As far-fetched as it may seem, quirks of orbital mechanics could allow hundreds of planets to be packed around a star ...

An international team of astronomers has discovered eight new extrasolar planets, bringing to nearly 80 the number of planets found orbiting nearby stars. The latest discoveries, supported by the ...

The orbits of the planets around the sun have been the source for many a scientific debate. Their current orbital properties are well understood but the planetary orbits have evolved and changed since ...

A newly discovered object orbiting far beyond Neptune has its closest approach to the Sun pointed in the opposite direction from every other known body like it, weakening one of the central ...

A massive interstellar object passing through our solar system during its formative years likely altered the orbits of planets into trajectories observed today, a new study says. Interactions with ...

EVANSTON, Ill. — Except for the fact that we call it home, for centuries astronomers didn’t have any particular reason to believe that our solar system was anything special in the universe. But, ...

A new discovery finds that, even in “pristine” solar systems, planets exhibit a bit of a tilt. Scientists have long puzzled over why all of the planets in Earth’s solar system have slightly slanted ...

The fate of our solar system is written in the stars—well, one star to be precise: the sun. Estimates of what the end will ...

Computer simulations have revealed a plausible explanation for a phenomenon that has puzzled astronomers: Rather than occupying orbits at regular distances from a star, giant gas planets similar to ...