Difficult decisions ahead on Mars

The vision of a joint US and European mission to Mars faces a radical rethink as the US admits its funding will come up $1bn short.

Solar experts detect waves in giant magnetic holes the size of the UK

Massive waves in giant magnetic holes on the surface of the Sun have been discovered for the first time by solar scientists, something that will bring experts a step closer to unlocking the secrets of the Sun.

Roots of the solar system: astronomers observe planets in the making

Planets form in disks of dust and gas that surround young stars. A look at the birth places means a journey into the past of Earth and its siblings. Now, astronomers have been able to obtain detailed images of the protoplanetary disks of two stars using the Subaru telescope in Hawaii.

Solar flare: space weather disrupts communications, threatens other technologies

A powerful solar flare has ushered in the largest space weather storm in at least four years and has already disrupted some ground communications on Earth.

Waiter, there's metal in my moon water!

Bring a filter if you plan on drinking water from the moon. Water ice recently discovered in dust at the bottom of a crater near the moon

Sun unleashes huge solar flare towards Earth

The Sun has unleashed its strongest flare in four years, observers say.

Does a massive planet lurk in the outer Solar system?

Could there be a massive planet well beyond the orbit of Pluto? Unfortunately, this "extraordinary" claim is based on rather "ordinary" evidence.

First ever STEREO images of the entire Sun

First ever STEREO images of the entire Sun

First Mission to Mercury

As the team of scientists behind NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft eagerly awaits the craft’s entry into Mercury’s orbit on 17 March, we could soon get answers to questions about the origin, composition, interior structure and geological history of this mysterious planet.

Global eruption rocks the Sun: scientists re-evaluate ideas about solar storms

On August 1, 2010, an entire hemisphere of the sun erupted. Filaments of magnetism snapped and exploded, shock waves raced across the stellar surface, billion-ton clouds of hot gas billowed into space. Astronomers knew they had witnessed something big. It was so big, it may have shattered old ideas about solar activity.