In the arid deserts of Ethiopia, a geological marvel has been quietly unfolding since 2005—a 35-mile-long fissure known as the East African Rift. Far from being a mere curiosity, this rift holds the potential to drastically alter the geography of our ...

For the first time, astronomers have observed the initial phase in the formation of an earth-like planet. The discovery, highlighted in the March 13th issue of Nature, was documented by a team of astronomers led by William Herbst, the Van Vleck Professor ...

A fresh look at past data reveals that exoplanets with masses similar to Jupiter formed much sooner than previously thought, according to new research. The Ohio State University study's results provide new information about ... A rock formation spanning ...

New research sheds light on the earliest days of the earth's formation and potentially calls into question some earlier assumptions in planetary science about the early years of rocky planets. Establishing a direct link between the Earth's interior ...

How can the metal content of stars influence the formation of Earth-like exoplanets? This is what a recent study published in The Astronomical Journal hopes to address as an international team of researchers investigated the minimum amount of metals a star ...

There are several theories about how the Earth and the Moon were formed, most involving a giant impact. They vary from a model where the impacting object strikes the newly formed Earth a glancing blow and then escapes, through to one where the collision is ...

Computational modeling shows that plate tectonics weren't necessary for early continents. The formation of Earth's continents billions of years ago set the stage for life to thrive. But scientists disagree over how those land masses formed and if it was ...