Planetary Formation
Giant Planet May Be Lurking In ‘Poisonous’ Gas Around Beta Pictoris
A Saturn-mass planet might be lurking in the debris surrounding Beta Pictoris, new measurements of a debris field around the…
Young Planets Migrated In Double-Star Systems, Model Shows
Binary star systems are downright dangerous due to their complex gravitational interactions that can easily grind a planet to pieces.…
Surprise! Fomalhaut’s Kid Sister Has a Debris Disk Too
The bright star Fomalhaut hosts a spectacular debris disk: a dusty circling plane of small objects where planets form. At…
Some Planet-like Kuiper Belt Objects Don’t Play “Nice”
The Kuiper belt — the region beyond the orbit of Neptune inhabited by a number of small bodies of rock…
This Exoplanet Is Turning Planetary Formation Scenarios Upside Down
What the heck is that giant exoplanet doing so far away from its star? Astronomers are still trying to figure…
Baby Free-Floating Planet Found Alone, Away From A Star
The planetary world keeps getting stranger. Scientists have found free-floating planets -- drifting alone, away from stars -- before. But…
‘Diamond’ Super-Earth’s Makeup Called Into Question In New Study
A precious planet? Don't think so fast, a new study says. The so-called "diamond super-Earth", 55 Cancri e, may actually…
Mercury’s Resonant Rotation ‘Should Be Common’ In Alien Planets
Three to two. That's the ratio of the time it takes Mercury to go around the sun (88 days) in…
This Earth-Like Mars Rock Shows Diversity of Red Planet Geology
A strange rock encountered by the Mars Curiosity rover early in its mission has few similarities to other rocks found…
Super-Earth’s Probable Water Atmosphere Revealed In Blue Light
Playing with the filters on a telescope can show us amazing things. In a recent case, Japanese astronomers looked at…