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Samples from the far side of the Moon shed light on lunar asymmetry

Unusual isotopic ratio in samples brought back by Chang'e-6 reveals clues about the early history of Earth's satellite

Diagram showing a meteor crashing into the Moon, triggering an upwelling of magma and leaving a huge crater

Uranus and Neptune may be more rocky than icy, say astrophysicists

Novel modelling approach suggests that the traditionally ice-rich image of these planets may be skewed

Images of Uranus, a turquoise-coloured world with a large white spot at the top, and Neptune, which is a slightly darker blue and has a smaller white spot. They're both floating against a black sky.

Exploring the icy moons of the solar system

Could the icy moons of our solar system hold life beyond our planet? Keith Cooper looks at how planetary scientists intend to find out

Components of RNA among life’s building blocks found in NASA asteroid sample

Samples from the near-Earth asteroid Bennu found to contain molecules and compounds vital to the origin of life

Bio-essential sugars found in asteroid Bennu samples

Young rogue planet grows like a star

Telescope observations reveal material accreting onto the planet Cha1107-7626 in a way that resembles the infancy of stars

Artist's impression of a rogue planet surrounded by a disk of gas and dust. The planet and its surrounding dust glow red-orange against the blackness of space

Optical gyroscope detects Earth’s rotation with the highest precision yet

With further improvements, the instrument could enable direct tests of relativistic effects

A photograph of the ring laser at the Geodetic Observatory Wettzell in Bavaria. It's mounted on a circular platform, which is itself mounted on a chunky-looking metal dais. There's a person in black clothing working on the laser at the back of the room, but most other things in the room are grey or white.

Imagining alien worlds: we explore the science and fiction of exoplanets

Keith Cooper chats about his new book in this podcast

Juno: the spacecraft that is revolutionizing our understanding of Jupiter

PI Scott Bolton talks about the mission’s discoveries and endurance in this podcast

Space ice reveals its secrets

Simulations and experiments indicate that the low-density amorphous ice found on comets and icy moons is not, in fact, entirely amorphous

Image showing chunks of white crystal interspersed with a blue amorphous background

This is what an aurora looks like on Mars

Image is the first taken on the surface of another planet, and the first visible-light aurora image from anywhere other than Earth

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Condensed matter | Workshop From Adaptive to Active Wetting Dynamics 16—20 February 2026 | Dresden, Germany
Detectors and sensors | Conference What's in the Box? Detection and Identification of Concealed Materials 18 February 2026 | London, UK
Astronomy and space | Meeting UK Space Weather and Space Environment Meeting IV 14—17 September 2026 | Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK

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