Chris Impey receives funding from the National Science Foundation. Planets orbit their parent stars while separated by enormous distances – in our solar system, planets are like grains of sand in a ...

The International Astronomical Union defines a planet as a celestial body that orbits the sun, is massive enough that gravity has forced it into a spherical shape, and has cleared away other objects ...

Orbital resonance, a phenomenon where planetary orbital periods exhibit whole-number ratios, is observed in approximately 5% of planetary systems, exemplified by Neptune and Pluto's 3:2 resonance and ...

Astronomers have, for the first time, pinned down both the mass and distance of a planet that drifts through the galaxy ...

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a large space telescope which collects light at infrared wavelengths. It has been ...

When I was a kid, there were nine planets. Now we know of thousands! But that includes exoplanets, alien worlds that orbit alien suns. Only eight planets call our solar system home. Or there might ...

Recent astronomical discoveries have captivated the world with the revelation of a planet composed entirely of diamonds. This dazzling celestial body, located light-years away from Earth, challenges ...