Solar System
Latest about Solar System
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Neptune isn't as blue as you think, and these new images of the planet prove it
By Robert Lea published
A new treatment of images collected by Voyager 2 in the late 1980s using data from the Hubble Space Telescope has revealed the actual colors of the solar system's distant ice giants, Neptune and Uranus.
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8 stunning James Webb Space Telescope discoveries made in 2023
By Ben Turner published
The oldest ever black holes, a preview of our solar system's gory demise, and a measurement of distant starlight that threatens to bring the standard of cosmology crashing down — here are the JWST's wildest discoveries of 2023.
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10 out-of-this-world solar system discoveries made in 2023
By Harry Baker published
From Mercury to Pluto (and maybe even Planet Nine), here are some of 2023's most intriguing discoveries about the planets, moons and other bodies in our solar system.
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How many times has the sun traveled around the Milky Way?
By Harry Baker published
Our solar system has been orbiting the Milky Way's black hole heart for 4.6 billion years. But it is hard to pin down exactly how many trips around the galaxy our sun has made during that time.
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How many times has Earth orbited the sun?
By Harry Baker published
We worked out how many trips each of the solar system's eight planets has taken around the sun over the past 4.6 billion years.
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A 'runaway star' could save Earth from extinction a billion years from now. Here's how.
By Abha Jain published
Earth will become too hot to handle in a billion years. There's a (very) remote chance a passing star could save us by knocking our planet back into the habitable zone.
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The sun may be smaller than we thought
By Stephanie Pappas published
New calculations suggest the sun is a few fractions of a percent smaller than previously estimated, and that could change how we study it.
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'Rogue' star hurtling through the Milky Way won't smash into our solar system after all
By Robert Lea published
A white dwarf spotted by the Gaia telescope was predicted to smash into our solar system in 29,000 years. But we'll be safe after all.
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Volcanic 'devil comet' racing toward Earth resprouts its horns after erupting again
By Harry Baker published
The massive volcanic comet 12P/Pons-Brooks, which grows giant horns when it erupts, has exploded for a third time in five months as it continues to race toward the sun.
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Soar through the 'Labyrinth of Night' — a Martian canyon the size of Italy — in thrilling new satellite video
By Briley Lewis published
See Mars' geology up close, thanks to decades of stunning images from the Mars Express satellite, in a new visualization of Noctis Labyrinthus, the 'Labyrinth of Night'.
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