The standard story of the origin of our solar system has gone like this: 4.6 billion years ago, a giant cloud of dust hung frozen in space. Then the explosion of a nearby star caused part of that dust ...

Simulations reveal that Jupiter’s rapid growth disrupted the early solar system, creating rings where new planetesimals formed much later than expected. These late-forming bodies match the ages and ...

Far from the Sun’s heat, orbiting the outer planets of the solar system, are moons with oceans of liquid water beneath their frozen surfaces. Keith Cooper finds out how planetary scientists are ...

Planets around other stars can help answer one of the greatest mysteries: How did we get here? How did the spinning disk of material left behind by our sun’s birth form our planet and its seven ...