Solar System
JWST Detects Carbon Dioxide in a Centaur for the First Time
A study published today in The Planetary Science Journal examines how NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has conducted a…
Io has 266 Active Volcanic Hotspots Linked by a Global Magma Ocean
Jupiter's Io stands apart from the Solar System's other moons, with its numerous volcanoes and its surface dominated by lava…
Europa and Enceladus are the Perfect Targets for a Lightsail Mission
There's always a need for new technologies or for novel uses of existing technologies to lower the cost of space…
Colliding Moons Might Have Created Saturn’s Rings
If we could wind the clock back billions of years, we'd see our Solar System the way it used to…
A Nearby Supernova Almost Destroyed the Solar System Before it Could Form
Way back in time, about 4.6 billion years ago, our Sun and planets were busily forming nestled inside a cloud…
There Could Be Captured Planets in the Oort Cloud
The early Solar System was a turbulent and chaotic place with icy material hurled far from the Sun, becoming the…
A Few Interstellar Objects Have Probably Been Captured
When Oumuamua travelled through our Solar System back in 2017, people around the world paid attention. It was the first…
Webb Examined an Asteroid Belt and Found More Than it Bargained For
One of the things astronomers would love to see is planets forming around other stars. That would help us understand…
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…
Dwarf Planet Quaoar has a Ring
Quaoar is one of about 3,000 dwarf planets in our Solar System's Kuiper Belt. Astronomers discovered it in 2002. It's…