When Sicilian astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi spotted Ceres in 1801, he thought it was a planet. Astronomers didn't know about asteroids at that time. Now we know there's an enormous quantity of them, primarily residing in the ...
An international team of astronomers reports the detection of two new Saturn-mass exoplanets as part of the CARMENES radial velocity survey. The newly found alien worlds, designated TYC 2187-512-1 b and TZ Ari b, orbit nearby ...
How do planets form? For many years scientists thought they understood this process by studying the one example we had access to: our own solar system.
To prepare for its launch in August, the Psyche spacecraft has been tested to ensure it can operate in the extreme conditions it will face on its trip to a metal-rich asteroid.
One of the most important open questions in planetary formation theory is the story of Jupiter's origin. Using sophisticated computer modeling, researchers of the University of Zurich (UZH) and the National Centre of Competence ...
Major smashups between rocky bodies shaped our solar system. Observations of a similar crash give clues about how frequent these events are around other stars.
Our solar system is believed to have formed from a cloud of gas and dust, the so-called solar nebula, which began to condense on itself gravitationally ~ 4.6 billion years ago. As this cloud contracted, it began to spin and ...
With its solar arrays installed, the spacecraft is close to its final configuration ahead of a planned August launch.
A ring of planetary debris studded with moon-sized structures has been observed orbiting close to a white dwarf star, hinting at a nearby planet in the "habitable zone" where water and life could exist, according to a new ...
Gas giants are made of a massive solid core surrounded by an even larger mass of helium and hydrogen. But even though these planets are quite common in the Universe, scientists still don't fully understand how they form. ...
