A planetary system 116 light-years from Earth has a peculiar pattern. It could flip the script on how planets form, scientists say.

Astronomers have found a rocky planet where it should not exist, orbiting far from a cool red star. Could this strange ...

In our Solar System, the inner planets (Mercury to Mars) are rocky, and the outer planets (Jupiter to Neptune) are gaseous. This planetary pattern – rock then gas - is consistently observed acro ...

With this new survey, astronomers have gained a peek inside a stage of exoplanet system formation they have yet to fully ...

Typically, from what astronomers have gathered thus far, star systems follow a tidy logic: small, rocky worlds huddle close to the warmth of their star, while massive gas giants bloat up in the colder ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Leslie Katz covers the intersection of culture, science and tech. A yellowish-orange glow bathes Phainoterra, a planet of dramatic ...

Astronomers have found new evidence that a mysterious ninth planet may be hiding at the edge of the solar system - rewriting what we know about the cosmos again. An international team from Taiwan, ...

Astronomers may have demoted Pluto from full-fledged planet to dwarf status, but evidence suggests the solar system may still host a mysterious ninth planet — far beyond Neptune, cloaked in shadow and ...

Gas giants are large planets mostly composed of helium and/or hydrogen. Although these planets have dense cores, they don’t ...

An artist's illustration of a possible ninth planet in our solar system, hovering at the edge of our solar system. Neptune's orbit is shown as a bright ring around the Sun. Scientists in Taiwan ...

Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system, isn’t exactly the size and shape scientists believed it was. New measurements from the Juno spacecraft show ...