French novelist Jules Verne delighted 19th-century readers with the tantalizing notion that a journey to the center of the Earth was actually plausible. Since then, scientists have long acknowledged ...

There may be hidden layers to Earth’s core dictated by chemical composition. In A Nutshell Lab experiments suggest Earth’s inner core may have distinct chemical layers rather than being uniform iron, ...

The Earth’s inner core, predominantly composed of iron with a minor admixture of nickel and light elements, is a critical component in understanding our planet’s magnetic field and thermal evolution.

A new study disputes the prevailing hypothesis on why Mercury has a big core relative to its mantle (the layer between a planet’s core and crust). For decades, scientists argued that hit-and-run ...

The early years of our solar system were a period of unimaginable chaos and violence, a gravitational free-for-all where colliding planetary embryos competed for survival. In this tumultuous ...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Scientists revealed Wednesday that Mars’ innermost core appears to be a solid hunk of metal just like Earth’s. The Chinese-led research team based their findings on seismic ...

Leonardo Testi and team investigate the initial conditions for planet formation in this special astronomy focus ...

A surprising analysis of the composition of gas giant exoplanets and their host stars shows that there isn’t a strong correlation between their compositions when it comes to elements heavier than ...

Astronomers have identified a wildly distorted world that looks less like a sphere and more like a squeezed citrus fruit, and it is rewriting what I thought I knew about how planets form and survive.

Mercury is a cold and desolate planet that appears to have little surface, no sign of water, and little atmosphere that can be observed. Wikimedia Commons A European-Japanese space mission will reach ...