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When a meteor streaks across the sky, it's not just beautiful. It's nature's way of delivering a time capsule to Earth. Contained within are hints about the very beginning of the solar system and how ...

New studies offer a clearer picture of how the outer solar system formed and evolved based on analyses of trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) and centaurs. The findings reveal the distribution of ices in ...

Meteorites are like a time machine and spacecraft all in one. Discover how our scientists use rare specimens in the meteorite ...

Comets — those small, icy objects orbiting the sun — act like floating time capsules, offering a window into the early days of our solar system's formation and holding clues about the origins of life ...

Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS makes its closest Earth approach on Dec. 19, offering astronomers a rare chance to study a visitor from beyond the solar system ...

The giant planets weren't always where we find them today. Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune formed in a more compact ...

Earth is so far the only known planet on which life exists—with liquid water and a stable atmosphere. However, the conditions were not conducive to life when it formed. The gas-dust cloud from which ...

About 4.6 billion years ago, a celestial cloud collapsed, paving the way for our solar system to form. Then, a nebula with strong gravitational pull took shape, kick-starting the birth of the sun. But ...

ESS2.C: The Roles of Water in Earth’s Surface Processes Water is found in the ocean, rivers, lakes, and ponds. Water exists as solid ice and in liquid form. ESS2.A: Earth Materials and Systems (3-5) ...