A cloud of collapsing gas created our Sun, the first thing to form in our solar system. This happened about 4½ billion years ago. Then the planets began to emerge, as the billions of particles of gas ...

The workings of our solar system are roughly the same now as they have been for millions of years. Moons circle their planets, the planets circle the sun, the sun’s magnetic fields and sunspots wax ...

Our solar system is a smashing success. A new study suggests that from its earliest period—even before the last of its ...

Scientists have long puzzled over how our solar system’s planets formed, because this isn’t a process they can watch unfold. Researchers have generally thought that Jupiter and Saturn grew out of ...

New simulations suggest that Mercury's formation could be the result of a rare collision between two celestial bodies of ...

Astronomers have discovered that the Jupiter, the largest planet in our Solar System, was once so big that it could have held 2,000 Earths. Jupiter is our system's oldest planet, forming from the dust ...

The JWST has studied the chemical composition of a moon-forming disk circling a giant planet 625 light-years away.

Scientists have captured the birth of a new solar system for the very first time. These incredible images reveal the exact moment when planets began to form around a star 1,300 light-years from Earth.

How Many Planets Are There in the Solar System? There are 8 planets in our solar system. The planets orbit the Sun in elliptical trajectories, and they are all different in size, composition, ...

(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.) Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like ...