Featured
-
-
News |
NASA ‘fist bumps’ an asteroid to reveal Solar System’s secrets
OSIRIS-REx spacecraft successfully executes a nail-biting manoeuvre to scoop up rock samples from the asteroid Bennu and send them back to Earth.
- Alexandra Witze
-
Article |
The wide-binary origin of (2014) MU69-like Kuiper belt contact binaries
The high obliquity and low rotation period of the Kuiper belt object (2014) MU69 and other similar contact binaries is successfully reproduced from the collision and post-collision characteristics of initially wide binaries.
- Evgeni Grishin
- , Uri Malamud
- & Christoph M. Schäfer
-
Article |
Highly porous nature of a primitive asteroid revealed by thermal imaging
Thermal imaging data obtained from the spacecraft Hayabusa2 reveal that the carbonaceous asteroid 162173 Ryugu is an object of unusually high porosity.
- Tatsuaki Okada
- , Tetsuya Fukuhara
- & Yuichi Tsuda
-
News Round-Up |
Coronavirus name, animal-research data and a Solar System snowman
The latest science news, in brief.
-
Article |
An orbital water-ice cycle on comet 67P from colour changes
Spectral analysis of the VIRTIS dataset shows two opposite seasonal colour cycles in the coma and on the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, indicating an orbital water-ice cycle.
- Gianrico Filacchione
- , Fabrizio Capaccioni
- & Stefano Mottola
-
News |
NASA asteroid hunter chooses landing site on boulder-strewn space rock
OSIRIS-REx probe will attempt to sample rocks and soil from crater in asteroid Bennu’s northern hemisphere.
- Alexandra Witze
-
News Feature |
How two intruders from interstellar space are upending astronomy
Researchers grapple with the meaning of the first objects entering our Solar System from distant regions.
- Alexandra Witze
-
News Round-Up |
Measles’ legacy, alien water and a conference clampdown
The latest science news, in brief.
-
News |
Second-ever interstellar comet contains alien water
Scientists have spotted signs of water as the object, 2I/Borisov, streaks towards the Sun.
- Alexandra Witze
-
News |
NASA drone will soar over Saturn’s largest moon
The Dragonfly mission will explore Titan’s atmosphere and hydrocarbon lakes.
- Alexandra Witze
-
News |
First probe on the Moon’s far side uncovers hints of lunar interior
China’s Chang’e-4 mission has detected material that was probably stirred up during an impact event.
- Elizabeth Gibney
-
News |
China plans mission to Earth’s pet asteroid
Spacecraft will return samples to Earth and be open to researchers around the world.
- Elizabeth Gibney
-
News |
Japanese space probe drops explosive on asteroid Ryugu
Hayabusa2 released the device with the aim of making a crater on the asteroid’s surface.
- Davide Castelvecchi
-
News |
Asteroid’s bumpiness threatens US plan to return a sample to Earth
NASA mission finds asteroid Bennu littered with big boulders and spraying out particles.
- Alexandra Witze
-
Letter |
The unexpected surface of asteroid (101955) Bennu
Observations of asteroid (101955) Bennu with NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft reveal an unexpected surficial diversity that poses a challenge to the success of the sample-return mission.
- D. S. Lauretta
- , D. N. DellaGiustina
- & B. Marty
-
News |
Hawaiian-language experts make their mark on the Solar System
Naming project aims to strengthen Indigenous connections to discoveries made at state’s many telescopes.
- Alexandra Witze
-
News |
Cosmic collision created ‘snowman’ MU69 — the farthest world ever explored
Close-up images from NASA’s New Horizons probe show that space rock has two distinct lobes.
- Alexandra Witze
-
News |
Most distant world ever visited is shaped like a peanut
Latest images snapped by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft reveal the contours of ‘Ultima Thule’ — the space rock 2014 MU69.
- Alexandra Witze
-
News |
Five things to know about NASA’s New Year visit to the outer Solar System
The New Horizons spacecraft will zoom past a distant, primordial space rock on 1 January.
- Alexandra Witze
-
News |
Asteroid-sampling mission zeroes in on tiny space rock
US spacecraft aims to return the largest trove of space dirt to Earth since NASA's final Apollo mission in the 1970s.
- Alexandra Witze
-
News |
Japanese rover lands on ancient asteroid for 16-hour mission
Third lander from Hayabusa2 has less than a day to collect data before its battery runs out.
- Bianca Nogrady
-
News |
Listen: Behind the scenes of Japan’s daring asteroid mission
Nature visits the pioneering spacecraft's creators to learn how Hayabusa2 will explore the Ryugu asteroid.
- Noah Baker
-
Nature Podcast |
Podcast: Latent HIV, bird personalities and the Hayabusa2 mission
Anna Nagle and Shamini Bundell bring you more of the latest science news.
-
News |
‘Goblin’ world found orbiting at the edges of the Solar System
The object never gets closer to the Sun than 65 times the Earth–Sun distance.
- Alexandra Witze
-
News |
Project that spots city-killing asteroids expands to Southern Hemisphere
Planned observatories will provide astronomers with complete coverage of the night sky.
- Traci Watson
-
News |
Mysterious interstellar visitor is a comet — not an asteroid
Quirks in ‘Oumuamua’s path through the Solar System helped researchers solve a case of mistaken identity.
- Alexandra Witze
-
Nature Podcast |
Podcast: Air pollution, sick plants, and stress
Listen to Adam Levy and Shamini Bundell bring you the latest science news.
-
Letter |
Non-gravitational acceleration in the trajectory of 1I/2017 U1 (‘Oumuamua)
‘Oumuamua—the first known interstellar object to have entered the Solar System—is probably a comet, albeit with unusual dust and chemical properties owing to its origin in a distant solar system.
- Marco Micheli
- , Davide Farnocchia
- & Anastassios E. Petropoulos
-
News |
Daring Japanese mission reaches unexplored asteroid Ryugu
Hayabusa-2 will hover above its target and release four landing probes before touching down to collect samples to return to Earth.
- Davide Castelvecchi
-
News |
Asteroid battle: Tech entrepreneur doubles down on critique of NASA mission
Nathan Myhrvold argues that the scientific approach of the landmark NEOWISE space-rock mission is deeply flawed.
- Alexandra Witze
-
News |
Tiny, far-flung worlds could explain outer Solar System’s strange geometry
Gravity of distant Moon-sized objects could do the job attributed to a hypothetical Planet Nine.
- Alexandra Witze
-
Books & Arts |
A new light on comets, the embodied brain and a nature cure for dislocation: Books in brief
Barbara Kiser reviews five of the week’s best science picks.
- Barbara Kiser
-
News Feature |
Bashing holes in the tale of Earth’s troubled youth
New analyses undermine a popular theory about an intense asteroid storm 4 billion years ago.
- Adam Mann
-
Letter |
A rapid decrease in the rotation rate of comet 41P/Tuttle–Giacobini–Kresák
The rotation rate of comet 41P/Tuttle–Giacobini–Kresák decreased rapidly between March and May 2017, owing to gas emission from the comet aligning to produce an anomalously strong torque.
- Dennis Bodewits
- , Tony L. Farnham
- & Matthew M. Knight
-
News & Views |
Cometary spin-down
The rotation rate of a comet more than halved in two months — a much greater change than has previously been observed. This suggests that the comet is in a distinct evolutionary state and might soon reorient itself.
- Jessica Agarwal
-
Letter |
A brief visit from a red and extremely elongated interstellar asteroid
The first interstellar object to be detected in the Solar System is asteroidal in nature and has a shape unlike any Solar System body, with a length about ten times its width.
- Karen J. Meech
- , Robert Weryk
- & Serge Chastel
-
News |
Astronomers race to learn from first interstellar asteroid ever seen
Wonky orbit confirms that this visitor isn’t from around here.
- Ken Croswell
-
News & Views |
Ring detected around a dwarf planet
Observations of the distant dwarf planet Haumea constrain its size, shape and density, and reveal an encircling planetary ring. The discovery suggests that rings are not as rare in the Solar System as previously thought. See Letter p.219
- Amanda A. Sickafoose
-
Letter |
The size, shape, density and ring of the dwarf planet Haumea from a stellar occultation
Observations of a stellar occultation of Haumea, one of the four known trans-Neptunian dwarf planets, constrain its size, shape and density, and reveal a ring coplanar with Haumea’s largest moon.
- J. L. Ortiz
- , P. Santos-Sanz
- & R. Iglesias-Marzoa
-
Letter |
A binary main-belt comet
Analysis based on high-resolution observations from the Hubble Space Telescope shows that the asteroid 288P is a binary main-belt comet, with properties unlike any known binary asteroid.
- Jessica Agarwal
- , David Jewitt
- & Stephen Larson
-
News |
Solar System survey casts doubt on mysterious 'Planet Nine'
Orbits of four newfound objects show no signs of gravitational pull from proposed giant planet.
- Gabriel Popkin
-
Research Highlight |
Xenon came from comets
Comets may have delivered more than one-fifth of Earth’s atmospheric xenon.
-
Research Highlight |
Rogue asteroids may be rare
The number of interstellar asteroids and comets could be an order of magnitude lower than previous estimates.
-
Research Highlights |
Landslides cause comet eruptions
-
News & Views |
Reckless orbiting in the Solar System
Planets and most asteroids revolve around the Sun in the same direction. But an asteroid that shares Jupiter's orbit has been revolving in the opposite direction for about a million years. See Letter p.687
- Helena Morais
- & Fathi Namouni
-
Letter |
A retrograde co-orbital asteroid of Jupiter
Asteroid 2015 BZ509 is a retrograde co-orbital asteroid of the planet Jupiter, stably orbiting in a sense opposite to that of Jupiter’s orbit around the Sun for around a million years.
- Paul Wiegert
- , Martin Connors
- & Christian Veillet
-
Research Highlights |
Ceres has complex chemistry
-
News |
NASA sets sights on asteroid exploration
Agency plans to launch a mission to visit the Trojan asteroids in 2021, and one to the metallic asteroid Psyche in 2023.
- Alexandra Witze
-
Letter |
Penitentes as the origin of the bladed terrain of Tartarus Dorsa on Pluto
Simulations of Pluto suggest that the sharp ridges in the Tartarus Dorsa region of Pluto are penitentes that formed over the past tens of millions of years.
- John E. Moores
- , Christina L. Smith
- & Scott D. Guzewich