A planetary system 116 light-years from Earth has a peculiar pattern. It could flip the script on how planets form, scientists say.

The discovery that helium and iron can mix at the temperatures and pressures found at the center of Earth could settle a long-standing debate over how our planet formed. When you purchase through ...

A newly studied solar system breaks the usual planet pattern, raising fresh questions about how rocky and gas planets form.

We’ve found lots of “habitable” worlds but we don’t know what factors are needed for life. There are lots of reasons to search for planets around other stars—exoplanets. A big one is to find other ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. The Milky Way has a dark ...

Across the Milky Way and beyond, planetary systems appear to fall into a few recurring blueprints, and recent exoplanet surveys suggest that just four layouts may dominate the universe. Drawing on ...