kuiper belt
‘Naked’ Comets Could Expose Solar System’s Ancient Origin Story
What's a comet that doesn't look like a comet? The question sounds contradictory, but astronomers believe these objects exist. As…
Did An Icy Collision Produce The Odd Shape Of Asteroid 624 Hektor?
Two icy asteroids could have crashed into each other early in the solar system's history to form the strange-looking 624…
Trailer: New Horizons Gets Ready to Meet Pluto
Less than a year from now, the New Horizons spacecraft will begin its encounter with Pluto. While closest approach is…
Where Should We Look for Life in the Solar System?
Emily Lakdawalla is the senior editor and planetary evangelist for the Planetary Society. She's also one of the most knowledgeable…
What Has the Kuiper Belt Taught Us About The Solar System?
Over 4 billion miles (6.7 billion km) from the Sun, the Kuiper Belt is a vast zone of frozen worlds…
Cassini Exposes Phoebe As More Planet Than Moon
[/caption] Saturn's curious moon Phoebe features a heavily-cratered shape and orbits the ringed planet backwards at a considerable distance of…
Evidence of a Late Heavy Bombardment Occuring in Another Solar System
[/caption] Planetary scientists have not been able to agree that a turbulent period in our solar system’s history called the…
Best Evidence Yet That Comets Delivered Water for Earth’s Oceans
[/caption] The idea isn’t new that Earth’s oceans originated from comets bombarding our planet back in its early days. But…
An Alien’s View of Our Solar System
We have just begun to try and image distant solar systems around other stars, and hopefully our techniques and technology…
Astronomy Without A Telescope – Coloring In The Oort Cloud
[/caption] It's possible that if we do eventually observe the hypothetical objects that make up the hypothetical Oort cloud, they…