Scientists have detected methane gas glowing faintly above Makemake, an icy dwarf planet smaller and farther than Pluto in space. Until now, Pluto was the only object that far out in the solar system ...

When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. An illustration of confirmed dwarf planets and their moons. From left to right: Pluto (with ...

About 650 light-years from here, in the constellation Aquarius, lies the planetary nebula Caldwell 63, commonly known as the Helix Nebula. It’s the slowly cooling corpse of a dead star, a vast cloud ...

For a planet, this would be like a day at the spa. After years of growing old, a massive planet could, in theory, brighten up with a radiant, youthful glow. Rejuvenated planets, as they are nicknamed, ...

Deep in the outer solar system, billions of miles from Earth, lurks a realm of small, icy worlds called dwarf planets. Astronomers know relatively little about these dim and distant objects, but in ...

Brown dwarfs are too large to be considered planets and too small to produce nuclear fusion like stars. But can they still exhibit some of the same characteristics as planets, like aurorae? This is ...

Our solar system is much like a trail of microcosmic breadcrumbs: Follow the molecular bits as far back as they go, and you'll learn a thing or two about where many of our planets and other celestial ...

Los astrónomos se han preguntado durante mucho tiempo cómo Caronte, una luna tan grande, llegó a orbitar Plutón. Una nueva simulación sugiere cómo acabó allí. By Jonathan O’Callaghan Charon is large ...

The New Horizons Pluto flyby revealed unexpectedly complex geological features on dwarf planets, prompting further investigation into the diversity within the Kuiper Belt. Several dwarf planets, ...

How many dwarf planets are there in our solar system? The recent discovery of 2017 OF201 makes the tally anywhere between five and 18, plus hundreds of potentially undiscovered ones, depending on whom ...