Read more solar system stories on Newserhttp://www.newser.com/taggrid/6187/solar-system.html2009 - Newseren-usNewser Feed GeneratorTue, 24 Nov 2009 10:52:26 CSThttp://www.newser.com/story/71169/mammoth-ring-found-around-saturn.html?utm_source=syn&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=tagScientists have discovered a colossal ring around Saturn, the biggest planetary ring yet found. It's enormous even by solar system standards: Among the analogies being used to make it clear to our little earthly minds is that it would take 1 billion Earths to fill it. "This thing is just...http://www.newser.com/story/71169/mammoth-ring-found-around-saturn.html?utm_source=syn&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=tagWed, 07 Oct 2009 12:28:00 CDThttp://www.newser.com/story/66587/saturns-rings-vanish-today.html?utm_source=syn&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=tagSaturn's rings will disappear from sight for three months starting today, Space.com reports. The rings, 170,000 miles long but only 30 feet thick, are visible because they reflect sunlight. But they vanish once every 15 years as equinoxes occur in its 30-year orbit and the rings are directly...http://www.newser.com/story/66587/saturns-rings-vanish-today.html?utm_source=syn&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=tagTue, 11 Aug 2009 2:14:32 CDThttp://www.newser.com/story/57709/surprise-mercury-has-a-personality.html?utm_source=syn&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=tagMercury's not such a dull planet after all. A new batch of papers in Science spells out evidence of a busy volcanic past and describes an unusual impact crater that would stretch from Boston to DC, reports Wired . The papers, which draw from the October flyby of NASA's Messenger craft,...http://www.newser.com/story/57709/surprise-mercury-has-a-personality.html?utm_source=syn&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=tagThu, 30 Apr 2009 20:35:08 CDThttp://www.newser.com/story/56800/search-for-earths-twin-finds-similar-sized-planet.html?utm_source=syn&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=tagAstronomers in Chile looking for an Earth-like planet have discovered the closest one in size yet, the BBC reports. Don’t get your hopes up: Though Gliese 581 e, which lies outside our solar system, is just twice as large as Earth, it travels far too close to its sun to...http://www.newser.com/story/56800/search-for-earths-twin-finds-similar-sized-planet.html?utm_source=syn&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=tagTue, 21 Apr 2009 17:36:46 CDThttp://www.newser.com/story/56732/scientists-spot-end-of-world.html?utm_source=syn&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=tagAstronomers looking at dead stars trillions of miles away believe they have glimpsed Earth's eventual fate, the Times of London reports. The scientists found that many white dwarfs—stars that swelled, burned out, and collapsed—are surrounded by a dust they think is the remnants of planets like ours destroyed...http://www.newser.com/story/56732/scientists-spot-end-of-world.html?utm_source=syn&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=tagTue, 21 Apr 2009 2:50:00 CDThttp://www.newser.com/story/52629/pluto-is-still-a-planet-illinois-senate-declares.html?utm_source=syn&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=tagHaving helped install a hometown boy in the White House and ousted its colorful governor, Illinois is next out to save Pluto, the Guardian reports. The state senate blasted the International Astronomical Union’s 2006 decision to demote the erstwhile ninth planet to a “dwarf planet,” and voted unanimously to return...http://www.newser.com/story/52629/pluto-is-still-a-planet-illinois-senate-declares.html?utm_source=syn&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=tagFri, 06 Mar 2009 12:59:28 CSThttp://www.newser.com/story/31875/moon-rocks-still-giving-up-gritty-secrets.html?utm_source=syn&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=tagAlmost 40 years after Apollo astronauts brought samples of the moon back to Earth, the extraterrestrial rocks are still yielding new information, the New York Times reports. In addition to attention from the Johnson Space Center, where they reside, samples are mailed out—on loan only, and usually less than...http://www.newser.com/story/31875/moon-rocks-still-giving-up-gritty-secrets.html?utm_source=syn&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=tagTue, 08 Jul 2008 6:00:00 CDThttp://www.newser.com/story/31600/mercury-is-shrinking.html?utm_source=syn&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=tagThe planet Mercury is shrinking, the LA Times reports. Data from NASA’s Mercury Messenger spacecraft reveal that the planet’s diameter has shrunk by a mile over its history, probably because its core is cooling. Messenger flew in for a close-up in January, and scientists are now piecing together the new...http://www.newser.com/story/31600/mercury-is-shrinking.html?utm_source=syn&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=tagThu, 03 Jul 2008 18:35:01 CDThttp://www.newser.com/story/31395/earth-hits-cosmic-pitch.html?utm_source=syn&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=tagEarth’s atmosphere produces a natural sound and beams it off into the universe, Space.com reports. The sound—a painful series of chirps and whistles—is made by the collision of charged particles from the solar wind with Earth’s magnetic field.http://www.newser.com/story/31395/earth-hits-cosmic-pitch.html?utm_source=syn&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=tagTue, 01 Jul 2008 15:55:03 CDT