Solar System
Rings in the Early Solar System Kept our Planet From Becoming a Super-Earth
A team led by Rice University has created a new model of planetary formation that answer how the Solar System…
Here are Hubble’s 2021 Photos of the Outer Solar System
If we had to rely solely on spacecraft to learn about the outer planets, we wouldn't be making great progress.…
Researchers Use Ancient Literature to Track 3,000 Years of Auroras
Auroral activity on Earth varies over time. As the magnetic poles drift, auroras can appear at different latitudes around the…
This is How You Get Moons. An Earth-Sized World Just got Pummeled by Something Huge.
Titanic collisions are the norm in young solar systems. Earth's Moon was the result of one of those collisions when…
The Early Solar System Had a Gap Where the Asteroid Belt is Today
Wind the cosmic clock back a few billion years and our Solar System looked much different than it does today.…
Why Visit Just one Moon When you Could Explore Them all?
The Solar System's moons are intriguing objects for exploration. Especially moons like Europa and Enceladus. Their subsurface oceans make them…
Images of 42 of the Biggest Asteroids in the Solar System
A huge team of astronomers have combined forces to use the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT) to…
Greenland’s Ice Sheet is Similar in Many Ways to the Solar System’s Icy Worlds and Can Teach Us How to Search for Life
Many regions on Earth are temperate, nutrient-rich, stable environments where life seems to thrive effortlessly. But not all of Earth.…
BepiColombo Meets Mercury for the First Time on October 1
BepiColombo made a quick visit to Venus in August and is on to its next rendezvous. On October 1st it'll…
The Early Solar System was Messier and More Violent Than Previously Believed
Our conventional models of planet formation may have to be updated, according to a pair of new papers. Accretion is…