Small bodies and comets

Over the next few days and weeks, ESA's spacecraft JUICE will have a good view of the recently discovered interstellar object 3I/ATLAS. more

Comets and asteroids, remnants of planet formation, have been subject to various processes in the 4.5 billion years since their formation. Studying their activity leads us to better understand how these bodies evolve with time, and what the properties of their surfaces and sub-surface layers are. more

Iron isotopes in samples from asteroid Ryugu suggest its origin to lie beyond the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn. more

The goal of the PLANETOIDS project is to develop a new planet formation theory that will consistently explain the origin of the Solar System and exoplanets within one framework. more

Data from NASA's Dawn mission, analyzed for the first time, suggest that brine rose from the depths and organic compounds were deposited in Urvara crater. more