Articles

Stories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.

Moon-spying missions and a planetary evil twin

Whether they’re dedicated to it or not, planetary missions can get beautiful and informative glimpses at distant moons. And who’s the evil twin: Venus or Earth?

Have a nice flight!

Flying on Titan is easy, but not as easy as flying on Deimos. Plus, Juice takes off and Ingenuity captures a view from the air.

A mission to pull back the shroud

VERITAS would peer through Venus’ clouds to study its surface like never before, but it needs your help.

What the search for aliens can learn from life on Earth

When searching for extraterrestrial life, we have to base our hunt on what we know about life on our own planet. This may seem limiting, but there's a lot we can learn from the astonishingly diverse lifeforms we have here on Earth.

Our favorite moons of the Solar System

A brief guide to eight of our Solar System's most fascinating and scientifically promising moons.

Your guide to rings of the Solar System

Tour the rings of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, plus asteroids, a dwarf planet, and an exoplanet.

Outer worlds and outstanding science

Uranus is way out there, beckoning us to visit. And Cassini is the mission that won’t quit, even years after burning up.

What Cassini continues to reveal about Saturn

Saturn continues to surprise as scientists comb through 13 years of Cassini data.

Planetary accessorizing

Planets are beautiful and fascinating enough on their own, but there’s no denying that moons and rings add a little something special.

How do planets get moons?

Here are the distinct ways in which the moons of our Solar System formed.

How do planets get rings?

The planets in our Solar System show that no two ring systems are exactly alike.

How Uranus and Neptune are key to unlocking how planets form

A flagship mission to the ice giants — Uranus and Neptune — will forever change our understanding of the origin and evolution of our solar system.

That’s so metal

Gear up for a mission to a metallic world and catch up on the latest in space news.

Are we trashing space?

Humans have left many objects throughout space — whether it's archaeology or simply littering is up for debate.

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.