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Small BodiesStories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.
Cometary sights and sounds
Discover what causes a comet’s color and what it might be like to listen to one whiz by.
See for yourself
See the month’s coolest space pictures, see planets in the night sky, and create the future in space that you want to see.
Moonstruck
From asteroid impacts to spacecraft landings (whether successful or not), the Moon is no stranger to being struck.
What would happen if an asteroid hit the Moon?
If a large asteroid impacted the Moon, would it cause problems for us here on Earth?
Storms and showers
Mars has storms of dust, while Saturn pours down ammonia rain. Here on Earth, we passed through a debris tail to get a special kind of shower.
Hasta la vista, baby
Terminators abound this week in space, and we’ll be back to Mars if NASA gets the budget it needs.
Far out, man!
Faraway spacecraft, distant objects, the lunar farside, and a pretty out-there art project.
Speedy spacecraft and pretty pics
Take a look at some of our favorite recent space images and learn about an express mission to Mars.
Searching the skies to keep us all alive
Astronomers around the world are working to protect the Earth from asteroid impacts, with the help of Planetary Society members and donors.
Rings and dings
From Saturn’s magnificent rings to Mercury’s surface dings, this week brings great new images and science from across the Solar System.
Want to be a citizen astronomer and defend Earth from asteroids? Here are some tips.
We asked three Planetary Society Shoemaker NEO grant winners for tips on how to assemble your own planetary defense observatory.
Day and night, it’s all about starlight
This week in space: Mars days almost match up with ours, and light and molecules are created by distant stars.
Vladimir Benishek and the mystique of asteroid research
The Planetary Society Shoemaker NEO Grant winner learned from his mother and grandfather, while also forging his own path.
The scientific truth is out there
The real science of aliens, the policy implications of ET, and new views of worlds beyond our own.
Way out there
We’re always learning more about the worlds of the outer Solar System, and even those beyond.
Five asteroid deflection techniques to save the Earth
Kinetic impactor or nuclear blast? Here are some ways to defend our planet from a dangerous asteroid.
Hard-working spacecraft and even harder-working microbes
The Soyuz spacecraft have been helping humans get to and from space for decades, but that’s nothing compared to the billions of years that microorganisms have been making life on Earth possible.
Moonshadow, Moonshadow
The Moon casts shadows on itself and on Earth, environmental concerns overshadow a test launch’s success, and exoplanets are awesome (beyond a shadow of a doubt).
Rocket flight and the five dwarfs
Meet the Solar System’s five official dwarf planets, celebrate two major launches, and find out why planets sometimes seem to go backwards across the sky.
The Space Advocate Newsletter, April 2023
The changing fortunes of planetary defense.