Planets
A Young Exoplanet's Atmosphere Doesn't Match its Birthplace
If the modern age of astronomy could be summarized in a few words, it would probably be "the age of…
Saturn’s Rings Might Be Really Old After All
Saturn's rings are among the most glorious, stunning, and well-studied features in the Solar System. However, their age has been…
There’s More Water Inside Planets Than We Thought
When you walk across your lawn or down the street, you move on the surface of a surprisingly layered world.…
Officially, Only the Sun Can Have Planets. Is it Time to Fix the Definition of “Planet”?
What is the true definition of a planet, and could there be a more refined definition in the future? This…
Alpha Centauri Could Have a Super Jupiter in Orbit
The three-body problem is one of Nature's thorniest problems. The gravitational interactions and resulting movements of three bodies are notoriously…
If We Want To Find Life-Supporting Worlds, We Should Focus on Small Planets With Large Moons
There's no perfect way of doing anything, including searching for exoplanets. Every planet-hunting method has some type of bias. We've…
New Evidence for Our Solar System’s Ghost: Planet Nine
Does another undetected planet languish in our Solar System's distant reaches? Does it follow a distant orbit around the Sun…
The Giant Planets Migrated Between 60-100 Million Years After the Solar System Formed
Untangling what happened in our Solar System tens or hundreds of millions of years ago is challenging. Millions of objects…
Where Are All These Rogue Planets Coming From?
There's a population of planets that drifts through space untethered to any stars. They're called rogue planets or free-floating planets…
One in Twelve Stars Ate a Planet
That stars can eat planets is axiomatic. If a small enough planet gets too close to a large enough star,…