“The fact that more than half the planet had never been ... settled a 30-year debate over whether Mercury—with a molten iron core, like Earth—has volcanoes: It does, plenty of them.

Future missions to Venus could also supply additional data on the density and temperature of the planet's crust, which could be used to test the researchers' hypothesis. If crustal convection is ...

Venus may be far more geologically alive than anyone expected. New research suggests its outer crust could be churning with convection, a process that helps move heat and may explain the planet’s tens ...

Mars is about 140 million miles from our cozy planet. A human mission to that cold, rocky neighbor would mean being away from Earth for about 3 years. But the things those explorers would see and ...

Messenger should nestle into an orbit around Mercury in 2011 and continue to study the planet's geology and magnetic ... Basin (the vast golden area). Volcanoes erupted at the crater's edges.

Venus—a hot planet pocked with tens of thousands of volcanoes—may be even more geologically ... likely does not happen in the mantle of Mercury because that planet is too small and has cooled ...

Venus — a hot planet pocked with tens of thousands of volcanoes — may be even more ... likely does not happen in the mantle of Mercury because that planet is too small and has cooled ...