Observations from total solar eclipses are used to measure the shape of the Sun's magnetic field.

New images of the Martian moon Phobos give scientists insight into the physical properties of the moon and its composition.

A research team has created an Ice Favorability Index. The geological model explains the process for ice formation at the poles of the moon, and mapped the terrain, which includes craters that may hold ice deposits. The model, accounts for what asteroid impacts on the surface of the moon may do to deposits of ice found meters beneath the surface.

As astronomers ramp up study of the atmospheres of hot, Jupiter-like planets around other stars, they encounter clouds that obscure study of atmospheric gases. A new computer model looks at the proposals for cloud compositions -- from smog to rubies -- and finds that the most likely, over a large range of temperatures, are silicate clouds: aerosols of silicon and oxygen, like molten quartz or sand. The hottest exoplanets have clear skies; the coolest have hydrocarbon hazes.

An extraordinary asteroid with comet-like features has researchers puzzled.

By studying the chemical elements on Mars today -- including carbon and oxygen -- scientists can work backwards to piece together the history of a planet that once had the conditions necessary to support life.

The mystery of some lava-like flows on Mars has been solved by scientists who say they are caused not by lava but by mud. There are tens of thousands of these landforms on the Martian surface, often situated where there are massive channels scoured into the surface by ancient liquids flowing downstream. Scientists performed experiments at low pressure and at extremely cold temperatures (-20°C) to recreate the Martian environment.

Astronomers have determined that the Earth-like planets of the TRAPPIST-1 system are not significantly misaligned with the rotation of the star. This is an important result for understanding the evolution of planetary systems around very low-mass stars in general, and in particular the history of the TRAPPIST-1 planets including the ones near the habitable zone.

Earth-based experiments on iron-sulfur alloys thought to comprise the core of Mars reveal details about the planet's seismic properties for the first time. This information will be compared to observations made by Martian space probes in the near future. Whether the results between experiment and observation coincide or not will either confirm existing theories about Mars' composition or call into question the story of its origin.

Scientists have analyzed a meteorite atom by atom to reveal the chemistry and acidity of the earliest fluids in the solar system. By finding evidence of sodium-rich alkaline water in the Tagish Lake meteorite, this new study suggests amino acids could have formed rapidly on the parent asteroid, opening the door for the early evolution of microbial life.