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

General relativity helps explain the lack of planets around tight binary stars by driving orbital resonances that eject or destroy close-in worlds. This process naturally creates a “desert” of ...

In the early chaos of planetary formation, before crusts cooled or atmospheres settled, water might already have been bubbling into existence. Not fromicy comets or far-flung asteroids, but from the ...

Something similar happened around countless other suns, the vast majority of which are thought to have planets. Astronomers are trying to figure out how exactly the planetary formation process happens ...

Scientists find that deep molten rock can power long-lasting magnetic fields, helping large rocky planets hold onto their ...

Researchers have discovered more than 6,000 exoplanets in our Milky Way. Of these, the sub-Neptune class, which are smaller than Neptune and more massive than Earth, are the most common. These planets ...

New research uses laboratory experiments to demonstrate that water is naturally created during the planet formation process. By squeezing and heating planetary analog materials between the tips of two ...