Lumps of dust are spiraling around a young star 5,000 light-years away. They could be Jupiter-like planets in the making.
planetary evolution
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A Planet Is Dramatically Losing Its Atmosphere
Helium that was once part of the atmosphere of the extrasolar planet HAT-P-32b is being ripped away and forming two giant streamers of gas several million kilometers long.
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What Methane Jets Might Tell Us About Enceladus
Plumes on Saturn’s moon Enceladus are dumping methane into space—fast. Something must be resupplying the organic compound.
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Saturn’s Shiny Rings May Be Pretty Young
The rings are fairly shiny despite being bombarded by dust, indicating that they haven’t been around for very long.
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Molten Meteorites Didn’t Deliver Earth’s Water
A new study has ruled out large, once-molten meteorites called achondrites as sources of Earth’s water.
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Hydrogen May Push Some Exoplanets off a Cliff
High-pressure reactions of hydrogen and iron could explain gaps in the distribution of exoplanets.
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Marauding Moons Spell Disaster for Some Planets
In solar systems beyond our own, some moons might eventually collide with their host planets, new simulations suggest.
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Quaoar’s Ring Defies Gravity
The dwarf planet’s ring makes astronomers question whether a long-held theory about ring and moon formation needs tweaking.
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Complex Organic Ices Discovered in a Star-Forming Cloud
The presence of complex organic molecules such as methanol, ethanol, and acetaldehyde in a molecular cloud suggests that these and simpler ices might be available to planetary systems right from the start.
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Meteor Impact Could Inform Martian Mysteries
The impact sent surface waves rippling over the Martian surface all the way to NASA’s InSight lander, giving scientists a rare view of the planet’s outer layer.