Early visions of Mars: Meet the 19th-century astronomer who used science fiction to imagine the red planet

In the 19th century, astronomers could see Mars through telescopes, but not clearly. Some used their imaginations to fill in what the blurry images couldn’t convey.

Matthew Shindell, Curator, Planetary Science and Exploration, Smithsonian Institution • conversation
June 6, 2025 • ~9 min

Do photons wear out? An astrophysicist explains light’s ability to travel vast cosmic distances without losing energy

The speed of light is the fastest anything can travel. What happens to a photon from a galaxy 25 million light years away on its journey toward Earth?

Jarred Roberts, Project Scientist, University of California, San Diego • conversation
May 20, 2025 • ~6 min

In what order did the planets in our solar system form?

The biggest planets hogged a lot of the raw materials and were fully formed first.

Lucas Brefka, Ph.D. Student in Astronomy & Astrophysics, Penn State • conversation
May 19, 2025 • ~6 min

Why the meteorites that hit Earth have less water than the asteroid bits brought back by space probes – a planetary scientist explains new research

Water-rich meteorites contain key ingredients for life, yet they barely appear in meteorite collections. Recent research using shooting stars may explain why.

Patrick M. Shober, Postdoctoral Fellow in Planetary Sciences, NASA • conversation
April 14, 2025 • ~8 min

Asteroid has a very small chance of hitting Earth in 2032, but a collision could devastate a city

The chances of asteroid 2024 YR4 hitting Earth are small but fluctuating.

Maggie Lieu, Research Fellow, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nottingham • conversation
Feb. 24, 2025 • ~8 min

Bennu asteroid reveals its contents to scientists − and clues to how the building blocks of life on Earth may have been seeded

New findings reveal that a NASA mission traveled to an asteroid that may have once been covered in salty lakes containing organic molecules.

Sara Russell, Professor of Planetary Sciences, Natural History Museum • conversation
Jan. 29, 2025 • ~10 min

Why does a rocket have to go 25,000 mph to escape Earth?

A rocket needs to overcome the force of gravity to leave Earth behind.

Benjamin L. Emerson, Principal Research Engineer, School of Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology • conversation
Jan. 13, 2025 • ~7 min

The Moon might be older than scientists previously thought − a new study shines light on its history

An extreme heating event may have interfered with scientists’ attempts to figure out the Moon’s age by dating lunar rock samples.

Francis Nimmo, Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz • conversation
Dec. 18, 2024 • ~7 min

How can Jupiter have no surface? A dive into a planet so big, it could swallow 1,000 Earths

Jupiter’s composition is more similar to that of the Sun than that of the Earth.

Benjamin Roulston, Assistant Professor of Physics, Clarkson University • conversation
Nov. 4, 2024 • ~7 min

Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS is a Halloween visitor from the spooky Oort Cloud − the invisible bubble that’s home to countless space objects

Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS is one of 2 comets from the Oort Cloud passing by Earth in October 2024.

James Wray, Professor of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology • conversation
Oct. 11, 2024 • ~9 min

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