Are planets in the solar system that are closer to the Sun older than the ones further away? – Gavriel, age 10, Paducah, Kentucky A cloud of collapsing gas created our Sun, the first thing to form in ...

And the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. Sometimes, if the night is dark and clear enough, you can look up and see the Milky Way in its arc across the sky.

The solar system is 4.54 billion years old, based on rock dating. Gas giants (Jupiter and Saturn) likely formed first. Ice giants (Uranus and Neptune) probably formed next. Rocky planets formed last, ...

Scientists were able to see the moment when planets began to form around a star. Astronomers have witnessed the birth of a solar system beyond our own for the first time. An international team of ...

A new planetary system is forming around the young star HOPS-315. Scientists observed the earliest stages of planet formation around another star. The process involves the cooling and solidifying of ...

Moon’s precursor planet, Theia, disappeared billions ago, leaving scientists no direct chemical evidence to support the hypothesis. Now a team of astromers in France, Germany and the United States ...

Most of our knowledge about the Solar System’s formation and evolution comes from the study of extraterrestrial rock samples called chondritic meteorites. These rocks, which are fragments of asteroids ...

Our solar system is a weird place. Much more than a home to eight planets, it’s filled with a myriad of fascinating other smaller bodies, including moons, asteroids, and comets. In recent decades, ...

Meet the surprising, oddball worlds moving around our solar system. From meteorites that impact Earth, to a moon that orbits backwards, to an imposter lurking in the asteroid belt, a variety of ...

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. Our solar system has been around for 4.6 billion years. While that sounds like a long time, it's ...

"If our solar system is indeed moving this fast, we need to question fundamental assumptions about the large-scale structure of the universe." Astronomers have discovered that the solar system may be ...