General relativity helps explain the lack of planets around tight binary stars by driving orbital resonances that eject or destroy close-in worlds. This process naturally creates a “desert” of ...

Scientists have identified a rocky outer planet in a system where a gas giant was expected. The discovery challenges ...

Space scientists look back on 30 years of exoplanet discoveries — from rows of massive ‘super-Earths‘ to worlds with perfectly synchronized orbits. It was also the start of a whirlwind of discovery.

This is a brilliant question because the notion of an orbit is counterintuitive. We know that massive objects (really, any objects with mass) gravitationally attract other massive objects; Newton’s ...

Mark your calendars for the last week of February, because one of the coolest celestial events is coming around again: Six planets will be visible in the night sky at the same time. This phenomenon, ...

As telescopes have become more powerful, it’s turned out our solar system is not the only game in town: There are millions of other planets out there in the galaxy. But we’re still teasing out clues ...

Stargazers will revel in a dazzling display as a six "planet parade" dances across the sky on Sunday, Aug. 10. While it won't be easy to see the full planet lineup this weekend without binoculars or a ...

It was almost 100 years ago that Clyde W. Tombaugh discovered Pluto. That was the last planet found until 1992, when humans found another one. But this new planet wasn't in our solar system—it was ...

Six planets—including Venus, Jupiter, and Mercury—will line up in the sky. Here’s the best time to watch and where to find clear views.

On August 10, six planets—Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune—will line up in an arc in the night sky. Four of these planets—Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn—can be seen with the ...