Earth and its rocky neighbours reveal how planetary processes—core-mantle differentiation, crust formation, tectonics, and geochemical cycling—between interior and surficial reservoirs shape habitability.
planetary evolution
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The Planet That Shouldn’t Be There
A newly discovered exoplanet suggests that a different way to build planetary systems could be possible.
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Rare Hot Jupiters Could Reveal How All Giant Planets Form
A new analysis shows that the way massive planets migrate after their formation helps determine whether they have companion planets. The process hints at planetary formation in general.
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Primordial Impact May Explain Why the Moon Is Asymmetrical
Analysis of surface samples from the Chang’e-6 mission suggests that an asteroid may have vaporized parts of the lunar mantle, suppressing volcanic activity on the farside of the Moon.
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Planet-Eating Stars Hint at Earth’s Ultimate Fate
A sampling of aging Sun-like stars demonstrates that they likely eat their closest planets.
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Sediments Hint at Large Ancient Martian Moon
Regular, alternating layers in Gale Crater may have been deposited as the result of tides raised by a moon at least 18 times the mass of Phobos, a study says.
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Tiny Uranian Moon Likely Had a Massive Subsurface Ocean
Ariel’s tempestuous subsurface ocean may have once composed more than half its total volume.
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Zircon Crystals Could Reveal Earth’s Path Among the Stars
Researchers found signs of melting in zircon crystals in the crust that correspond to our planet’s journey through the galaxy’s spiral arms.
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Planets Might Form When Dust “Wobbles” in Just the Right Way
A liquid metal experiment has shown how magnetic rotational instability might allow dust to pool together in disks around young stars to form new worlds.
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Tilted Planet System? Maybe It Was Born That Way
New observations could shed light on the degree to which misalignment in a planet-forming disk contributes to skewed planetary orbits.