Using the James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers investigate the extreme weather patterns and atmospheric properties of exoplanet LTT 9779 b. New JWST observations with NIRISS reveal a dynamic atmosphere: powerful winds sweep around the planet, shaping mineral clouds as they condense into a bright, white arc on the slightly cooler western side of the dayside. As these clouds move eastward, they evaporate under the intense heat, leaving the eastern dayside with clear skies.

The Red Planet’s iconic rusty dust has a much wetter history than previously assumed, find scientists combining European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA spacecraft data with new laboratory experiments on replica Mars dust. The results suggest that Mars rusted early in the planet’s ancient past, when liquid water was more widespread.

New observations of 2024 YR4 conducted with the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT) and facilities around the world have all but ruled out an impact of the asteroid with our planet. The asteroid has been closely monitored in the past couple of months as its odds of impacting Earth in 2032 rose to around 3%, the highest impact probability ever reached for a sizable asteroid. After the latest observations, the odds of impact dropped to nearly zero.

NASA’s Lucy spacecraft has its next flyby target, the small main belt asteroid  Donaldjohanson, in its sights. By blinking between images captured by Lucy on Feb. 20 and 22, this animation shows the perceived motion of Donaldjohanson relative to the background stars as the spacecraft rapidly approaches the asteroid.