When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. An illustration of confirmed dwarf planets and their moons. From left to right: Pluto (with ...

In 2006, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) voted on the definition of a planet. Famously, Pluto no longer met the criteria and was demoted to a dwarf planet. Things have been a bit of a mess ...

Our solar system is much like a trail of microcosmic breadcrumbs: Follow the molecular bits as far back as they go, and you'll learn a thing or two about where many of our planets and other celestial ...

Ammonite was discovered using the Subaru Telescope in Hawaii, with follow-up confirmation from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. Its orbit and size officially qualify it as a distant dwarf planet.

A dwarf planet called Ceres could offer some amazing insights into our quest to discover alien life within our solar system. The small planet is located near Mars, and a new study showcases that the ...

The small icy worlds on the edge of our solar system may be better contenders for life than we first thought, scientists have found. The dwarf planets of Eris and Makemake, situated in the Kuiper Belt ...

Alfredo has a PhD in Astrophysics and a Master's in Quantum Fields and Fundamental Forces from Imperial College London. Alfredo has a PhD in Astrophysics and a Master's in Quantum Fields and ...

A small team led by Sihao Cheng, Martin A. and Helen Chooljian Member in the Institute for Advanced Study's School of Natural Sciences, has discovered an extraordinary trans-Neptunian object (TNO), ...

Peering to the outskirts of our solar system, NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has spotted a small, dark moon orbiting Makemake, the second brightest icy dwarf planet after Pluto in the Kuiper Belt. The ...

An international team of astronomers using NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and retired Spitzer Space Telescope has reported what may be the first intact planet found closely ...

A newly published study has pointed to a dwarf planet located near Mars that may contain some answers in our quest to discover life outside of Earth. The dwarf planet that researchers are focussing on ...

The Copernican Principle, named in honor of Nicolaus Copernicus (who proposed the heliocentric model of the universe), states that Earth and humans do not occupy a special or privileged place in the ...