Sculpted by Starlight: An Unusual Meteorite Witness to the Solar System’s Birth
Researchers use unusual meteorite to gain insight into our solar system’s past, present. In 2011, scientists confirmed a suspicion: There was a split in the…
Solar System
“Big Surprise!” – Heavy Metal Vapors Unexpectedly Found in Comets Throughout Our Solar System – and Beyond
A new study by a Belgian team using data from the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT) has shown that iron and nickel…
Putting the Pieces Back Together: Scientists Reconstruct Solar System’s Original Architecture
As the solar system was developing, the giant planets (Jupiter and Saturn) formed very early, and as they grew, they migrated both closer to and…
Extinct Atom and a Clever Trick Reveals the Long-Kept Secrets of the Solar System
Using the extinct niobium-92 atom, ETH researchers have been able to date events in the early solar system with greater precision than before. The study…
“Farfarout” – Astronomers Confirm Solar System’s Most Distant Planetoid
A team, including an astronomer from the University of Hawaiʻi Institute for Astronomy (IfA), have confirmed a planetoid that is almost four times farther from…
Solar System Formation in Two Steps – Explains Composition and Features of Planets, Asteroids and Meteorites
An international team of researchers from the University of Oxford, LMU Munich, ETH Zurich, BGI Bayreuth, and the University of Zurich discovered that a two-step…
Global Solar Wind Structure Instrument for the Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe Will Help Chart Earth’s Astronomical Neighborhood
NASA and the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Poland have agreed to cooperate on a NASA heliophysics mission, the Interstellar…
Solving a Paradox to Uncover Key Clues About Our Solar System’s History
New clues lead to a better understanding of the evolution of the solar system and the origin of Earth as a habitable planet. In a…
Meteorites Reveal Chaotic Early Solar System Collisions Resembled “Asteroids” Arcade Game
One Friday evening in 1992, a meteorite ended a more than 150 million-mile journey by smashing into the trunk of a red Chevrolet Malibu in…
Meteorites Show That Our Solar System Formed in Less Than 200,000 Years
A long time ago — roughly 4.5 billion years — our sun and solar system formed over the short time span of 200,000 years. That…
Ultraviolet Shines Light on Origins of Our Solar System
In the search to discover the origins of our solar system, an international team of researchers, including planetary scientist and cosmochemist James Lyons of Arizona…
“Deflated Croissant” – Uncovering the True Shape of Our Solar System
Scientists have developed a new prediction of the shape of the bubble surrounding our solar system using a model developed with data from NASA missions….
Four Possible NASA Missions to Explore the Secrets of the Solar System
Two NASA-JPL proposals are among the selections: Trident would explore Neptune’s moon Triton, while Veritas aims to map Venus’ surface to determine the planet’s geologic…
Mercury Transit: Important Details for Observing Stunning Phenomenon
Today, November 11, 2019, we’re in for a rare treat, as the innermost planet, Mercury, passes directly in front of the Sun for a few…
A Star Disturbed Solar System Comets and Asteroids 70,000 Years Ago
About 70,000 years ago, when the human species was already on Earth, a small reddish star approached our solar system and gravitationally disturbed comets and…
NASA’s Interstellar Boundary Explorer Provides New Details on Solar System Boundary
New research from NASA’s Interstellar Boundary Explorer mission provides the most definitive analyses, theories and results about local interstellar space to date. The new research…
IBEX Reveals First View of the Solar System’s Tail, The Heliotail
In a newly published study, NASA IBEX data reveals the never before seen boundaries of the tail of the heliosphere, the heliotail. NASA’s Interstellar Boundary…
Study Challenges the Idea that a Supernova Prompted the Formation of the Solar System
By testing meteorites, a team of scientists discovered that levels of iron 60 were uniform and low in early solar system material, suggesting that that…