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

Gold has long been regarded as one of the most chemically inert elements, a stable constant in both scientific ...

The solar system formed approximately 4.5 billion years ago. Numerous fragments that bear witness to this early era orbit the Sun as asteroids. Around three-quarters of these are carbon-rich C-type ...

A recent astronomical discovery has shaken long-held beliefs about how planets form. For decades, scientists thought that stars much smaller than our Sun couldn't form giant planets. That theory just ...

Planet formation used to sound straightforward: dust clumps into rocks, rocks grow into worlds, and the rest is detail. A ...

Our solar system is a smashing success. A new study suggests that from its earliest period — even before the last of its nebular gas had been consumed — Earth’s solar system and its planets looked ...

Imagine you’re a farmer searching for eggs in the chicken coop – but instead of a chicken egg, you find an ostrich egg, much larger than anything a chicken could lay. The smaller star, called an M ...

Astronomers have discovered an extrasolar planet with the largest core of any known planet. The discovery is especially exciting to planet formation theorists, because it provides extremely strong ...