Solar System News

October 17, 2025

Top Headlines

Harvard Astrophysicist Suggests Mysterious Interstellar Object May Be an Alien Probe

Oct. 15, 2025 — 3I/ATLAS, a mysterious interstellar object racing toward the Sun, is baffling scientists with its speed and origin. Some researchers suggest it could even be alien-made, drawing comparisons to probes ...

The Sun’s Hidden Poles Could Finally Reveal Its Greatest Secrets

Oct. 14, 2025 — High above the Sun’s blazing equator lie its mysterious poles, the birthplace of fast solar winds and the heart of its magnetic heartbeat. For decades, scientists have struggled to see these regions, hidden from Earth’s orbit. With the upcoming ...

The Moon’s South Pole Hides a 4-billion-year-old Secret

Oct. 12, 2025 — A colossal northern asteroid impact billions of years ago likely shaped the Moon’s south polar region and explains its uneven terrain. Researchers found that the South Pole-Aitken Basin formed from a glancing northern strike, revealing deep ...

An Interstellar Visitor Lights Up the Red Planet’s Sky

Oct. 12, 2025 — ESA’s Mars orbiters have observed comet 3I/ATLAS, only the third interstellar comet ever discovered. The faint, distant object revealed a glowing coma as it was heated by the Sun. Researchers are still studying the data to understand its makeup ...

Scientists Stunned by Wild Martian Dust Devils Racing at Hurricane Speeds

Oct. 9, 2025 — Mars may look calm, but new research reveals it’s a world of fierce winds and swirling dust devils racing at hurricane-like speeds. Using deep learning on thousands of satellite images from European orbiters, scientists have discovered that ...

Hit the Wrong Spot and an Asteroid Returns on a Collision Course

Sep. 9, 2025 — Scientists caution that asteroid deflection must be precise, as striking the wrong spot risks sending it through a gravitational keyhole that sets up a future collision with Earth. Using lessons from NASA’s DART mission, researchers are developing ...

A Record-breaking Antenna Just Deployed in Space. Here’s What It Will See

Aug. 18, 2025 — NASA and ISRO s NISAR satellite has just reached a major milestone: the successful deployment of its enormous 39-foot antenna reflector in orbit. Folded up like an umbrella during launch, the reflector is now fully extended and ready to support ...

NASA’s PREFIRE Satellites Reveal a Secret Glow Escaping from Our Planet

Aug. 18, 2025 — With its two tiny CubeSats, NASA’s PREFIRE mission is capturing invisible heat escaping from Earth, offering clues to how ice, clouds, and storms influence the climate system. The insights could lead to better weather forecasts and a deeper ...

NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover Just Learned How to Multitask

Aug. 14, 2025 — Thirteen years after landing on Mars, NASA’s Curiosity rover is running smarter and more efficiently than ever. With new autonomy and multitasking capabilities, it’s maximizing the output from its long-lasting nuclear power source while ...

Trapped by Moon Dust: The Physics Error That Fooled NASA for Years

July 27, 2025 — Engineers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison uncovered a critical flaw in how lunar and Martian rovers are tested on Earth. Simulations revealed that test results have been misleading for decades because researchers only adjusted rover weight to ...

Martian Dust to Dream Homes: How Microbes Can Build on the Red Planet

June 25, 2025 — Imagine printing your Martian home from dust, sunlight, and a bit of biology. A new synthetic lichen system uses fungi and bacteria to grow building materials directly from Martian soil, completely autonomously and without human ...

Millions of New Solar System Objects to Be Found and 'Filmed in Technicolor' -- Studies Predict

June 3, 2025 — Astronomers have revealed new research showing that millions of new solar system objects are likely to be detected by a brand-new facility, which is expected to come online later this ...

Latest Headlines

updated 9:44am EDT

MIT Finds Traces of a Lost World Deep Within Planet Earth

Oct. 17, 2025 — Researchers have discovered chemical fingerprints of Earth's earliest incarnation, preserved in ancient mantle rocks. A unique imbalance in potassium isotopes points to remnants of “proto Earth” ...

Saturn's Moon Titan Just Broke One of Chemistry’s Oldest Rules

Oct. 17, 2025 — Scientists from NASA and Chalmers University have discovered that incompatible substances can mix on Titan’s icy surface, breaking the “like dissolves like” rule of chemistry. Under ultra-cold ...

Asteroid Ryugu’s Hidden Waters Could Explain How Earth Got Its Oceans

Oct. 16, 2025 — Ryugu’s samples reveal that water activity on asteroids lasted far longer than scientists thought, possibly reshaping theories of how Earth gained its oceans. A billion-year-old impact may have ...

Who or What Dug Mars’ Mysterious Gullies? The Answer Is Explosive

Oct. 16, 2025 — CO₂ ice blocks on Mars may dig gullies as they slide and sublimate in the thin atmosphere. In lab experiments, scientists recreated these eerie, worm-like movements under Martian conditions. The ...

These Giant Planets Shouldn’t Exist. But They Do

Oct. 15, 2025 — Astronomers are investigating a strange class of exoplanets known as eccentric warm Jupiters — massive gas giants that orbit their stars in unexpected, elongated paths. Unlike their close-orbiting ...

Tiny Asteroid Flew Right Over Antarctica, and No One Saw It Coming

Oct. 9, 2025 — Asteroid 2025 TF zipped past Earth above Antarctica, coming within 428 km of the surface. Roughly the size of a small car, it was detected hours after the flyby and posed no danger. ESA astronomers ...

Gaia Solves the Mystery of Tumbling Asteroids and Reveals What’s Inside Them

Oct. 8, 2025 — By combining Gaia’s massive asteroid dataset with AI modeling, scientists discovered that asteroid rotation depends on how often they’ve been ...

Astronomers Discover the Most Powerful and Distant Cosmic Ring Ever Seen

Oct. 6, 2025 — Astronomers have found the most distant and energetic “odd radio circle” ever detected — a massive double-ringed radio structure nearly 10 billion years old. The discovery, made with the help ...

Thousands of Sparkling Newborn Stars Ignite in Webb’s Lobster Nebula View

Oct. 6, 2025 — NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has unveiled a breathtaking cosmic landscape that looks more like a scene from fantasy than reality. What appears to be a glowing mountain peak shrouded in mist is ...

October’s Sky Comes Alive With a Supermoon and Shooting Stars

Oct. 6, 2025 — October’s night sky is set to dazzle, featuring a radiant supermoon, the fiery Draconid meteor shower, and the sparkling Orionids. As the full moon reaches its largest and brightest on October 6, ...

Earlier Headlines

Rogue Planet Spotted Devouring 6 Billion Tons Every Second

Oct. 3, 2025 — Astronomers have uncovered a runaway feeding frenzy in a rogue planet drifting freely through space, devouring six billion tonnes of gas and dust every second. Located 620 light-years away in the ...

Saturn’s Icy Moon Enceladus Just Revealed Stunning New Clues to Life

Oct. 2, 2025 — Fresh analysis of Cassini data has revealed new complex organic molecules inside ice grains spewing from Enceladus. These discoveries strengthen the case that the moon’s underground ocean hosts ...

The Moon’s Far Side Is Hiding a Chilling Secret

Oct. 3, 2025 — New lunar samples from the far side reveal it formed from cooler magma than the near side, confirming the Moon’s interior is not uniform. Researchers suggest fewer heat-producing elements on the ...

Astronomers Stunned as Fiery Auroras Blaze on a Planet Without a Star

Sep. 29, 2025 — The James Webb Telescope has revealed fierce auroras, storms, and unchanging sand-like clouds on the rogue planet SIMP-0136. These insights are pushing the boundaries of our understanding of alien ...

10 People Who Beat 8,000 Others to Become NASA Astronaut Candidates

Sep. 23, 2025 — NASA has chosen 10 new astronaut candidates who will train for missions to the Moon and Mars. Their selection represents a powerful blend of talent and ambition, fueling humanity’s next great leaps ...

Alien Water Worlds Were Just a Mirage

Sep. 19, 2025 — A new study challenges the dream of water-rich “Hycean” planets like K2-18b, suggesting that most sub-Neptunes lose their water deep into their interiors during formation. Instead of vast oceans, ...

NASA’s Perseverance Just Found New Evidence That Mars Could Have Been Habitable

Sep. 18, 2025 — Jezero Crater’s rocks reveal three stages of water activity, shifting from hostile acidic fluids to more life-friendly alkaline ones. Perseverance’s discoveries guide future sampling and ...

White Dwarf Caught Devouring a Frozen Pluto-Like World

Sep. 17, 2025 — Astronomers have detected the chemical fingerprint of a frozen, water-rich planetary fragment being devoured by a white dwarf star, offering the clearest evidence yet that icy, life-delivering ...

Was Mars Once Warm, Wet, and Ready for Life

Sep. 14, 2025 — Billions of years ago, Mars may not have been the frozen desert we see today. New simulations suggest that volcanic eruptions pumped out reactive sulfur gases, creating greenhouse effects strong ...

Scientists Just Found the Strongest Signs of Life on Mars Yet

Oct. 1, 2025 — Perseverance rover data shows Jezero Crater once held a calm lake, leaving behind mudstones rich in organic-linked minerals. The presence of iron-phosphate and iron-sulfide nodules suggests processes ...

Could These Strange Rocks Be the First True Evidence of Life on Mars?

Sep. 21, 2025 — In Jezero Crater’s Bright Angel formation, Perseverance has found rocks rich in organic molecules and minerals linked to microbial metabolism. Their arrangement hints at redox reactions that ...

Strange ‘leopard Spots’ in a Mars Rock Could Be the Strongest Hint of Life Yet

Sep. 16, 2025 — NASA’s Perseverance rover has delivered its most compelling clue yet in the search for life on Mars. A rock sample called “Sapphire Canyon,” taken from the Bright Angel formation in Jezero ...

NASA's Perseverance Rover Finds Clues to Ancient Mars Chemistry and Possible Life

Sep. 12, 2025 — Mars’ Jezero Crater holds signs of ancient water and strange mineral reactions, some linked with organic compounds. With Perseverance’s samples and AI-refined mineral maps, scientists are closing ...

NASA’s Celestial “Accident” Unlocks Secrets of Jupiter and Saturn

Sep. 10, 2025 — Astronomers studying an oddball brown dwarf called “The Accident” have finally spotted silane, a long-predicted silicon molecule missing from Jupiter and Saturn’s skies. Its ancient, ...

Enceladus’s Plumes May Be Fooling Us About Life

Sep. 9, 2025 — Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus has long fascinated scientists with its spectacular water plumes, which NASA’s Cassini spacecraft once revealed to contain organic molecules. Many hoped these ...

Webb Spots First Hints of Atmosphere on a Potentially Habitable World

Oct. 1, 2025 — Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope are unraveling the mysteries of TRAPPIST-1e, an Earth-sized exoplanet 40 light years away that could harbor liquid water. Early data suggests hints of ...

Life on Mars? NASA Discovers Potential Biosignatures in Martian Mudstones

Sep. 10, 2025 — NASA’s Perseverance rover has discovered mudstones in Mars’ Jezero Crater that contain organic carbon and unusual textures hinting at possible biosignatures. These findings suggest that ancient ...

Astronomers Uncover a Hidden World on the Solar System’s Edge

Sep. 6, 2025 — Astronomers have uncovered a massive new trans-Neptunian object, 2017 OF201, lurking at the edge of our solar system. With an orbit stretching 25,000 years and a size that may qualify it as a dwarf ...

The Sun’s Hidden Particle Engines Finally Exposed

Sep. 3, 2025 — Solar Orbiter has identified the Sun’s dual “engines” for superfast electrons: explosive flares and sweeping coronal mass ejections. By catching over 300 events close to their origin, the ...

Astronomers Stunned as James Webb Finds a Planet Nursery Flooded With Carbon Dioxide

Aug. 31, 2025 — Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have uncovered a planet-forming disk shockingly rich in carbon dioxide but nearly devoid of water, upending traditional theories of planetary ...