EVANSTON, Ill. — Except for the fact that we call it home, for centuries astronomers didn’t have any particular reason to believe that our solar system was anything special in the universe. But, ...

Studying the orbits of thousands of exoplanets shows that large planets tend to have elliptical orbits, while smaller planets tend to have more circular orbits. This split coincides with several other ...

While most planets that we are familiar with stick relatively close to their host star in a predictable orbit, some planets ...

A newly discovered exoplanet is rewriting the rules of what planets can be. Orbiting a city-sized neutron star, this ...

Scientists have used data from NASA's retired planet-hunting space telescope 'Kepler' to discover that small and large worlds have very different upbringings. The team found that larger planets on non ...

Astronomers hunting for planets orbiting nearby stars similar to the Sun are looking for signs of rocky, Earth-like planets in a “habitable” zone, where conditions such as temperature and liquid water ...

An object eight times the mass of Jupiter may have swooped around the sun, coming superclose to Mars' present-day orbit before shoving four of the solar system's planets onto a different course. When ...

With sapphire waterfalls, lava rain and orbits around dead stars, these distant worlds push the limits of what’s possible.

Planets usually stay close to their host stars, tracing steady paths shaped by gravity. Yet some planets break free and drift ...

"There really is something very different about how these giant planets form versus how small planets like Earth form." When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission ...