Out beyond the orbit of Neptune lies an expansive ring of ancient relics, dynamical enigmas, and possibly a hidden planet—or two. The Kuiper Belt, a region of frozen debris about 30 to 50 times ...

Over the past century, astronomers have speculated about the existence of a mysterious 9th planet lurking in the outer ...

Astronomers have long struggled to find young planets hidden inside the thick clouds of gas and dust that swirl around new stars. These swirling clouds—called protoplanetary discs—are the birthplaces ...

This ARKS gallery of faint debris disks reveals details about their shape: belts with multiple rings, wide smooth halos, sharp edges, and unexpected arcs and clumps, which hint at the presence of ...

Astronomers have captured some of the most detailed images of debris discs—rings of leftover dust, gas, and rocks that circle a star—from fully formed, "teenage" planetary systems. And those images, ...

Beyond the edge of Neptune, a distant realm of icy debris known as the Kuiper Belt stretches deep into space. This frozen frontier holds the scattered remains of the early solar system, offering ...

For centuries, humans have gazed at the stars, trying to understand what lies beyond the familiar planets we know. From Mercury’s blazing orbit near the Sun to Neptune’s icy edge, our Solar System has ...

Astronomers used the James Webb Space Telescope to observe the first asteroid belt seen outside of our solar system and unveiled some cosmic surprises along the way. The space observatory focused on ...

This is an artist's impression of a unique type of exoplanet discovered with the Hubble Space Telescope. The planet is so close it to its star that it completes an orbit in 10.5 hours. The planet is ...