Earth’s North Sea coastline, including the Stacks of Duncansby in Caithness.
David Rothery
The Solar System could be awash with oceans, not on the surface but hidden inside the most surprising bodies
Occator crater, Ceres.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA
If we could go sightseeing across our cosmic neighbourhood, these would be some of the best highlights.
Io has volcanism.
NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
Jupiter’s moon Io has more than 400 active volcanoes on its surface.
Pluto was recategorized from a planet to a dwarf planet in 2006.
(Shutterstock)
A curious kid asks: Why does it matter if Pluto is a planet or a dwarf planet?
Pluto, the largest of the dwarf planets. This image was taken by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft.
NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI
The dwarf planets in our Solar System are cold, dark, far away and full of surprises.
Ceres.
NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA / Justin Cowart
Exciting new research suggests that a crater on Ceres may be a cradle of life.
Ceres’ Haulani Crater shows evidence of landslides from its crater rim.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA
The latest data from the Dawn space probe points to underground ice flows and a water vapour atmosphere.
A highlight of 2015 was the number of weird and wonderful exoplanets that were found.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
From a flyby of Pluto to the search for extrasolar planets and gravitational waves, 2015 was a monumental year for space news.
Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, as seen from Rosetta.
ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM
Prepare to be amazed …
Ceres, as seen by NASA’s Dawn spacecraft on December 10, around a crater chain called Gerber Catena.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA
Dawn’s mission director and chief engineer describes his ‘dream come true’ job – and how the new data coming back from Ceres could unlock some of the secrets of the earliest days of our solar system.
Ceres: a bright spot in planetary exploration.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA
Is it a dwarf planet, an asteroid or a comet? All of the above? Well, with the latest results about Ceres, researchers aren’t entirely sure anymore.
NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI
Everything in space is so far away, but probes bring us closer.
Cratered surface of Ceres in colour.
NASA/JPL-Caltec/UCLA
Approaching Ceres, the Dawn spacecraft reveals the dwarf planet in colour for the first time.
What is the bright spot of Ceres? Not long till we find out.
NASA
NASA’s Dawn spacecraft hasn’t reached optimum orbit around Ceres but the data it’s returning has already got scientists excited.
I’ve seen the future, and the future’s blue.
NASA
It’s no TIE fighter, but the Dawn probe is driven by the future of spacecraft propulsion: ion engines.
Two views of Ceres acquired by NASA’s Dawn spacecraft ten hours apart on Feb. 12, 2015, from a distance of about 52,000 miles as the dwarf planet rotated.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA
With increasing knowledge and familiarity, we’ll no longer be able to identify meaningful criteria to keep these good planets down.