The solar system was literally turning ... The key to testing the Nice model is mapmaking. Charting the composition and orbits of distant objects should reveal whether and how the planets cast ...

For a few evenings around 28 February, every planet in the solar system will be visible in the night sky, thanks to a rare great planetary alignment. Here's how to make sure you don't miss this ...

This novel model challenges existing notions of how the solar system came to look the way it ... From there, objects with certain orbits could be "captured" by the giant planets, Bottke told ...

As a result, thousands of smaller celestial bodies in the outer solar system ... elongated orbits. Until now, there was no explanation for this phenomenon. "The beauty of this model lies in ...

In research highlighted in a new paper, published today in The Astrophysical Journal, Scientia Senior Lecturer Ben Montet and PhD candidate Brendan McKee analysed changes in the timing of a known ...

Astronomers have sent artificial satellites (satellites that are manmade) to orbit several Solar System objects, including Jupiter, the asteroid Vesta and Mars. Polar orbits take the satellites ...

the researchers behind the new study used information from the orbits of comets and gravitational forces from within and beyond our solar system to build a model of the Oort cloud's structure.

A new study presents a compelling new model for the formation of super-Earths and mini-Neptunes -- planets that are 1 to 4 times the size of Earth and among the most common in our galaxy. Using ...

the researchers who did the new study used data gathered from the orbits of comets and gravitational forces from within and beyond our solar system to create a model of the Oort cloud's structure.

As well as planets and moons, the solar system also contains dwarf planets, which are too small to be considered planets. The best known of these is Pluto, an ice dwarf that orbits far from the ...