Planets

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…

2 years 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…

2 years 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

Civilizations Don’t Even Need Space Ships to Migrate From Star System to Star System

In about 5 billion years, the Sun will leave the main sequence and become a red giant. It'll expand and…

2 years ago

The Younger the Planet, the More Likely it is to be Habitable

We've discovered thousands of exoplanets and are likely to find many thousands more of them. While the wide variety of…

2 years ago

Marsquakes are Caused by Shifting Magma

Before the InSight Lander arrived on Mars, scientists could only estimate what the planet's internal structure might be. Its size,…

3 years ago

Astronomers See the Wreckage Where Planets Crashed Into Each Other in a Distant Star System

Our Solar System was born in chaos. Collisions shaped and built the Earth and the other planets, and even delivered…

3 years ago

There are Deposits of ice at Mercury's Poles too

Ice was discovered on Mercury's poles thanks to planetary radar.

3 years ago

Why are Neptune and Uranus Different Colors?

New research reveals why Uranus and Neptune are different shades of blue.

3 years ago

Massive Rocky Planets Probably Don’t Have big Moons

The Moon has orbited Earth since the Solar System's early days. Anyone who's ever spent time at the ocean can't…

3 years ago