I’ve never given up on you, Pluto.
Scientists find diamonds forged deep within a lost, ancient planet of the early solar system
Pieces of an ancient planet formed long before Earth shed their secrets.
Meet TESS — he’ll be finding exoplanets for the next few years
NASA’s future planet hunter has arrived — and it’s set for glory.
In the Pisces constellation, one star is busy devouring its own planetary offspring
Giving “family dinner” a whole new meaning.
Physicists propose new, donut-shaped planetary body: the synestia
Homer Simpson would have been impressed. D’oh!
Scientists find water clouds and exotic, primitive atmosphere on a “warm Neptune”
We didn’t even know this kind of planet can exist.
Researchers discover atmosphere around an Earth-like planet
Can we get excited yet? Mmm no, not really.
Proposed ‘geophysical definition’ re-instates Pluto as a planet — and adds 100 new ones in the Solar System
I never lost faith in you, Pluto.
Rubies and sapphires rain down on huge planet
Still a hellish planet, but a beautiful hellish planet at that.
This might be the most accurate map of the world
It looks strange, but it’s really accurate.
Scientists find new dwarf planet in our solar system
Astronomers have found a cosmic friend for Pluto.
‘Pristine’ landscapes haven’t existed for thousands of years, says new study
If you want to escape civilisation and head into the unaltered wilderness you may be in for a shock: it doesn’t exist.
If there’s anything that marks humanity’s brief time on Earth, it’s plastic
Before WWII, there weren’t that many plastics around. Today, we use so much that we could literally plaster the planet in one giant clingfilm. A paper published in the journal Anthropocene reviews the state of plastic production, use and pollution and concludes that no place on Earth has been spared.
We have a ninth planet in the solar system – and it’s not Pluto
A duo of astronomers from CalTech may have found another planet, far away in our solar system.
New most distant body in the Solar system identified
A new dwarf planet, designated V774104 has been identified and now takes the crown of most distant object in our solar system, being three times farther away than Pluto. The dwarf planet is estimated to be between 500 and 1000 kilometers across. Astronomers don’t yet have enough data to estimate its orbit and estimate that about an year of observations is needed to gather enough data for a precise answer.
What makes a planet? Finally a simple formula that includes exoplanets as well
There is only one clear set of official criteria by which we class or not a cosmic body as a planet. These criteria introduced in 2006 by the International Astronomical Union saw Pluto demoted to the status of dwarf planet. Oddly enough, though, these rules were made for classing planets only in our solar system, meaning the 5,000 exoplanets (what should be planets outside our solar system) identified so far are now in a “definitional limbo,” according to planetary astronomer Jean-Luc Margot at UCLA. Luckily, Margot has come up with a solution which seems to work marvelously.
Welcome back to the family, Pluto!
Before you get overly excited, no, Pluto hasn’t been once again accepted as a planet – it’s still officially a dwarf planet (though in our hearts, you’ll always be a planet, Pluto!). However, this emblematic picture of the solar system from my childhood is now complete, as seen in this great family portrait produced by Ben Gross, a research fellow at the Chemical Heritage Foundation. Basically, we have at least the one good image of all the worlds in our solar system.
Five ancient alien planets discovered in 11 billion-year-old solar system. Great implications for alien life
The ever resourceful Kepler missions just reported its most interesting find to date: not one, but five planets smaller than Earth orbiting a star 117 light-years away that’s estimated to be 11 billion years old. This makes it far older than our own sun, meaning its planets could be 2.5 times as old as Earth. The findings bear important implications
Not one, but two yet to be confirmed Earth-sized planets could orbit in the outer solar system
Nibiru followers might have cause to rejoice, as Spanish astronomers report a novel hypothesis that suggests two Earth-sized planets might be hiding out in the outskirts of our solar system. Thousands of years after the first planets besides our own were discovered by ancient Babylonian astronomers, it seems like determining the number of planets in our solar is far from being settled, despite Pluto’s unfortunate destitution.
Newly found gassy exoplanet has mass similar to Earth’s
A team of astronomers recently discovered a new exoplanet some 200 light years away whose mass is about the same as Earth’s – the first Earth-mass planet that transits, or crosses in front of, its host star. Although very similar in mass, the planet is 60% larger in diameter suggesting it has a thick atmosphere. Due to its very short