Solar System

Metal atoms have surprisingly been discovered in the frigid atmosphere of the first known interstellar comet to visit our solar system, a new study finds.

Voyager 1 continues to make discoveries, most recently catching the signature of interstellar space itself, a faint plasma "hum" scientists compared to gentle rain.

The mysterious heating of the sun’s corona might be powered by miniature solar flares dubbed 'campfires,' discovered by the European-US Solar Orbiter mission last year, a new study suggests.

For a few brief minutes, a suborbital rocket from NASA has an ambitious plan to seek out particles from interstellar space.

New Horizons is about to reach some very rarefied space, but don't expect the NASA probe to rest on its considerable laurels.

Astronomers have searched the entire Milky Way to identify the safest places to live. It turns out, we're in a pretty good spot.

The first known interstellar comet to visit our solar system may be the most pristine ever found, never passing near a star until visiting our own, researchers say.

'Oumuamua, the first known visitor from interstellar space, was likely a pancake-shaped chip off a Pluto-like world.

Does the solar system really have a big, dark ninth planet drifting somewhere far beyond the orbit of Neptune? A new paper argues that Planet 9 is a statistical mirage.

China has released epic video footage from the Tianwen-1 spacecraft as it made a close approach to Mars this week.

Astronomers have now collected enough additional data to confirm the existence of Farfarout and nail down its orbit.

Turns out sungazing is not the only thing NASA's solar spacecraft do.

Mars' Valles Marineris is nearly 10 times as long as the Grand Canyon and three times as deep, but nobody knows how it formed.

There's a giant asteroid somewhere out there in the solar system, and it hurled a big rock at Earth that left behind meteorites unlike any scientists had ever seen.

The formation of the solar system is a challenging puzzle for modern astronomy and a terrific tale of extreme forces operating over immense timescales. Let's dig in.

Our sun's death is a long way off — about 4.5 billion years, give or take — but someday it's going to happen, and what then for our solar system?

If you had a few billion dollars and some of the most talented space scientists and engineers in the world, where would you go?