"If cometary organic molecules were indeed produced in interstellar space—and if they played a role in the emergence of life on our planet—might they not also have seeded life on many other planets of our galaxy?"
NASA said Cassini's final flyby of Titan - Saturn's large moon - went as planned. The spacecraft is now on a course that'll take it inside Saturn's atmosphere, for a fiery end to its mission, on September 15.
And last week mission scientists filed a flight plan for New Horizons' next flyby - of the Kuiper Belt object 2014 MU69 - in early 2019. It'll be farthest encounter yet between an earthly spacecraft and distant solar system body.
Milestones for Cassini's final week at Saturn. Today's distant flyby of the large moon Titan will slow down the spacecraft enough so that - on Friday - Cassini will make its final plunge into Saturn's atmosphere.
As we prepare to say goodbye to Cassini at Saturn - one of the longest-running and most awesome space missions ever - here's yet another first, a finely seen section of Saturn's inner-central B Ring, in natural color.
Too little UV light, and life might not ever start. Too much, in the form dramatic UV flares from stars, and the atmospheres of orbiting planets might undergo damage.
X-ray astronomers explored how quickly young stars settle down after blasting the space around themselves - including any possible planets - with energetic radiation.