solar system

Rubin Observatory spots its first dwarf planet candidate

The NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory has found an icy world orbiting beyond Pluto that may be one of the largest dwarf planet candidates ever discovered in the outer solar system. The International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center announced the…

Webb and Hubble find 27 tiny Kuiper Belt objects that defy formation models

The Hubble and James Webb space telescopes have jointly discovered 27 new trans-Neptunian objects in the deepest survey yet of the outer solar system, finding fewer tiny bodies than planet-formation models predicted and surfaces that appear remarkably unchanged since the…

Webb telescope captures icy body transforming into a comet for the first time

Astronomers have for the first time observed an icy body in the outer solar system actively transforming into a comet, capturing a long-theorized but never-before-seen stage of small-body evolution. A team led by planetary scientist Charles Schambeau of the University…

MIT finds oldest magnetic traces in solar system’s first meteorite dust

A Martian meteorite discovered in Algeria in 2019 has been confirmed as 1.27 billion years old, filling a nearly two-billion-year gap in the geologic record of Mars, according to a study published in the journal Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. Separately,…