exoplanets

Saturn’s rings may be more massive than previously thought, and potentially much older, according to calculations that simulate colliding particles in Saturn’s rings and their erosion by meteorites.

These results support the possibility that Saturn’s rings formed billions of years ago, perhaps at the time when giant impacts excavated the great basins on the Moon.

The findings also suggest that giant exoplanets may also commonly have rings.

We don't have spacecraft to take us outside our solar system--not yet, at least.

Still, astronomers thought they had a pretty good understanding of how our solar system formed and in turn, how others formed.

In the last dozen years, nearly 300 exoplanets have been discovered. Are the solar systems in which they reside indeed like our own?

Among luminous spots on Jupiter akin to Earth's Northern lights, scientists have observed a new type of spot.

Generally, Jupiter's auroral spots result from waves generated by the giant planet's moon Io. The new discovery upsets previous models of how Jovian auroral spots form, and may have implications for our understanding of distant exoplanets which orbit other stars than the Sun.