Planet news, features and articles

Researchers have recreated the bizarre spider-like features seen on the surface of Mars for the first time ever. The breakthrough could help unravel further mysteries surrounding the static Martian arachnids.

Unlike the other planets in the solar system, Mars is distinctly triaxial, meaning it is an ellipsoid with different sizes along all three axes.

Newly released images of Mars reveal a "smiley" salt deposit on the Red Planet's surface. A related study suggests that similar deposits, which were left behind from ancient lakes, may be a good place to look for signs of former life on Mars.

The Very Large Telescope in northern Chile imaged a "super-Jupiter" exoplanet called 2M1207b, precisely 20 years ago this week. This was the first direct visual confirmation of a world beyond our solar system.

New simulations show that Jupiter's massive moon Ganymede was knocked off its axis when it was struck by a roughly 90-mile-wide asteroid around 4 billion years ago. The colossal collision was likely one of the biggest asteroid impacts the solar system has ever seen.

Saturn will enter opposition on Sept. 7 and 8, orbiting on the opposite side of Earth as the sun. Here's everything you need to know to spot Saturn at its peak size and brightness this week.

Astronomers have traced the origins of 200 meteorites to five impact craters in two volcanic regions on Mars, known as Tharsis and Elysium.

Voyager 2, NASA's longest-running mission, explored Neptune during a historic encounter on Aug. 25, 1989, sending back humanity's first close-ups of the planet.

NASA's Chandra X-ray space telescope has created a 3-D map of nearby stars that may help astronomers search for alien planets with the potential for life.