Our solar system is a smashing success. A new study suggests that from its earliest period — even before the last of its nebular gas had been consumed — Earth’s solar system and its planets looked ...

Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system, may have been responsible for a mysterious age gap in the early solar system's planet building blocks. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS / Tanya ...

New studies offer a clearer picture of how the outer solar system formed and evolved based on analyses of trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) and centaurs. The findings reveal the distribution of ices in ...

If you were to perfectly follow the steps in An Idiot's Guide to Making a Solar System, you should eventually find yourself with a star surrounded by a flat disc of planetary material orbiting in ...

The universe is always moving. While we've found evidence of rogue black holes and planets, new research suggests that a passing star could be out there somewhere. Unfortunately, If it were to swing ...

Billions of years ago, while the solar system was still young, a massive object may have drifted into it. It's not a spaceship, but it is an alien visitor in its own right—a colossal interstellar body ...

Earth could be thrown off its orbit and flung into another planet or the Sun, a new study has warned. Passing stars could be the orchestrator of this cosmic instability which could jeopardise our ...

Astronomers have discovered that the Solar System traversed the Orion star-forming complex, a component of the Radcliffe Wave galactic structure, approximately 14 million years ago. This journey ...

A passing star, or a stellar flyby, with the potential to pull Neptune out of its orbit by just 0.1%, could mean catastrophe for the entire solar system. But don’t worry — it won’t happen in our ...

CREDIT: ALMA(ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/M. McClure et al. Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. Terms of ...