Planetary Science, or Planetology, is a rapidly growing branch of science which describes the study of planets, celestial objects that are like planets, and anything which affects their shape, composition, appearance, or behaviour. As the study of planets includes the study of their structure and composition, atmosphere and climate cycles, their natural satellites and their interactions and relations with them and their star, planetary science overlaps greatly with some of the more traditional scientific disciplines.
The planet we know best is, of course, the one we are living on. Other planets can be studied remotely, using telescopes to observe them from a distance, while Space agencies around the world send robotic spacecraft to orbit, fly past or land on our planetary neighbours, and a dozen men have visited the moon.
We've published 10 articles and 22 specialist blog posts about planetology so far, featuring 134 unanswered planetology questions! But we're not done yet as we still have another 84 planetology research areas in our database to write about, so come back soon!
Recent Planetology News
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“Ice Age Mars” –Challenges a Once ‘Warm and Wet’ Red Planet
3rd August, 2020
“Mars once was wet and fertile. It’s now bone dry,” said Cosmos host, Neil deGrasse Tyson, “Something bad happened on Mars. I want to know what happened on Mars so that we may prevent it from happening here on Earth.” Mars is crisscrossed with distinctive tracks of big, long-dead rivers but scientists still don’t […]
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Planet Earth Report –“NASA Image of Black Cube on the Sun 10-X Size of Earth to the Last Giraffes”
2nd August, 2020
“Planet Earth Report” provides descriptive links to headline news by leading science journalists about the extraordinary discoveries, technology, people, and events changing our knowledge of Planet Earth and the future of the human species. What Is the Weird Black Cube on the Sun in This New NASA Image? –If you were to […]
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Juno Captures Pictures of Ganymede for the First Time
1st August, 2020
On July 5, 2016, NASA’s Juno spacecraft arrived around Jupiter, becoming the second mission in history to study the gas giant from orbit – the last being the Galileo spacecraft, which orbited Jupiter from 1995 to 2003. Since then, the spacecraft has gathered data on Jupiter’s atmosphere, composition, gravity field, and magnetic field in the …
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The search for alien life catches many people's imagination and has always been a very public branch of science. So with all this investigation, why has our search revealed nothing? Are we truly alone in the Universe?
Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system. It’s been observed since Babylonian times yet we know little about what goes on inside this giant red planet.
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Atmospheric Science is a catch-all term for the study of planetary atmospheres, including the climate and weather.
Exoplanetology is the study of planets orbiting stars other than our Sun.
Geochemistry is the use of Chemistry to study the composition and mechanisms of major geological systems such as Earth.
Geology is the study of terrestrial structures and the processes acting upon them.
Geophysics refers to the study of the physics of the Earth and its environment in space, including its gravitational and magnetic fields, and its atmosphere.
Hydrology is the study of water in the environment.
Planetary Astronomy is the study of planets, moons, and planetary systems through measurements taken from afar.
![Image credit: ©Photo by Crisco 1492 [CC BY-SA 3.0] via Wikimedia](https://www.thingswedontknow.com/img/sci/640px-mount_merapi_in_2014.jpg "Volcanoes")
Atmospheric Science is a catch-all term for the study of planetary atmospheres, including the climate and weather.
