Artist impression of the four classes of planetary system architecture. A new architecture framework allows researchers to study an entire planetary system at the systems level. If the small planets ...

Washington DC — New theoretical work shows that gas-giant planet formation can occur around binary stars in much the same way that it occurs around single stars like the Sun. The work is presented ...

Across the galaxy, astronomers now see that planetary systems fall into four broad classes, and our own solar system, part of the rare Ordered group, is only one of them. At the same time, discoveries ...

Scientists have grappled for centuries over the composition of the universe. From its infinite size to the search for intelligent life on planets beyond our own, a variety of questions keep humans up ...

White dwarfs, the compact remnants of low- to intermediate-mass stars, offer a unique window into the fate of planetary systems. Recent observational and theoretical work has revealed that many white ...

Forty light-years away, seven Earth-sized planets orbit around a dim red dwarf star in one of the most tightly packed planetary systems ever discovered. The TRAPPIST-1 system has captivated ...

The Nebular Origins of the Universe Research Laboratory will connect pre-planetary evolution to planetary formation to understand the chemical origins of planetary systems SAN ANTONIO — December 1, ...

Astronomers have long been aware that planetary systems are not necessarily structured like our solar system. Researchers have now shown that there are in fact four types of planetary systems. In our ...

In our solar system, everything seems to be in order: The smaller rocky planets, such as Venus, Earth or Mars, orbit relatively close to our star. The large gas and ice giants, such as Jupiter, Saturn ...