Gas giants originate from one of two processes. The first method is called core accretion, explains Ravit Helled, a professor of theoretical astrophysics at the University of Zürich.

TOI-6894 b, the largest exoplanet relative to its host star yet seen, doesn’t fit the most widely accepted formation model ...

Core accretion requires bits of solid stuff to smash together to form bigger and bigger chunks. There is little doubt that this is how Earth and the other terrestrial planets came into being, most ...

“There shouldn’t be enough solid material to form those objects out there through a core-accretion paradigm.” In the 1980s, astronomers proposed the idea that gravitational instability could ...

An analysis of Hawaii’s volcanic rocks revealed Earth’s core is leaking gold and other precious metals, a study found. The elements emerge when ocean islands form.

A planetary core forms first through accretion (gradual accumulation of material) and as the core becomes more massive, it eventually attracts gases that form an atmosphere.

Astronomers recently discovered a hefty exoplanet orbiting a star similar to our sun, and it has researchers puzzled due to its tremendous density.

Exoplanets form in protoplanetary disks, a collection of space dust and gas orbiting a star. The leading theory of planetary formation, called core accretion, occurs when grains of dust in the ...