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 ...

Theorbits of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune may have been altered by the fly-by of an enormous object from deep space, billions of years ago. According to a pre-print research paper, which is yet ...

Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to ...

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 ...

The Sun is an incandescent but benevolent dictator. For billions of years, it’s kept our star system well organized through the influence of its powerful gravity. All the planets revolve around it on ...

Astronomers are closing in on one of the most tantalizing possibilities in planetary science, evidence that a previously unknown world may be lurking in the outer reaches of the solar system. The ...

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, ...

Scientists have been trying to find a hypothetical Planet 9 that may exist outside our known solar system based on the unusual orbits of certain dwarf planets. But those orbits might not require a ...

Asteroids, the enduring remnants of early Solar System formation, offer invaluable insights into the processes that shaped planetary evolution. Their diverse orbits, sizes and compositions not only ...

Since the formation of the Solar System, the orbits of the planets have evolved and changed over time. While one of the most prominent ideas in the last few decades is planetary migrations and the ...