Planets

It Doesn’t Take Much to Get Tilted Planets

Chinese and Indian astronomers were the first to measure Earth's axial tilt accurately, and they did it about 3,000 years…

1 week ago

ALMA Takes Next-Level Images of a Protoplanetary Disk

The ESO's Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) is perched high in the Chilean Andes. ALMA is made of 66 high-precision…

3 weeks ago

Astronomers See the Afterglow Where Two Ice Giant Planets Collided

What would happen if two giant planets collided? It would be terrifying to behold if it happened in our Solar…

2 months ago

When did the First Continents Appear in the Universe?

On Earth, continents are likely necessary to support life. Continents 'float' on top of the Earth's viscous mantle, and heat…

3 months ago

JWST Sees Newly Forming Planets Swimming in Water

One big question about Earth’s formation is, where did all the water come from? New data from the James Webb…

5 months ago

One in Ten Stars Ate a Jupiter (Or Bigger)

In space, cataclysmic events happen to stars all the time. Some explode as supernovae, some get torn apart by black…

7 months ago

Astronomers Watch a Star Gulp Down One of its Planets

A star like our Sun only shines the way it does because of its intrinsic balance. Stars are massive, and…

7 months ago

A Rogue Earth and Neptune Might Have Been Found in Older Data

Scientists have found what appear to be rogue planets hidden in old survey data. Their results are starting to define…

9 months ago

A White Dwarf is Surrounded by Torn-up Pieces of its Inner Planets and its Kuiper Belt

What will happen to our Sun? In several billion years, it'll cease fusion, shrivel into a white dwarf, and emanate…

1 year ago

Compare Sand Dunes Across the Solar System, From Venus to Pluto

A new study explains how bodies as different as Venus, Earth, Mars, Pluto, Titan, and Triton can all have sand…

2 years ago