https://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. A team of professional and amateur Japanese astronomers have found evidence for a thin atmosphere around a small body in the outer solar system. The object is so small that it should not have a sustainable atmosphere, raising questions about when and how the atmosphere formed. Future observations to better characterize the atmosphere will help solve these mysteries. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-tiny-world-neptune-atmosphere-shouldnt.html Astronomy Mon, 04 May 2026 11:00:09 EDT news697097941 Using preliminary data from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, scientists have discovered over 11,000 new asteroids. The data were confirmed by the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center (MPC), making this the largest single batch of asteroid discoveries submitted in the past year. The discoveries were made using data from Rubin's early optimization surveys and offer a powerful preview of the observatory's transformative impact on solar system science. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-early-vera-rubin-observatory-reveals.html Planetary Sciences Thu, 02 Apr 2026 16:40:04 EDT news694359721 Our solar system hosts almost 900 known moons; more than 400 orbit the eight planets while the remaining orbit dwarf planets, asteroids, and Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs). Of these, only a handful are targets for astrobiology and could potentially support life as we know it, including Jupiter's moons Europa and Ganymede, and Saturn's moons Titan and Enceladus. While these moons orbit two of the largest planets in our solar system, what about moons orbiting giant exoplanets, also called exomoons? But, to find life on exomoons, scientists need to find exomoons to begin with. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-exomoons-reveal-lunar-eclipses.html Astrobiology Mon, 23 Feb 2026 12:22:55 EST news691071680 A Southwest Research Institute-led team has reported the first detection of gas on the distant dwarf planet Makemake, using NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). This discovery makes Makemake only the second trans-Neptunian object, after Pluto, where the presence of gas has been confirmed. The gas was identified as methane. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-methane-gas-dwarf-planet-makemake.html Planetary Sciences Tue, 09 Sep 2025 13:29:03 EDT news676643341 Is there a massive undiscovered planet on the outer reaches of the solar system? The idea has been around since before the discovery of Pluto in the 1930s. Labeled as planet X, prominent astronomers had put it forward as an explanation for Uranus's orbit, which drifts from the path of orbital motion that physics would expect it to follow. The gravitational pull of an undiscovered planet, several times larger than Earth, was seen as a possible reason for the discrepancy. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-planet-massive-edge-solar.html Astronomy Tue, 29 Jul 2025 15:30:01 EDT news673020970 Trans-Neptunian objects (TNO) are some of our solar system's lesser-known objects. They number in the thousands, and they get their name from their orbits. These dwarf planets orbit the sun at a greater average distance than Neptune does. Pluto is the group's most well-known member, having been demoted from planet to TNO in recent years. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-astronomers-trans-neptunian-track-ancient.html Planetary Sciences Wed, 16 Jul 2025 10:38:16 EDT news671881083 A team of astronomers led by the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian has discovered a rare object far beyond Neptune, from a class known as trans-Neptunian objects, that is moving in rhythm with the giant planet. This object, called 2020 VN40, is the first confirmed body that orbits the sun once for every ten orbits Neptune completes. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-rare-distant-vn40-sync-neptune.html Planetary Sciences Tue, 15 Jul 2025 12:10:06 EDT news671799958 If our solar system seems stable, it's because our short lifespans make it seem that way. Earth revolves, night follows day, the moon moves through light and shadow, and the sun hangs in the sky. But in reality, everything is moving and influencing everything else, and the fine balance we observe can easily be disrupted. Could passing stars have disrupted Earth's orbit and ushered in dramatic climatic changes in our planet's past? https://phys.org/news/2025-06-stellar-flybys-earth-climate-million.html Planetary Sciences Wed, 18 Jun 2025 16:32:04 EDT news669483121 A group of astronomers from across the globe, including a team from the University of Washington and led by Queen's University Belfast, have revealed new research showing that millions of new solar system objects will be detected by a brand-new facility, which is expected to come online later in 2025. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-rubin-observatory-millions-solar-vivid.html Astronomy Wed, 04 Jun 2025 10:29:18 EDT news668251752 For centuries, astronomers have sought to understand the formation and evolution of the solar system and the dynamics that govern it. In particular, there is the long-standing question of whether or not the planets' orbits will remain stable over time. However, these studies have generally treated the solar system as an isolated system, focusing solely on the gravitational interactions between the planets. This is in spite of the fact that astronomers have known for some time that stars in the Milky Way make close passes to each other every so often. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-stars-significant-impact-future-solar.html Astronomy Mon, 02 Jun 2025 15:24:04 EDT news668096642 In the cold, dark outskirts of planetary systems far beyond the reach of the known planets, mysterious gas giants and planetary masses silently orbit their stars—sometimes thousands of astronomical units (AU) away. For years, scientists have puzzled over how these "wide-orbit" planets, including the elusive Planet Nine theorized in our own solar system, could have formed. Now, a team of astronomers may have finally found the answer. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-wide-orbit-planets-planet.html Astronomy Tue, 27 May 2025 14:12:04 EDT news667573922 A small team led by Sihao Cheng, Martin A. and Helen Chooljian Member in the Institute for Advanced Study's School of Natural Sciences, has discovered an extraordinary trans-Neptunian object (TNO), named 2017 OF201, at the edge of our solar system. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-extreme-cousin-pluto-dwarf-planet.html Astronomy Thu, 22 May 2025 10:37:10 EDT news667129026 The solar system consists of our star, the sun, and everything bound to it by gravity: the planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, along with dwarf planets like Pluto, dozens of moons, and millions of asteroids and comets. The planets orbit the sun in elliptical paths, with the inner four being rocky terrestrial worlds and the outer four being gas and ice giants many times larger than Earth. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-hint-planet.html Astronomy Wed, 30 Apr 2025 10:03:03 EDT news665226182 University of Central Florida (UCF) scientists and their collaborators discovered new insights into the formation of distant icy objects in space beyond Neptune, offering a deeper understanding of our solar system's formation and growth. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-webb-scientists-solar.html Astrobiology Fri, 25 Apr 2025 11:18:07 EDT news664798676 Exploration of the outer solar system may be getting a boost from the Vera Rubin Observatory (VRO). When this gigantic telescope opens its eye later in 2025, it begins a decade-long survey of the ever-changing sky. As part of this time-lapse vision of the cosmos, distant objects in the Kuiper Belt will be among its most challenging targets. https://phys.org/news/2025-03-horizons-flyby-vera-rubin.html Astronomy Mon, 17 Mar 2025 15:35:04 EDT news661444502 The puzzle of predicting how three gravitationally bound bodies move in space has challenged mathematicians for centuries, and has most recently been popularized in the novel and television show "3 Body Problem." There's no problem, however, with what a team of researchers say is likely a stable trio of icy space rocks in the solar system's Kuiper Belt, found using data from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and the ground-based W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii. https://phys.org/news/2025-03-hubble-kuiper-belt-duo-trio.html Astronomy Tue, 04 Mar 2025 12:46:03 EST news660314761 The organic material found in a few areas on the surface of dwarf planet Ceres is probably of exogenic origin. Impacting asteroids from the outer asteroid belt may have brought it with them. https://phys.org/news/2025-01-dwarf-planet-ceres-material-space.html Astrobiology Mon, 27 Jan 2025 16:44:05 EST news657218642 New studies led by researchers at the University of Central Florida offer for the first time a clearer picture of how the outer solar system formed and evolved based on analyses of trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) and centaurs. https://phys.org/news/2024-12-webb-glimpse-icy-planetesimals-early.html Astronomy Thu, 19 Dec 2024 10:22:30 EST news653826143 Although our solar system is billions of years old, we've only recently become better acquainted with one of its more dynamic and captivating inhabitants known as (2060) Chiron. https://phys.org/news/2024-12-uncovering-centaur-tracks-scientists-unique.html Astronomy Wed, 18 Dec 2024 13:23:04 EST news653750581 Trying to understand the makeup and evolution of the solar system's Kuiper belt has kept researchers busy since it was hypothesized soon after the discovery of Pluto in 1930. In particular, binary pairs of objects there are useful as indicators since their existence today paints a picture of how energetic or violent the evolution of the solar system was in its early days four billion years ago. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-ultrawide-binary-kuiper-belt-earliest.html Astronomy Tue, 26 Nov 2024 07:25:11 EST news651756713 Ever since William Herschel discovered Uranus in 1781, astronomers have been eager to find new planets on the outer edge of the solar system. But after the discovery of Neptune in 1846, we've found no other large planets. Sure, we discovered Pluto and other dwarf planets beyond it, but nothing Earth-sized or larger. If there is some planet nine, or "Planet X" lurking out there, we have yet to find it. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-planet-hundreds-tiny-telescopes.html Astronomy Mon, 18 Nov 2024 15:15:03 EST news651165301 A town in the Austrian Alps might not seem like the most conducive place to come up with daring space missions. But, for the last 40 years, students and professors have been gathering to do just that in Alpbach, just north of the Lichtenstein/Austrian border. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-mission-triton-neptune-mysteries.html Planetary Sciences Tue, 12 Nov 2024 11:35:03 EST news650633701 Inspired by the half-human, half-horse creatures that are part of Ancient Greek mythology, the field of astronomy has its own kind of centaurs: distant objects orbiting the sun between Jupiter and Neptune. NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has mapped the gases spewing from one of these objects, suggesting a varied composition and providing new insights into the formation and evolution of the solar system. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-webb-telescope-unusual-gas-jets.html Astronomy Wed, 02 Oct 2024 13:22:48 EDT news647094153 New evidence suggests that billions of years ago, a star may have passed very close to our solar system. As a result, thousands of smaller celestial bodies in the outer solar system outside Neptune's orbit were deflected into highly inclined trajectories around the sun. It is possible that some of them were captured by the planets Jupiter and Saturn as moons. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-solution-cosmic-mystery-eccentric-orbits.html Planetary Sciences Fri, 06 Sep 2024 11:11:03 EDT news644839861 Survey observations using the Subaru Telescope's ultra-widefield prime focus camera have revealed that there may be a population of small bodies further out in the Kuiper Belt waiting to be discovered. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-outer-solar-populated-previously-thought.html Astronomy Thu, 05 Sep 2024 09:38:03 EDT news644747881 An international team of 45 researchers studying meteor showers has found that not all comets crumble the same way when they approach the sun. In a paper published in the journal Icarus, they ascribe the differences to the conditions in the protoplanetary disk where comets formed 4.5 billion years ago. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-meteor-showers-comets-early-solar.html Planetary Sciences Thu, 22 Aug 2024 12:51:03 EDT news643549861 For the first time, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide ices have been observed in the far reaches of our solar system on trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs). https://phys.org/news/2024-05-scientists-ices-outskirts-solar.html Astronomy Sat, 25 May 2024 05:39:13 EDT news635834337 A ring of icy rocks orbiting our sun just beyond Neptune may give us a glimpse of how Neptune—and other objects in the outskirts of our solar system—were formed. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-scientists-james-webb-space-telescope.html Planetary Sciences Wed, 06 Mar 2024 16:57:04 EST news628966621 Before planets form around a young star, the protosolar disk is populated with innumerable planetesimals. Over time, these planetesimals combine to form planets, and the core accretion theory explains how that happens. But before there are planets, the disk full of planetesimals is a messy place. https://phys.org/news/2024-01-planetesimals-buffeted-nebula-debris-space.html Planetary Sciences Fri, 12 Jan 2024 14:08:03 EST news624290881 The Kuiper Belt, the vast region at the edge of our solar system populated by countless icy objects, is a treasure trove of scientific discoveries. The detection and characterization of Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs), sometimes referred to as Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs), has led to a new understanding of the history of the solar system. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-jwst-kuiper-belt-sedna-gonggong.html Astronomy Mon, 16 Oct 2023 13:37:04 EDT news616682221