Venus
Life Could Make Habitable Pockets in Venus’ Atmosphere
The tantalizing possibility that life exists in the clouds of Venus is once again causing a stir amongst planetary scientists…
Floating “Aerobats” Could be the Best way to Explore the Cloud Tops of Venus
Researchers, with support from NASA, are developing software that will allow balloon-based aerial robots to explore Venus' atmosphere.
Eggshell Planets Have a Thin Brittle Crust and No Mountains or Tectonics
Planets without plate tectonics are unlikely to be habitable. But currently, we've never seen the surface of an exoplanet to…
A new Climate Model Suggests That Venus Never had Oceans
A new study has cast doubt on whether or not Venus ever had oceans, challenging the notion that it was…
There’s Enough Sunlight Getting Through Venus’ Clouds to Support High-Altitude Life
Carl Sagan once famously, and sarcastically, observed that, since we couldn’t see what was going on on the surface of…
The Early Solar System was Messier and More Violent Than Previously Believed
Our conventional models of planet formation may have to be updated, according to a pair of new papers. Accretion is…
An Asteroid has Been Discovered That Crosses Mercury’s Orbit
Astronomers have spotted the fastest-ever asteroid orbiting Sun -- and at times, it gets closer to the Sun than the…
The First Images and Videos from the Double Venus Flyby
Two spacecraft made historic flybys of Venus last week, and both sent back sci-fi-type views of the mysterious, cloud-shrouded planet.…
Two Spacecraft are Flying Past Venus, Just 33 Hours Apart
When Longfellow wrote about “ships passing in the night” back in 1863, he probably wasn’t thinking about satellites passing near…
Observing the Night Side of Venus is Actually Pretty Tricky
Observing the dark side of planets is hard. In the visible spectrum, they are almost unobservable, while in the infrared…