Astronomers come closer to understanding how Mercury formed

Simulations of the formation of the solar system have been largely successful. They are able to replicate the positions of all the major planets along with their orbital parameters. But current simulations have an extreme ...

Scientists unveil a unified theory for rocky planet formation

A new theory for how rocky planets form could explain the origin of so-called "super-Earths"—a class of exoplanets a few times more massive than Earth that are the most abundant type of planet in the galaxy.

A model-independent method to weigh protoplanetary disks

Astronomers have found a way to directly measure the amount of gas in protoplanetary disks without needing to make assumptions about the relative amounts of different types of gas, making this method more accurate and robust ...

Nascent gas giant planets may be lurking in dusty disk

Nurseries for new planets, protostellar disks are oblate swathes of gas and dust that rotate about newly formed stars. The Earth and the other planets in the solar system were birthed from such a disk.

NASA's Webb catches fiery hourglass as new star forms

New details surrounding the dark cloud L1527 and its protostar have been revealed by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope. The nebula's vibrant colors, only visible in infrared light, show the protostar is in the midst of gathering ...

When black holes collide they also produce neutrinos

Ever since astronomers first detected ultra high energy neutrinos coming from random directions in space, they have not been able to figure out what generates them. But a new hypothesis suggests an unlikely source: the mergers ...

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