Planetary systems in the Milky Way galaxy tend to follow a particular pattern: rocky planets toward the center, closest to ...

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

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Leslie Katz covers the intersection of culture, science and tech. A yellowish-orange glow bathes Phainoterra, a planet of dramatic ...

A newly studied solar system breaks the usual planet pattern, raising fresh questions about how rocky and gas planets form.

Astronomers have found new evidence that a mysterious ninth planet may be hiding at the edge of the solar system - rewriting what we know about the cosmos again. An international team from Taiwan, ...

Astronomers have found a rocky planet where it should not exist, orbiting far from a cool red star. Could this strange ...

In our Solar System, the inner planets (Mercury to Mars) are rocky, and the outer planets (Jupiter to Neptune) are gaseous.

Astronomers may have demoted Pluto from full-fledged planet to dwarf status, but evidence suggests the solar system may still host a mysterious ninth planet — far beyond Neptune, cloaked in shadow and ...

An artist's illustration of a possible ninth planet in our solar system, hovering at the edge of our solar system. Neptune's orbit is shown as a bright ring around the Sun. Scientists in Taiwan ...

As shocking as it sounds today, prior to the 1990s, scientists couldn't be certain that stars beyond the sun also had planets orbiting them. Since the discovery of the first extra-solar planet, or ...

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