On January 1, 1801, Giuseppe Piazzi discovered the first asteroid, 1 Ceres. In 2006, when Pluto was reclassified as a dwarf planet, Ceres, because of the new definition, was also classified as a dwarf ...

Your support makes a difference! As a Planetary Partner, YOU will enable our Scientists and Educators to advance world-class Solar System research and grassroots ...

There are no events on this day.

“Would you like some curiosity?” Pamela Gay asked passersby at MagicCon: Atlanta last weekend. Most people responded to the Planetary Science Institute Senior Scientist with a tentative and slightly ...

New research suggests that Ariel, a moon of Uranus, might have once harbored an ocean about 100 miles (170km) deep. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/PSI/Mikayla Kelley/Peter ...

The MESSENGER mission to Mercury discovered the unexpected presence of volatile elements – such as sulfur, sodium, chloride and even water hidden in permanently shadowed regions in craters near the ...

Mars is more than a dusty, red planet. Some parts of its surface can resemble the folds and ridges of the human brain or ocean corals. Scientists have dubbed such Martian surface features ‘brain coral ...

Aug. 5, 2025, TUCSON, Ariz. – Researchers have studied a new mineral on Mars, called ferric hydroxysulfate, that could provide insight into how heat, water and chemical reactions shape the planet’s ...

July 24, 2025, TUCSON, Ariz. – On the slopes of Martian mountains and craters clings what appears to be flowing honey, coated in dust and frozen in time. In reality, these features are incredibly slow ...

June 26, 2025, TUCSON, Ariz. – After nearly 20 years of operations, NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, or MRO for short, is on a roll, performing a new maneuver to squeeze even more science out of ...

The march of the planets around the Sun may seem interminable, but new research suggests that the likelihood of another star in our galaxy passing by and disrupting our Solar System is slightly higher ...

Religion and science can sometimes feel at odds, to the chagrin of Grace Wolf-Chase, a Planetary Science Institute senior scientist and senior education and communication specialist who is also a ...