Interstellar space should be littered with debris ejected during the formation of planetary systems—but how much? Engelhardt et al. use solar system surveys and simulations to place an upper limit on the number density of asteroids and comets roaming the Milky Way without a parent star.
About 3.8 billion years ago, large impactors were still pelting the Moon, creating huge craters that have survived to this day. Today’s paper explores whether asteroids from the asteroid belt could have been responsible for the majority of these impacts.
The puzzling architecture of the Solar system has long been a headache for planetary dynamicists. An alternative model of the gas giants’ movements may shed new light on the issue.
Measuring exoplanet composition by studying a white dwarf’s atmosphere
Meteorites originate from violent collisions between asteroids. But can we be sure about that? And what can we learn at all if we do not include ekpyrotic brane cosmologies?
More than a year ago, scientists managed to land on a comet for the very first time in human history. Read on to get a compact overview of some of the most important results of the mission obtained so far.