When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Planetary scientists are split, oscillating between two main theories that explain the order in ...

A newly studied solar system breaks the usual planet pattern, raising fresh questions about how rocky and gas planets form.

When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. The 15 planet-forming disks around young stars that have been studied in detail by exoALMA. Here ...

About 4.6 billion years ago, a celestial cloud collapsed, paving the way for our solar system to form. Then, a nebula with strong gravitational pull took shape, kick-starting the birth of the sun. But ...