1 December 2021
When we started finding planetary systems around other stars we thought many of them would be like ours. We’ve now found hundreds – and it’s so far, so wrong
24 November 2021
The only dwarf planet in the inner solar system, Ceres will be at its closest to Earth for a week from the end of November. Catch it while you can, says Abigail Beall
14 October 2021
The light from a distant star appears to be orbited by something that is continually changing shape and size, possibly clouds of dust from repeated collisions
13 October 2021
Astronomers have spotted a Jupiter-like planet in its original orbit around a white dwarf for the first time
4 August 2021
How to Mars by David Ebenbach is an amusing novel about a failed attempt at reality TV on Mars. It is a new twist on the genre, says Clare Wilson
14 July 2021
To become an interplanetary species, we may have to genetically engineer ourselves to be more resilient, says geneticist Chris Mason. He has a 500-year plan for life away from Earth
21 June 2021
Astronomers have found a large object entering our solar system – it could be an unusually large comet or even a minor planet, and it will get nearly as close to the sun as Saturn by 2031
21 June 2021
Huge swathes of Pluto’s surface are covered in a mysterious red material, and planetary scientists’ best guess for what it could be doesn’t seem to match up to data from the New Horizons probe
5 May 2021
Looking for signs of life in exoplanet atmospheres is fraught with uncertainty. But now that we can detect polarised light reflected directly off other worlds, we could spot unmistakable evidence of photosynthesis
8 April 2021
The Ingenuity helicopter, which hitched a ride to Mars aboard NASA’s Perseverance rover, is getting ready to perform its first test flight on 12 April
