solar system
Remember space junk ‘Oumuamua? A conventional explanation is now offered: Nitrogen ice from Pluto
Astronomers: Maybe there really isn’t a Planet Nine
Ethan Siegel tells us why he thinks colonizing super-Earths would end in disaster
Out there near Pluto, mysterious Arrakoth may be a time capsule into our early solar system
Claim: Solar system might once have had two companion stars
Guillermo Gonzalez: Earth’s position makes space exploration easier
Galileo’s contemporary science opponents made a lot of sense
Earth’s rocks and Moon rocks differ—possibly shedding light on Moon origin
Ring-like structure in early solar system proposed to explain the inner rocky planets
If there IS a ninth planet out there…
New theory of the Moon’s formation addresses huge discrepancy
50th anniversary of Apollo 8: Earth as a privileged planet
Our solar system is a lot rarer than it was a quarter century ago
Two independent teams of astronomers recently looked into the matter: Astronomers have detected and measured the mass and/or orbital features of 3,869 planets in 2,887 planetary systems beyond the solar system. This ranks as a staggering rate of discovery, given that the first confirmed detection of a planet orbiting another hydrogen-fusion-burning star was as recent as 1995. What do the characteristics of these systems reveal about potential habitability for advanced life? … The presumption back in 1995 was that astronomers would find many exoplanetary systems where the probability of advanced life possibly existing in that system would be greater than zero. More than twenty-three years later, with a database of 2,888 planetary systems and 3,877 planets, only one planetary system Read More ›
We look for planets differently now
It turns out that other solar systems are not shedding much light on how ours came to be: But as the menagerie of young planetary systems grows, researchers are struggling to square their observations with current theories on how our Solar System and others formed. Such ideas have been in turmoil ever since astronomers started discovering planets around distant stars — a list that now numbers in the thousands. The Solar System has rocky planets near the Sun and giant gas balls farther out, but the panoply of exoplanets obeys no tidy patterns. And the rule book for world-building is getting more complicated as researchers find evidence of planets in the process of being born. Still, astronomers hope that witnessing Read More ›