Astronomers have found that a weird space rock at the edge of the solar system is locked in a rhythmic dance with Neptune. The object, designated 2020 VN40, is part of a family of distant solar system ...

The outermost reaches of our solar system are a strange place–filled with dark and icy bodies with nicknames like Sedna, Biden and The Goblin, each of which span several hundred miles across. Two new ...

Researchers have been focusing on the study of our solar system for centuries, looking at the physics, dynamics, as well as the composition of solar system bodies. Our solar system – which includes ...

Our solar system is made up of the sun, the eight known planets and the dozens of moons that circle those planets. But then there are innumerable asteroids, comets and dwarf planets wandering around.

Small bodies in the solar system have preserved information from different eras of the evolution of our solar system, from the composition of the presolar nebula that is preserved in cometary nuclei ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. An award-winning reporter writing about stargazing and the night sky. Astronomers have found a distant celestial body — ...

Suggested Citation: "3 Hierarchical Decisions for Planetary Protection." National Research Council. 2012. Assessment of Planetary Protection Requirements for Spacecraft Missions to Icy Solar System ...