The Kuiper belt, a disc of icy rocks on the outermost edges of the solar system, seems to have more structure than we thought. In 2011, researchers found a cluster of objects there on similar orbits ...

Illustration comparing the planets of the Solar System and the Sun on the same scale. The planets are shown to scale relative to each other but their distances are not. From left to right the bodies ...

Astronomers have spotted an intriguing cluster of objects in the Kuiper belt, the enormous, donut-shaped region of icy objects beyond the orbit of Neptune. This latest “inner kernel” was identified by ...

Simulations reveal that Jupiter’s rapid growth disrupted the early solar system, creating rings where new planetesimals formed much later than expected. These late-forming bodies match the ages and ...

The interstellar object hurtling toward the inner solar system, where Earth is located, is much larger than previously thought, astronomers say. A comet named 3I/ATLAS likely weighs more than 33 ...

At the far edge of the Solar System, where the Sun’s influence thins into the dark between the stars, a pair of aging spacecraft has stumbled into something unexpectedly fierce. Instead of a gentle ...

A long-lost planet that helped create the Moon may have formed much closer to the Sun than scientists once thought, according to new research. Scientists have discovered that Theia, the ancient planet ...

A new analysis estimates that the asteroid belt is steadily losing mass each year, and may not be as permanent a feature of the solar system as we thought. When you purchase through links on our site, ...

About 4.6 billion years ago, the Solar System formed from a cloud of dust and gas collapsing in on itself due to gravity. The Sun, planets, and eventually Earth formed out of the cloud. But when did ...

Earth may have a moon today because a nearby neighbor once crashed into us, a new analysis of Apollo samples and terrestrial rocks reveals. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an ...