Small satellite may shape centaur rings

The unique two thin rings around the Centaur Chariklo could be shaped by an even smaller satellite. Chariklo is a Centaur, which are small bodies similar to asteroids in size but to comets in composition, that revolve around ...

Big planets don't necessarily mean big moons

Does the size of an exomoon help determine if life could form on an exoplanet it's orbiting? This is something a February 2022 study published in Nature Communications hoped to address as a team of researchers investigated ...

A 14-inch spacecraft delivers new details about 'hot Jupiters'

A spacecraft the size of a cereal box has collected precise measurements of the atmospheres of large and puffy planets called "hot Jupiters." The findings, led by a team from the University of Colorado Boulder, could help ...

Ancient cracked mud found on Mars

A recent study published in Nature examines how mud cracks observed on Mars by NASA's Curiosity rover could provide insight into how life on the red planet could have formed in its ancient past.

'Sandwich' discovery offers new explanation for planet formation

Scientists have made a new discovery on how small planets might form. Researchers at the University of Warwick investigated the "birth environment" of planets—areas of gas and dust that swirl around a central star—known ...

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