A new study has challenged a popular explanation for the unexpected 30-second shortening of Dimorphos's orbital period. The researchers found that the proposed mechanism would actually produce the ...

Aerobraking is commonly used to slow down spacecraft when they arrive at various planetary systems. It requires a spacecraft to dip into the atmosphere of a celestial body in the planetary system, ...

High-resolution study of Jurassic mudstones in China’s Sichuan Basin reveals that astronomical cycles control climate, sedimentation, and organic matter accumulation—key insights for global shale oil ...

Hot Jupiters, giant planets that circle their stars in just a few days, have long defied simple explanations of how planetary systems grow and evolve. A new tidal “clock” hidden in their orbits is now ...

A newly analyzed planetary system has turned up a world orbiting at such a skewed angle that it defies the neat textbook picture of how planets are supposed to form and settle around their stars. The ...

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, ...

AMES, Iowa – Using data from NASA’s Kepler space telescope, an international team of astronomers has discovered a distant planetary system featuring multiple planets orbiting at a severe tilt to their ...