Astronomers have found evidence of a process that supports an alternative, more rapid approach to planetary formation, more top down than bottom up. By Katrina Miller When it comes to making a planet, ...

Astronomers observe for the first time the actual motion of spirals in a protoplanetary disk, revealing gravitational ...

Moons come in many forms. To understand why there are no gas moons, in our solar system at least, it's best to first understand how gas giant planets form. There are two scenarios for gas-giant planet ...

For scientists who spend time thinking about how planets form, life would be simpler if gas giants like Jupiter and Saturn didn’t exist. According to the standard model of planet formation, called ...

Astronomers have discovered an extrasolar planet with the largest core of any known planet. The discovery is especially exciting to planet formation theorists, because it provides extremely strong ...

Score one for the core accretion theory. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. A massive, cold clump of material in the heart of the ...

April 4 (UPI) --NASA announced Monday that its Hubble Space Telescope has obtained photographic evidence that some "gas giant" plants such as Jupiter are formed in a way contrary to the dominant ...

Astronomers used the ALMA radio array in Chile to show that two narrow spiral arms are funneling gas toward the central ...

Like a family in which short parents have tall children, a tiny red dwarf star is defying our understanding of how planets form by existing alongside a giant exoplanet. Giant planets are not rare per ...

A young, massive planet is orbiting in an unusual place in its star system, and it’s leading researchers to revive a long-debated view of how giant planets can form. “My first reaction was, there’s no ...