Solar System
Latest about Solar System
![An illustration of an exomoon orbiting a planet outside the solar system.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/MsZQCPCLLaoZUn2wDVozDW-320-80.jpg)
Are they exomoons or not? Scientists debate existence of 1st moons seen beyond our solar system
By Robert Lea published
Team "pro-exomoon" is back to defend the discovery of the first and only exomoons potentially seen by humanity.
![An image of a protoplanetary disk around beta Pictoris with the cat's tail highlighted](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/Q2WQk3rzZFTX3n69FVx3bU-320-80.jpg)
James Webb telescope spots bizarre 'cat tail' flowing out of nearby star, and scientists can't fully explain it
By Harry Baker published
New images from the James Webb Space Telescope have revealed a bizarre string of dust in the shape of a cat's tail around the nearby juvenile star Beta Pictoris.
![An artist's rendition of Titan's landscape features a hazy atmosphere, dark dunes, and mirror-smooth lakes and seas that resemble Earth's. On these bodies of liquid hydrocarbons, new research suggests that the appearance of "magic islands" may be caused by floating organic solids.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/kZ7HySpC8nHJv7CB8qYEZT-320-80.jpg)
Mysterious 'magic' islands that come and go on Saturn's moon Titan finally have an explanation
By Briley Lewis published
Bright spots that appear and vanish on Saturn's moon Titan have a seemingly simple explanation — they're floating chunks of frozen organic material.
![(Main) A computer-simulated view of Venus based on Magellan spacecraft data. (Inset) The hellish surface of the planet as seen by NASA's Magellan spacecraft in the 1990s.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/Jjg8zD2DUjxWNkqacqxwXd-320-80.jpg)
Wispy ice clouds may form above Venus' hellish surface
By Robert Lea published
The surface of Venus is a hellscape with temperatures hot enough to melt lead, but some regions of its atmosphere high over the surface remain cool enough to harbor ice and birth ghostly clouds.
![Io, as seen by NASA's Juno spacecraft on Dec. 30, 2023.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/5DdHVtKMTDphHSSDVzQcsV-320-80.jpg)
Space photo of the week: An eerie look at Io, the most volcanic world in the solar system
By Jamie Carter published
In our favorite space image of the week, NASA's Juno spacecraft got an unprecedented look at Jupiter's volcanic moon Io from just 930 miles away.
![Neptune and Uranus colors.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/FYrYkNActvEGzFBTzR8weD-320-80.jpg)
Neptune isn't as blue as you think, and these new images of the planet prove it
By Robert Lea published
A new treatment of images collected by Voyager 2 in the late 1980s using data from the Hubble Space Telescope has revealed the actual colors of the solar system's distant ice giants, Neptune and Uranus.
![James Webb Space Telescope in outer space.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/ZiJAqQTXetp4qfM7YemRaA-320-80.jpg)
8 stunning James Webb Space Telescope discoveries made in 2023
By Ben Turner published
The oldest ever black holes, a preview of our solar system's gory demise, and a measurement of distant starlight that threatens to bring the standard of cosmology crashing down — here are the JWST's wildest discoveries of 2023.
![The view shown here is an orthographic projection of Mercury's south polar region, colored by an illumination map.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/rHCDvnKSyQ2x8pgfomEkeg-320-80.jpg)
10 out-of-this-world solar system discoveries made in 2023
By Harry Baker published
From Mercury to Pluto (and maybe even Planet Nine), here are some of 2023's most intriguing discoveries about the planets, moons and other bodies in our solar system.
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