In the crowded early Solar System, young planets frequently collided and reshaped each other. But Mercury stood out. It formed unusually close to the Sun. Mercury’s days are longer than its years. It ...

The notion that our universe might be a giant simulation has intrigued scientists and philosophers for decades. Recent advancements in technology and theoretical physics have reignited this debate, ...

Billions of years ago, so the theory goes, something around the size of Mars smacked into Earth, spewing a whole bunch of dirt into space that eventually coalesced to form the Moon. This is called the ...

When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Illustration of a stage in the formation of the Earth-moon system. The Earth had recently formed ...

The conventional explanation for the moon's formation is that an enormous rock smashed into the nascent Earth and created it as a result. A new theory challenges the particulars of how events may have ...

The plate tectonics that determine the shape of our continents may have originated from a huge impact billions of years ago. This huge collision with the Earth, thought to have occurred around 4.5 ...

The core of Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, has long been a source of mystery for astronomers: an object so unfathomably dense and hot that it defies comprehension. Conventional ...

The early days of the Solar System were anything but calm. Think colossal collisions and chaotic beginnings—like the time a protoplanet named Theia crashed into Earth and gave us the Moon. With ...

Why did our planet turn out like it did -- a temperate, life-supporting place? Why weren't the volatile elements (sulfur, carbon, and the like) in our planet boiled away into space or locked in the ...

Surprisingly enough, the moon is a piece of our planet. The moon is weird. It's completely unlike anything else in the solar system. So how did our planet end up with such a special moon? The answer ...