Talking of brown dwarfs… The boundaries of planethood can typically be blurry. For instance, a free-floating object a number of occasions the mass of Jupiter could be thought-about a rogue planet (a planet that isn’t gravitationally sure to a star) or a brown dwarf (a “failed star” that isn’t huge sufficient to fuse helium). Study extra in our information to rogue planets — what they’re, how they kind, and the way they problem categorization. Pictured: An artist’s impression of a rogue planet. Picture credit score: NASA/JPL-Caltech.
A world’s a world, regardless of how small. That’s Kate Howells’ view relating to moons. Even tiny planetary satellites are fascinating worlds unto themselves, as she explores in her e-book “Moons: The Mysteries and Marvels of our Photo voltaic System.” The writer (who additionally serves as The Planetary Society’s public training specialist) discusses moons large and small in her interview in The Planetary Society’s e-book membership, featured on this month’s Planetary Radio: E-book Membership Version.
It’s been an enormous 12 months for house coverage and advocacy. On this week’s Planetary Radio, The Planetary Society’s house coverage staff unpacks what occurred, why funding uncertainty issues, and what comes subsequent for house science. You can even watch final week’s digital Q&A with the staff about what’s occurred since our October Day of Motion and what to anticipate within the coming months.
Our staff is taking a while off for the vacations. That’s why there aren’t any Mission Briefings on this week’s Downlink. We’ll skip these subsequent week, too, however will nonetheless deliver you different nice house content material to kick off 2026. Blissful Holidays!
