solar systems
By Blocking the Light From a Star, Webb Reveals the Dusty Disk Surrounding It
AU Microscopii is a small red dwarf star about 32 light-years away. It's far too dim for the unaided human…
These Newly-Discovered Planets are Doomed
Astronomers have spied three more exoplanets. But the discovery might not last long. Each planet is in a separate solar…
Even Really Massive Stars Seem to Have Planets
Can planets form around massive, hot stars? Some astronomers think they can't. According to the evidence, planets around stars exceeding…
Exoplanetary System Found With 6 Worlds in Orbital Resonance
200 light-years away from Earth, there's a K-type main-sequence star named TOI (TESS Object of Interest) 178. When Adrian Leleu,…
Planets Don’t Wait for Their Star to Form First
It looks like we may have to update our theories on how stars and planets form in new solar systems.…
There Could Be Carbon-Rich Exoplanets Made Of Diamonds
Scientists are getting better at understanding exoplanets. We now know that they're plentiful, and that they can even orbit dead…
Europa’s entire icy shell shifted 70-degrees a few million years ago
The mysterious world Europa, the ice-covered second moon of Jupiter, sports deep scars that cut across its face. An international…
Another Collection of Newly Forming Planetary Systems. This Time from the Gemini Planet Imager
Over the next decade, several very powerful telescopes will come online. Observing time on these 'scopes will be in high…
Planets Form in Just a Few Hundred Thousand Years
Astronomers like to observe young planets forming in circumstellar debris disks, the rotating rings of material around young stars. But…
The Orbit of Uranus. How Long is a Year on Uranus?
A year on Uranus lasts almost as long as a century on Earth. And because of its extreme tilt, its…