Leonardo Testi and team investigate the initial conditions for planet formation in this special astronomy focus ...

Gold has long been regarded as one of the most chemically inert elements, a stable constant in both scientific ...

A new NASA study reveals a surprising way planetary cores may have formed—one that could reshape how scientists understand the early evolution of rocky planets like Mars. Conducted by a team of ...

The solar system formed approximately 4.5 billion years ago. Numerous fragments that bear witness to this early era orbit the Sun as asteroids. Around three-quarters of these are carbon-rich C-type ...

An international collaboration including researchers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has discovered that the Earth’s core formed under more oxidizing condition’s than previously proposed.

New experiments have shown that the core of Mars formed much faster than Earth's core, thanks to molten iron and nickel sulfides seeping down through solid rock and into the center of the Red Planet.

Astronomers have discovered an extrasolar planet with the largest core of any known planet. The discovery is especially exciting to planet formation theorists, because it provides extremely strong ...

A recent astronomical discovery has shaken long-held beliefs about how planets form. For decades, scientists thought that stars much smaller than our Sun couldn't form giant planets. That theory just ...