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Found 674 results for dwarf planet
artist's impression of the exoplanet 2M1510 (AB) b's unusual orbit around its host stars

Exoplanet found in odd perpendicular orbit to brown dwarf star pair

16 April 2025

It is rare to find brown dwarf stars orbiting in pairs, and this pair has an even more unusual exoplanet companion


KHKRFM Haumea and moons, illustration. Haumea is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper Belt. It is noted for its elongated shape, somewhat like a rugby ball. It is orbited by at least two moons and a narrow ring of rocky particles.

How to spot Haumea, one of the solar system's strangest objects

9 April 2025

Pluto isn’t the only dwarf planet in our solar system's outer reaches. Now is an ideal time to look for the egg-shaped Haumea, says Abigail Beall


How meteorites are rewriting the history of the solar system

10 February 2025

There are many theories about how dynamics in the early solar system led to the cosmic neighbourhood we now inhabit, but beyond computer simulations, direct evidence to support them is hard to come by – that's where meteorites come in


Has a volcanic eruption ever wiped out a species of hominins?

13 January 2025

Volcanoes have been proposed as the reason for the extinction of the Neanderthals and the hobbits of Indonesia, but the end of those species may not have come from a single, dramatic event


Pluto may have captured its moon Charon with a brief kiss

6 January 2025

Simulations suggest Pluto and its largest moon may have gently stuck together for a few hours before Charon settled into a stable orbit around the dwarf planet


2FYMTPP Pacific Ring of Fire, illustration

Exoplanet plate tectonics: A new frontier in the hunt for alien life

2 December 2024

Plate tectonics seems to be crucial for life on Earth, but we’ve never confirmed that it happens on other worlds - that may be about to change


Planet 10 times the size of Earth is one of the youngest ever found

20 November 2024

A large planet has been spotted orbiting a dwarf star that is just 3 million years old, offering possible clues to how the worlds in our solar system came into being


Distant dwarf planet Makemake might have a surprising ice volcano

5 November 2024

A small world in the outer solar system appears to have volcanic activity possibly spurred by liquid water


Search for alien transmissions in promising star system draws a blank

26 September 2024

Astronomers listened for radio signals emanating from planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system, but found no evidence of any interplanetary communications


Planet in the 'forbidden zone' of dead star could reveal Earth's fate

26 September 2024

A distant planet should have been consumed when its star expanded to become a red giant, perhaps offering insights into planetary migration


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