Context. As a star evolves, the planet orbits change with time due to tidal interactions, stellar mass losses, friction and gravitational drag forces, mass accretion and evaporation on/by the planet.

Thanks to NASA's Cassini spacecraft which has been orbiting Saturn since 2004, scientists have been able to observe for the first time ever the seasonal atmospheric circulation direction change on ...

Every planet in our solar system is essentially round. But out in the universe, are there any planets that aren't spherical? Technically, planets are round, by definition; they need to have enough ...

Astronomers are especially interested in the habitability of these kinds of planets, which always face their star with the same side, because they are incredibly common in the universe. When you ...

James is a published author with multiple pop-history and science books to his name. He specializes in history, space, strange science, and anything out of the ordinary.View full profile James is a ...

Tracking the rotation speed of solid planets, like the Earth and Mars, is a relatively simple task: Just measure the time it takes for a surface feature to roll into view again. But giant gas planets ...

Astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have measured the rotation rate of an extreme exoplanet by observing the varied brightness in its atmosphere. This is the first measurement of the ...

The planets within our solar system are in constant motion in their orbits and as they spin on their axes. All planets in our solar system revolve around the Sun. But the time they take to complete ...

An instantaneous cessation of Earth's rotation would result in catastrophic, planet-wide devastation due to the inertia of objects on the surface moving at high speeds (approximately 1000 mph at the ...