Astronomers have long believed that planetary systems follow a familiar blueprint. Small rocky planets ...

An international team of astronomers has discovered a distant planetary system that challenges long-standing theories of how ...

When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Artwork depicting how water, both regular and heavy, comes from giant molecular clouds and is ...

A closer look at the planets around a star called LHS 1903 may just flip our understanding of how planetary systems form.

Gas giants are massive worlds made mostly of hydrogen and helium. They lack solid surfaces, and in our solar system, Jupiter ...

Six planets will line up in a rare "planetary parade" this month - but spotting them all won't be easy.

Scientists have identified a rocky outer planet in a system where a gas giant was expected. The discovery challenges ...

A planetary system 116 light-years from Earth has a peculiar pattern. It could flip the script on how planets form, scientists say.

Gas giants are large planets mostly composed of helium and/or hydrogen. Although these planets have dense cores, they don't ...

Stars and their planets form when large molecular clouds collapse in on themselves. Gravity pulls the dust and gas into a violent spiral, which flattens out into a structure known as a protoplanetary ...