Pluto was once called the ninth planet, but in 2006, scientists changed its status to a dwarf planet. A planet must clear its orbit of other objects, but Pluto shares its space with many small icy ...

These embryos, somewhere between small planetesimals ... is not easily discernible in the modern-day solar system. Scientists have suggested previously that an angrite parent body may be a remnant ...

So exactly how many solar system ... giant planet satellites, we are yet to discover the vast majority of them," Ashton said. In total, there will probably be "around as many small-body satellites ...

Floating around at the edge of the Solar System are leftovers from its formation. This is the Kuiper Belt, which is composed of chunks of rock and ice like comets, dwarf planets, and random objects ...

Whether or not the evolution of the planets and moons in the Solar System is typical for their class of objects is still unknown. A key element of this research theme is the search for small, ...

The solar system has many more moons than the ... configuration is often referred to as the "three-body problem." The two innermost planets, Venus and Mercury, will shine together low in the ...

Earth has a nearly circular orbit, but some planets outside our solar system, called exoplanets ... metal-rich stars in order to form; small planets do not. Small planets have low eccentricities ...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Astronomers have identified a quartet of small ... solar system's innermost planet Mercury. At about 6 light years away, Barnard's star is the nearest single star - one not ...

Planet Mars, explained Mars has not only the highest highs, but also some of the solar system’s lowest lows ... the red planet gained its two small and irregularly shaped moons, Phobos and ...