search for life.
Space brings out the best in us
Space exploration is at its core an optimistic, peaceful and cooperative endeavor. This week we look at some reminders of that spirit of exploration.
The best space pictures from the Voyager 1 and 2 missions
NASA’s Voyager missions provided an unprecedented glimpse into the outer solar system.
An ice giant and its dwarf companion
Neptune and Triton come into focus as destinations worth exploring.
What light through yonder prism splits?
Discover how we use light to look for signs of life beyond Earth, and meet the newest batch of Planetary Society-funded asteroid hunters.
Return to Neptune? The plans to send an orbiter to the elusive planet
Is it time NASA sent an orbiter to study the other blue planet in our solar system? Proposals for missions to study the ice giant planet Neptune and its mysterious moon Triton have been on NASA’s to-do list for over a decade, but until now nothing has happened.
How we use starlight to look for alien life
The process of spectroscopy can help scientists hunt for biosignatures.