Southwest Research Institute scientists propose a new model for the formation of compact exoplanetary systems that contain multiple rocky planets in tight orbits around their star. In this model, ...

Planet hunters have grown used to strange worlds, but a handful of discoveries now point to something even more radical: ...

Astronomers observed giant helium clouds escaping exoplanet WASP-107b, revealing atmospheric loss and offering key insight ...

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, ...

This illustration shows an exoplanet orbiting around two brown dwarfs –– objects bigger than gas-giant planets but too small to be proper stars. ESO/M. Kornmesser Astronomers have discovered a ...

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 ...

As planetary systems evolve, gravitational interactions between planets can fling some of them into eccentric elliptical orbits around the host star, or even out of the system altogether. Smaller ...

The quiet fear of losing your home is usually a human story, but in the sky, entire worlds may face something similar. As stars age and swell, the space around them shifts in ways that can destroy ...

For every rule in the cosmos, there is a spectacular exception. While most planets orbit in a neat plane, Pluto tumbles at a wild angle and asteroids from a failed world zip between Mars and Jupiter.

Theorbits of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune may have been altered by the fly-by of an enormous object from deep space, billions of years ago. According to a pre-print research paper, which is yet ...