Formation of the solar system in two different planetary populations: the inner rocky planets formed earlier than the outer gas and ice giants. (Illustration: Mark A. Garlick / markgarlick.com) ...

When the solar system was first organizing itself, a disk of gas and dust took shape around the sun's central mass. It eventually sorted itself into the system of planets we see today. But there are ...

Cosmochemists now present the most comprehensive comparison to date of the isotopic composition of Earth, Mars and pristine building material from the inner and outer Solar System. Earth and Mars were ...

Generations of scientists have tried to explain how the solar system began. None of the explanations is wholly adequate. The trouble is that the solar system is not a haphazard collection of planets ...