For centuries, astronomers have sought to understand the formation and evolution of the solar system and the dynamics that govern it. In particular, there is the long-standing question of whether or ...

There’s a bit of a paradox about our galaxy: it’s both jam-packed with stars and cavernously empty. The Milky Way is crowded in the sense that it holds hundreds of billions of stars, as well as ...

The birth of a new solar system may have been caught on camera. About 1,400 light-years from Earth sits a young sunlike star surrounded by cooling gas and teensy silicate minerals. These mineral ...

Stars passing close to the sun could cause planets to collide, including with Earth, or even be ejected as rogue planets, new simulations show. By Katherine Kornei If our species manages to hang on ...

Alpha Centauri, the nearest star system to the sun, is probably shedding comets and asteroids into our solar system — and even producing a few meteors in our sky. Located just 4.3 light-years from ...

Our solar system passed through a vast wave of gas and dust around 14 million years ago, dimming Earth’s view of the night sky. The wave may even have left traces in our planet’s geological record.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Astronomers have discovered the earliest seeds of rocky planets forming in the gas around a baby sun-like star, providing a precious peek into the dawn of our own solar system.