The presence of water is considered a necessary condition for the existence of life as we know it. Even if Mars is today a cold and arid place, there is ample evidence that things were different in the past, and that rivers, lakes and perhaps... click to read more

In our solar system, together with the planets, there are other small bodies: asteroids, comets, and dwarf planets, which keep memory of an ancient past. This because they are considered primordial, and as such, they can tell something of the dawn of our solar system. Between... click to read more

Stars might seem eternal, but, like people, they are born, evolve and eventually die. A star will spend most of its life converting hydrogen into helium, a nuclear fusion process that produces energy which the star uses to hold itself up against its own gravity... click to read more

Oceanographers know how the deepest reaches of the ocean are filled: by very cold and dense waters formed in contact with the polar air and ice of Antarctica. These dense Antarctic waters plunge under their own weight and snake along the global seafloor at depths... click to read more

Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system, with an equatorial radius of 71,492 km (about 11 times that of the Earth). Like the Sun, Jupiter's interior is mainly composed of hydrogen and helium. In fact, the planet is catalogued as a gas giant,... click to read more