Because Venus is an inferior planet closer to the Sun than Earth ... At the center of the Dumbbell is the magnitude 13.5 white dwarf powering its glow. The nebula itself was once the outer ...

The relative quantities of volatile gases like methane and ethane can reveal key details about distant Kuiper Belt objects.

After tracking a puzzling X-ray signal from a dying star for decades, astronomers may have finally explained its source: The old star might have destroyed a nearby planet. Dating back to 1980, X ...

For the better part of a century, we believed there were nine planets in our solar system, with Pluto being the farthest from the sun. Since the discovery of more Pluto-sized dwarf planets, that ...

Astronomers have detected mysterious X-ray signals coming from a nearby white dwarf star for more than 40 years. We may now know where they’re coming from – the death throes of a planet being ...

A surprising chemical difference between Pluto and Sedna, another dwarf planet in the distant Kuiper Belt, is helping scientists nail down their respective masses, a new study reports.

Barnard's Star is a small, dim star of the type that astronomers call red dwarfs. Consequently, even though it is one of the ...

Astronomers have discovered four planets that are just a fraction of the mass of Earth orbiting Barnard’s Star, which is 6 ...

A planet killer capable of ripping them to pieces has been discovered, say space scientists. Researchers believe they've found evidence that a white dwarf may have torn a Jupiter-sized planet apart.

Astronomers have confirmed the existence of four planets orbiting a star less than 6 light-years away with help from some of ...

Astronomers have traced decades-old X-ray emissions from the Helix Nebula to a white dwarf possibly consuming planetary debris. Reports suggest a Jupiter-like planet may have been torn apart by ...