Drifting alone through space, about 20 light-years away, is a world that refuses to fit in. SIMP 0136 isn’t a star because it ...

Scientists have detected methane gas glowing faintly above Makemake, an icy dwarf planet smaller and farther than Pluto in space. Until now, Pluto was the only object that far out in the solar system ...

Since the dawn of civilization, humanity has wondered whether we are alone in the universe. Some people—myself ...

About 650 light-years from here, in the constellation Aquarius, lies the planetary nebula Caldwell 63, commonly known as the Helix Nebula. It’s the slowly cooling corpse of a dead star, a vast cloud ...

Researchers at McGill University and collaborating institutions have mapped the atmospheric features of a planetary-mass ...

For a planet, this would be like a day at the spa. After years of growing old, a massive planet could, in theory, brighten up with a radiant, youthful glow. Rejuvenated planets, as they are nicknamed, ...

It's an evocative idea that has long bedeviled scientists: a huge and mysterious planet is lurking in the darkness at the edge of our solar system, evading all our efforts to spot it. Some astronomers ...

This story is part of Short Wave's series Space Camp about all the weird, wonderful things happening in the universe. Check out the rest of the series. If you were born in the last century you might ...