moons
-
Earth’s Undetected ‘Mini-Moons’ Could Make For Exciting New Astronomy
Every once in a while, our planet captures a “mini-moon”, a tiny asteroid that hangs out in our orbit for a bit before venturing back into the depths of space. New research suggests these small, temporary natural satellites carry tremendous scientific and commercial opportunities — but the trick will be in finding them.
-
Saturn’s Fascinating Moon Titan Has Yet Another Thing In Common With Earth
Titan – Saturn’s largest moon – is remarkable in that it features a dense atmosphere and stable liquid at the surface. The only other place in the solar system with these particular characteristics is, you guessed it, Earth. Thanks to a pair of new studies, we can add a third trait to this list of…
-
Scientists Are Already Planning The Next Mission To Pluto
The Pluto-shaped void in our hearts has yet to be filled by Planet 9, copious amounts of Ben & Jerry’s, or anything. Ever since the winter of 2015, when NASA’s New Horizons performed a six-month-long reconnaissance flyby study of Pluto and its moons, fans of the dwarf planet have wondered if or when we’d ever…
-
A Badarse New Theory On The Origin Of Mars’ Moons
Phobos and Deimos, Mars’ lumpy, runty moons, were once pegged as captured asteroids. But the truth is shaping up to be far more interesting. These ruddy satellites could be the lone survivors of a giant impact that eviscerated half of Mars’ surface billions of years ago.