Planets

6 articles
  • Pluto Charon bulge hero

    A Visual History of Humanity’s Exploration of Pluto

    Before I could string full sentences together, I used to wander outside past my bedtime. I would push open the sliding glass door and immediately look up, searching for stars sprinkled beyond the silhouetted trees. At the time, I couldn’t even begin to comprehend what I was seeing. Instead, each beacon of light represented a […]
  • big ol collision

    The Genetics of the Earth and Moon

    Imagine that two very similar-looking neighbors undergo a genetic test. The exam shows that the pair’s genetic fingerprints are virtually identical. They feel a flash of shock and excitement. What does this mean? Could they be long-lost twins, separated in a hospital mixup?The Earth and Moon share a similar issue, one that poses a major […]
  • planet wreel2

    Forget “Earth-Like” Worlds

    Why we’ll first find aliens on eyeball planets.
  • Article Recirculation Lead Image

    Hunting for Eclipses as Perfect as Earth’s

    Roughly twice a year, the apparent positions of Sun and Moon coincide, and a fortunate few observers are treated to a solar eclipse. Watching such an event provides the opportunity to contemplate a strange coincidence: From the surface of Earth, the apparent sizes of the Sun and Moon in the sky are nearly equal. The […]
  • Kaltenegger_Ingenius_HERO_1280x376

    Ingenious: Lisa Kaltenegger

    Stories about a life spent searching for life among the stars.
  • The_Fun_House_733x550

    The Fun-House Mirror Earths

    It’s been just over two decades since astronomers announced the first discoveries of exoplanets—planets orbiting stars other than the sun—and their progress in the intervening years has been so routinely remarkable its recitation now seems mundane: There are now thousands of cataloged exoplanets, and hundreds of billions more probably await discovery in the Milky Way […]