Space, Astronomy and Planetary Science News

The sun has powered almost everything on Earth since life began, including its climate. The sun also delivers an annual and seasonal impact, changing the character of each hemisphere as Earth's orientation shifts through the year.

When used as a frequency comb—an ultraprecise technique for measuring different colors of light—could boost the sensitivity of astronomical tools searching for other Earthlike planets as much as 100 fold.

An international team of scientists has detected that some of the glow of Earth's aurora is polarized, an unexpected state for such emissions.

A mathematical model produced by Prof Andrew Watson suggests that the odds of finding new life on other Earth-like planets are low, given the time it has taken for beings such as humans to evolve and the remaining life span of Earth.

The electric solar wind sail developed at the Finnish Meteorological Institute two years ago has moved rapidly from invention towards implementation. Electric sail propulsion might have a large impact on space research and space travel throughout the sola

Spanish and UCL (University College London) scientists have discovered a possible terrestrial-type planet orbiting a star in the constellation of Leo.

A new stereo view of Phobos, the larger and inner of Mars' two tiny moons, has been captured by a NASA spacecraft orbiting Mars.

Flash back three or four billion years -- Earth is a hot, dry and lifeless place. All is still. Without warning, a meteor slams into the desert plains at over ten thousand miles per hour. With it, this violent collision may have planted the chemical seeds

Using a revolutionary new camera, UK astronomers have a real chance of being the first to find Earth-like planets around other stars.

Images from the twin STEREO spacecraft show, for the first time, a solar tsunami blasting its way through the Sun’s lower atmosphere.