Relatedly, astronomers may have just pushed the upper size limit of what counts as a planet.

Gas giants are large planets mostly composed of helium and/or hydrogen. Although these planets have dense cores, they don't ...

Gas giants are massive worlds made mostly of hydrogen and helium. They lack solid surfaces, and in our solar system, Jupiter ...

New simulations suggest Jupiter holds far more water than once thought, reshaping ideas about how the largest planet formed.

Hubble observations reveal a giant, turbulent planet-forming disk that may reshape theories of how planetary systems develop.

CONFIDENCE IN HAPPENING YESTERDAY. NEW MEXICO STATE UNIVERSITY ASTRONOMER RECENTLY SAW SOMETHING UNUSUAL DURING HIS RESEARCH OF SPACE, AND IT COULD HELP US UNDERSTAND HOW PLANETS FORM. VLADIMIR LYRA ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. A surprising study from Stockholm University finds high levels of carbon dioxide—rather than water—in a planet-forming disk, ...

Learn why only 14 out of over 6,000 exoplanets orbit two stars, and how Einstein’s general theory of relativity may be to blame.

For life to develop on a planet, certain chemical elements are needed in sufficient quantities. Phosphorus and nitrogen are ...

How did a planet this big form around a star this small? An international team of astronomers, including researchers from the University of Liège and collaborators in UK, Chile, the USA, and Europe, ...

In the swirling clouds of gas and dust that surround newborn stars, planets begin to form. These planet-forming disks are rich with clues about how worlds like Earth come to be. Until now, scientists ...