Astronomers have found the first object in the icy Kuiper belt that orbits the Sun backwards compared to the planets
Breaking News - 00:35 05 September 2008
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A 'comb' made of laser light has taken a key step from the laboratory to the observatory – one day it could help find other Earths
Breaking News - 20:08 04 September 2008
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On Friday, Europe's comet-chasing spacecraft will fly by asteroid Steins, its first scientific target since launching four years ago
Breaking News - 18:09 04 September 2008
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NASA's Opportunity rover is climbing out of Victoria Crater after one of its wheels seemed to show signs of failing
Breaking News - 17:30 27 August 2008
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The vents from which icy geysers erupt on Enceladus are revealed in new images – the vents' position changes over time
Breaking News - 16:53 18 August 2008
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Astronomers had theorised that a distant shell of comets called the Oort cloud had an inner region – now they have found its first native son
Breaking News - 16:00 18 August 2008
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The Phoenix lander's atomic force microscope took the image, shown at a higher magnification than anything ever seen from another planet
Breaking News - 11:50 15 August 2008
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A third soil sample is being analysed by an onboard instrument called TEGA; meanwhile, the lander has dug its deepest trench yet
Breaking News - 17:31 12 August 2008
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One of the year's best displays of 'shooting stars' will occur on Tuesday at the peak of the Perseid meteor shower
Breaking News - 14:40 11 August 2008
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On Monday, the spacecraft will fly within 50 km of Enceladus, searching for heat signatures that could reveal what powers the moon's icy jets
Breaking News - 17:15 08 August 2008
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Planetary systems like ours formed just 1% of the time in a new computer model of planet-forming discs
Breaking News - 19:13 07 August 2008
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Correspondent Phil McKenna was at the Great Wall for the 1 August event – relive it with him in a new video
Breaking News - 18:48 06 August 2008
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NASA's Stardust probe may have collected 45 interstellar dust grains – but the first six studied come from much closer to home
Breaking News - 18:33 06 August 2008
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After rumours of a discovery about the 'potential for life' on Mars, scientists say they may have found an oxidant called perchlorate - but it has little bearing on Mars's habitability
Breaking News - 00:28 06 August 2008
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The TEGA instrument detected its first water ice in relatively dry soil collected on Wednesday – the mission was also extended
Breaking News - 22:38 31 July 2008
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The gravitational pull of a spacecraft placed near an Earth-threatening asteroid could pull the asteroid off course, a new NASA study finds
Breaking News - 22:55 28 July 2008
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On Saturday, the lander collected icy soil to study in its TEGA instrument, but the sample failed to fall out of its collection scoop
Breaking News - 22:15 28 July 2008
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Ceres sits in the asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter – yet its composition suggests it has wandered far from its origins
News - 14:50 17 July 2008
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The large object 2005 FY9 is christened after an Easter Island deity – but naming the next 'plutoid' may be much more controversial
Breaking News - 23:35 14 July 2008
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The planet's Great Red Spot and Red Spot Jr dismembered their little brother last week when it tried to come between them
Breaking News - 22:03 09 July 2008
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Most asteroids with moonlets started off as solitary bodies that split in two while sunbathing, new computer simulations suggest
Breaking News - 18:00 09 July 2008
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Experience the beauty of Saturn and its moons close-up with Carolyn Porco, head of the Cassini mission's imaging team
Breaking News - 19:01 08 July 2008
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Data from the Messenger probe suggests Mercury has a molten core that is cooling and causing the whole planet to contract
Breaking News - 20:44 03 July 2008
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If the next solar cycle is mild, as some researchers predict, dangerous space debris could stay in orbit longer
Breaking News - 15:29 27 June 2008
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The first soil sample studied in the lander's wet chemistry lab has a pH level and nutrients similar to garden-variety potting soil
Breaking News - 22:14 26 June 2008
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These creatures set records for surviving in the most inhospitable places on Earth – their existence bodes well for finding alien life
Breaking News - 00:00 26 June 2008
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Bolstered by images showing water ice in the Martian soil, the Phoenix team is set to receive its first data on the soil's composition
Breaking News - 23:33 20 June 2008
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It's official – Phoenix lander has become the first spacecraft to reach out and touch water ice on Mars
Breaking News - 15:00 20 June 2008
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For more than 30 years, researchers have been cooking up mock Martian soil – but no single material can simulate all its properties
Breaking News - 16:06 19 June 2008
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The planet was already known to sport one type of aurora around its poles, but new observations suggest it also sports a second
Breaking News - 19:04 18 June 2008
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A whitish patch on the border of a polygon-shaped section of soil may be ice – Phoenix will watch to see if it vaporises in the sunlight
Breaking News - 23:10 16 June 2008
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In deference to Pluto's fallen glory, dwarf planets beyond Neptune's orbit will be classed as 'plutoids' – but not everyone is happy with the term
Breaking News - 18:56 11 June 2008
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After a heavy scoop of soil failed to fall through a collection screen, the lander's robotic arm will try its hand at lightly sprinkling the soil
Breaking News - 23:45 09 June 2008
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Recent tests suggest a mission called MoonLITE might be the first to crash into an extraterrestrial object and survive to carry on measurements
Breaking News - 17:12 09 June 2008
