Mystery of 'impossible' star resolved by three-body solution
14 May 2024
A white dwarf star orbiting a sun-like star was thought to be impossibly small, but now astronomers have found another star in the system that solves the puzzle
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Found 317 results for dwarf planet
Planet caught in a gravitational 'tidal storm' is so hot that it glows
2 April 2024
A strange world is being stretched out of shape by its neighbouring planets, heating it up so intensely that it probably has a molten surface
Billions of stars have swallowed up a planet
20 March 2024
Twin stars that were born together should have the same composition, and the fact that many don’t suggests they have changed their chemistry by devouring planets
JWST will officially begin searching for exomoons around other planets
5 March 2024
Five exomoon programmes have been picked for the James Webb Space Telescope, raising the hopes of finding moons around exoplanets for the first time
Why space dust is key to everything from star birth to life on Earth
1 March 2024
Cosmic dust grains may be small, but they are mighty – it turns out dust is crucial to just about every process that occurs in space
Weird white dwarf star has a metal scar after eating a planet
26 February 2024
Astronomers have spotted a white dwarf star with a patch of metal near one of its magnetic poles, which probably formed when the star devoured a small planet
Astronomers have spotted what may be the smallest stars ever seen
15 December 2023
The James Webb Space Telescope has found three objects about a thousand light years away that may be the least massive brown dwarf stars ever seen – though it is unclear how they formed
Can we smash together all of the asteroids to build a new planet?
7 November 2023
The asteroid belt is messy and sometimes a threat to our solar system’s planets, so on this episode of Dead Planets Society it’s time to tidy it up into a single asteroid world
How asteroids can help us understand our place in the cosmos
9 October 2023
With the recent launch of the Psyche mission and the return of samples from the asteroid Bennu, asteroids are all the rage – but if they're just big rocks floating in the void, why do scientists care so much about them?
Eris and Makemake might be hiding unexpected oceans of liquid water
21 September 2023
Dwarf planets aren’t expected to carry liquid water, but hints of surprising geological activity spotted with JWST indicate that some of them might have buried oceans
