Solar System

Perseverance Sees Phobos, Deimos and Mercury Passing in Front of the Sun

NASA's Perseverance rover is busy exploring the Martian surface and collecting samples for eventual return to Earth. But the rover…

2 weeks ago

New Moons Found at Uranus and Neptune

Astronomers have found three new moons orbiting our Solar System's ice giants. One is orbiting Uranus, and two are orbiting…

3 weeks ago

A Star Passed Through the Oort Cloud Less Than 500,000 Years Ago. It Wasn’t the Only One.

As stars in the Milky Way move through space, some of them have an unexpected effect on the Solar System.…

4 weeks ago

A New Space Telescope will Map the Universe and Help Protect the Earth from Asteroids

Can we secure our place in the Solar System? Not in any absolute sense because nature can be very unpredictable.…

4 weeks ago

Even Eris and Makemake Could Have Geothermal Activity

Astronomers have found evidence of geothermal activity across the Solar System, from planets like Mars, icy moons like Europa and…

4 weeks ago

There’s One Last Place Planet 9 Could Be Hiding

 A recently submitted study to The Astronomical Journal continues to search for the elusive Planet Nine (also called Planet X),…

1 month ago

Passing Stars Changed the Orbits of Planets in the Solar System

We're light-years away from the closest stars, but in the billions of years of history in the Milky Way, our…

1 month ago

Exploring the Solar System with Swarms of Microprobes

It's satisfying to sit back and take stock of all the places in the Solar System that we've explored. The…

2 months ago

Planetesimals Are Buffeted by Wind in their Nebula, Throwing Debris into Space

Before planets form around a young star, the protosolar disk is populated with innumerable planetesimals. Over time, these planetesimals combine…

2 months ago

Three Iron Rings Around A Star Show Where Planets are Forming

Researchers using the ESO's Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) have found three iron rings around a young star about 500…

2 months ago