Planet news, features and articles

Mars' southern hemisphere absorbs a lot of the sun's energy during the Red Planet's spring, and that may be causing Mars' dust storms, a new study suggests.

Worlds will align for a "planetary parade" in January, with four bright and easily visible to the naked eye. But an even better view arrives in February and March. Here's what you need to know.

The record-breaking winds are circling the nearby "puffy" exoplanet WASP-127b, and are traveling six times faster than the alien world spins.

Data collected by NASA's InSight lander suggest that ancient internal processes are responsible for the "Martian dichotomy" that splits the Red Planet into two distinct halves.

Pluto may have got romantic to capture its largest moon, colliding and engaging in a passionate but icy 10 hour kiss with Charon billions of years ago.

Tonight (Jan. 13), bright Mars will disappear behind the full Wolf Moon for several hours before reappearing on the other side. It's the only lunar occultation of Mars visible from the U.S. this year. Here's how to get the most out of it.

A joint Japanese-European mission to Mercury just made its sixth flyby of the planet, revealing stunning close-ups of the permanently shadowed craters at Mercury's north pole.

A NASA satellite has spotted frozen "kidney beans" on Mars' sand dunes trapped in place until springtime. Photographing them can help us determine if there was ever enough water on Mars to sustain life.

As Mars approaches opposition this week, it will become a dazzling spectacle in the night sky. See it at its best now, or wait until 2027.