New high-contrast images from SPHERE show a stunning variety of debris disks shaped by collisions of tiny planet-building ...

Still, science being science, we needed proof—and we got it in 1992, when two astronomers found two planets orbiting a pulsar ...

Observations with the instrument SPHERE at ESO's Very Large Telescope have produced an unprecedented gallery of "debris disks" in exoplanetary systems.

In the distant future—about six billion or seven billion years hence—the sun will start to die, swelling up into a bloated red giant. In a span of several hundred million years it will blow away its ...

The James Webb Space Telescope has detected two alien planets orbiting white dwarfs, the collapsed husks of once-mighty stars. The discovery offers a hint of what our solar system will look like after ...

Astronomers can estimate ages for stars outside the Solar System, but not planets. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. This article ...

When astronomers search for planets that could host liquid water on their surface, they start by looking at a star's habitable zone. Water is a key ingredient for life, and on a planet too close to ...

For centuries, astronomers have sought to understand the formation and evolution of the solar system and the dynamics that govern it. In particular, there is the long-standing question of whether or ...

BRITS are clueless about our solar system – with four in 10 unable to identify the biggest planet and a quarter uncertain ...

Small celestial bodies, like comets or dwarf planets, can sometimes have bizarre shapes — just look at ‘Oumuamua, the interstellar visitor whose strange, elongated form sparked endless theories as it ...

Are planets in the solar system that are closer to the Sun older than the ones further away? – Gavriel, age 10, Paducah, Kentucky A cloud of collapsing gas created our Sun, the first thing to form in ...

When the skies darken during the total solar eclipse on April 8, colors will change, and some stars and planets will be visible in the daytime. Here's what to look for, and where. When you purchase ...