Planetary Formation
Clumps Around a Young Star Could Eventually Turn Into Planets Like Jupiter
New images from the European Southern Observatory show a young star surrounded by dusty clumps that could collapse and create…
Venus Needed Asteroid Impacts to Get its Volcanoes Going
Unlike Earth, Venus lacks the plate tectonics that give rise to volcanoes. But the surface of Venus looks far younger…
Some Star Systems Create a Planet Sandwich
A recent study presented at the National Astronomy Meeting 2023 (NAM2023) examines a newly discovered planetary formation theory that challenges…
A Planet has Whipped Up Spiral Arms Around a Young Star
Astronomers have observed dozens of newly forming stars surrounded by protoplanetary disks. Some look like grooved vinyl records, while others…
Bizarre Exoplanet Breaks All the Orbital Rules
A fluffy hot jupiter has an orbit that doesn't line up with the rotation of its star.
What Would Happen if the Solar System Gained a Super-Earth?
In this era of exoplanet discovery, astronomers have found over 5,000 confirmed exoplanets, with thousands more awaiting confirmation and many…
Most Exoplanets Suffer Worse Space Weather Than We Do
We have it relatively easy on the Earth. Our Sun is relatively calm. The space weather environment in the solar…
Trading Spaces: How Swapping Stars Create Hot Jupiters
Star clusters tend to host more hot Jupiters than average, but why? A team of astronomers have proposed a new…
Baby Gas Giants Cast Shadows on Their Siblings
A team of astronomers has caught glimpses of gas giants forming around a very young star. The nascent giants are…
It’s Tough to Find Evidence of Stars Eating Planets
Tragically sometimes stars engulf their own planets. While most stars are able to quickly cover up the evidence for their…