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A row of alternating bright and dark patches stretches across the Ringed Planet and may be caused by alternating updrafts and downdrafts in the atmosphere
Breaking News - 21:05 11 October 2006
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The two comets visited by NASA's Stardust and Deep Impact spacecraft are remarkably different in composition – ancient collisions may be to blame
Breaking News - 19:43 11 October 2006
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The surface of the solar system's largest asteroid, Ceres, has been mapped in infrared light in fine detail for the first time
Breaking News - 16:14 10 October 2006
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Charged particles from space may trigger violent chemical reactions on Saturn's moon Enceladus, explaining its watery plumes
Breaking News - 20:00 09 October 2006
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NASA's Opportunity rover and its Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have sent back breathtaking vistas of the 800-metre-wide Victoria Crater
Breaking News - 19:36 06 October 2006
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The Ringed Planet's own heat illuminates clouds buried deep within its atmosphere, a new image from the Cassini spacecraft reveals
Breaking News - 21:12 05 October 2006
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The most powerful camera ever sent to another planet, the HiRISE instrument on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, has sent back its first close-up images
Breaking News - 18:57 02 October 2006
The planets are whipping around their host stars in less than 24 hours, giving them the shortest "year" on record
Breaking News - 18:00 04 October 2006
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Hubble recently found a dark patch spanning 3000 kilometres on the planet, but its cause is a mystery
Breaking News - 21:53 28 September 2006
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Navigation, power and communications systems that rely on satellite navigation will be disrupted by violent solar activity, experts warn
Breaking News - 14:29 29 September 2006
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A dozen more lakes have been found near the north pole of Saturn's giant moon – they may fill up in the winter and evaporate in the summer
Breaking News - 20:30 28 September 2006
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After a journey of 21 months, NASA's Opportunity rover arrives at a crater five times wider than any it has studied previously
Breaking News - 23:03 27 September 2006
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NASA's Opportunity rover is just days away from reaching the edge of Victoria Crater, the largest basin ever studied at close range on Mars
Breaking News - 20:55 26 September 2006
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Japan's Solar-B spacecraft will provide an unprecedented look at the Sun's magnetic field, which could help predict the powerful solar eruptions that can knock out power grids on Earth
Breaking News - 00:49 23 September 2006
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Yet more orbital images of the Red Planet's infamous 'face' confirm it is simply a hill that was probably sculpted by ancient water
Breaking News - 21:52 21 September 2006
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The ring, found when the Cassini spacecraft spent a record time in Saturn's shadow, may be produced by meteorites striking two of the planet's tiny moons
Breaking News - 23:08 20 September 2006
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The SHARAD radar on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is working "fabulously" after being deployed on Saturday – it will search for water in the top 1 km of the planet's crust
Breaking News - 22:20 19 September 2006
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Japan's Solar-B probe will be the first ever to study the Sun's magnetic field in 3D, which could help predict the powerful solar eruptions that can wreak havoc on Earth
Breaking News - 01:51 19 September 2006
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A panel of top US scientists says NASA should survey the Moon carefully before sending humans or robots there – they could unwittingly alter its tenuous atmosphere and pristine polar ice
Breaking News - 14:00 19 September 2006
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Observations by the Cassini spacecraft suggest ethane rain or snow could accumulate around the moon's poles, partially accounting for Titan's missing ethane oceans
Breaking News - 19:22 14 September 2006
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The object that sparked the row over Pluto's status has now been christened 'Eris' after the Greek goddess of discord, who helped start the Trojan War
Breaking News - 18:28 14 September 2006
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The "aerosonde" will head right into the eye of a storm, skimming low above the sea, to shed light on how hurricanes gain their strength
Breaking News - 20:05 12 September 2006
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Aiming to boost the country's food-producing capacity, the probe will expose thousands of seeds to space radiation in the hope of creating some super-mutants
Breaking News - 17:21 11 September 2006
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Preliminary analysis of the probe's recent crash on the Moon suggests it may have skidded over a ridge on top of a mountain, creating a cloud of debris 80 kilometres long
Breaking News - 21:35 07 September 2006
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The former planet will henceforth be known as minor planet 134340 Pluto, underscoring its recent demotion from planethood
Breaking News - 18:30 07 September 2006
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Observations by Japan's Hayabusa spacecraft support the theory that asteroids slowly become coated with iron dust as they age – impacts with other space rocks can later excavate bright, underlying material
Breaking News - 18:00 06 September 2006
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A deceptive looking duo of low-mass stars, revealed by Hubble, will add to the heated debate over what constitutes a planet
Breaking News - 18:00 07 September 2006
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If astronauts ever had to subsist on just the minerals available on the Moon, weak bones would be the least of their worries, it seems
News - 15:10 07 September 2006
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The planned impact ends the mission of Europe’s SMART-1 probe – scientists hope to analyse the chemistry of the rock ejected by the crash
Breaking News - 09:57 03 September 2006
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The decision to relegate Pluto from planet to "dwarf planet" was a wrench for astronomers, but there's no need for a tearful farewell, says Stephen Battersby
Breaking News - 13:00 02 September 2006
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Even as you mourn Pluto's demotion from planet, spare a thought for poor old Ceres, which has twice battled to attain planetary status
Breaking News - 10:00 02 September 2006
Anyone with a pair of binoculars – in the right part of the world – may be able to observe the probe's planned crash on the lunar surface this weekend
Breaking News - 23:00 01 September 2006
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The planet's sideways tilt means its moons pass over its surface, as seen from Earth, just once every 42 years – an ideal viewing period is just beginning
Breaking News - 20:41 01 September 2006
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Several hundred researchers have signed a petition to do away with the new definition, which strips Pluto of its status as a planet
Breaking News - 20:42 31 August 2006
