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...solar system is generally accepted to have occurred close to 4.57 billion years ago. Scientists have long debated how long after this Earth’s Moon-forming impact occurred. The “late school” favoured 150-200m years after, whereas the “early school” favoured a date less than about 100m years after the origin. Now a new study suggests it was a very early date...

...solar systems. The size of even our galaxy, the Milky Way, leads to questions about whether or not we are the only life forms in the Universe. Although our nearest neighbouring solar system is around 4.5 light years away, looking to the astronomical bodies such as planets, moons, and even asteroids which orbit our Sun can give us valuable information about how life...

...energy keeps stars spinning at a precise rhythm. Here is the science behind three cosmic phenomena that just happen to look, and sound, like the symbols of love. 1. Why does the universe glow red? [The Heart Nebula]The Heart Nebula. If you look at the constellation Cassiopeia, about 6,000 light-years away, there is a colossal cloud of gas called the Heart Nebula. It looks...

...energy in the water to feed microbial life, scientists have been searching for proof that the right sort of reactions really do occur. [The Conversation] And during its last dive through the icy plumes that Enceladus erupts into space in October 2015, the Cassini spacecraft has finally managed to find it – in the form of molecular hydrogen. The finding, published in...

...energy through internal nuclear reactions, is just one rather average star among more than a hundred billion stars in our Milky Way galaxy. In turn, it is just one of hundreds of billions of galaxies distributed throughout the observable Universe. With so many objects, it is not surprising that only the most prominent have names and most are identified by various...

...Solar System has a gaseous atmosphere, as do some moons and even some dwarf planets. Why does the Earth’s atmosphere make it so perfect as a home for life? The Earth’s atmosphere The atmosphere is thin and light, a gas that is only bound to the solid mass of the Earth by gravity. The mass of the atmosphere is about 250 times less than that of the oceans and accounts...