Michigan State University astrophysicists are closing in on one of space science’s biggest mysteries: where the galaxy’s most ...

All the planets orbit in roughly the same plane because they formed from a single rotating disk of gas and dust — the solar nebula — that flattened as it spun around the young Sun. The shared origin ...

A nebula is a luminescent giant cloud of dust and gas in space that could be from a supernova or could be a star-forming region. The "dumbbell nebula," also known as Messier 27, is what astronomers ...

Abstract: Visited only by Voyager 2 in 1989, Neptune and its moon Triton hold important clues to the formation and evolution of the solar system and exoplanetary systems. Neptune-sized planets are the ...

The evolutionary system of mineralogy relies on varied physical and chemical attributes, including trace elements, isotopes, solid and fluid inclusions, and other information-rich characteristics, to ...

Long before Earth formed its first continents, Jupiter was already the colossus that would shape the solar system. The newborn gas giant’s immense gravity sculpted the swirling disk of gas and dust ...

When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Credit: CTIO/NOIRLab/DOE/NSF/AURAImage Processing: T.A. Rector ...

Scientists have studied starlight for ages, yet there is more to learn about the photosphere, the outermost layer of the Sun where light is emitted. Getting accurate data on which elements exist in ...

The Sun's formation caused temperature differences in the surrounding disk of gas and dust. Inner, hotter regions formed rocky planets from less volatile elements. Outer, colder regions allowed ...

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