"Tidal heating plays an important role in the heating and orbital evolution of celestial bodies," said Alex Hayes, professor of astronomy. "It provides the warmth necessary to form and sustain ...

White dwarfs are the compact remnants of stars that have stopped nuclear burning, a fate that will eventually befall our sun. These extremely dense objects are degenerate stars because their structure ...

What is the habitability potential on Saturn’s moon, Enceladus? This is what a recent study published in The Planetary Science Journal hopes to address as a team of researchers investigated a ...

Within the solar system, most of our astrobiological research is aimed at Mars, which is considered to be the next-most habitable body beyond Earth. However, future efforts are aimed at exploring icy ...

Astronomers searching for rocky planets that could support life in other solar systems should look outside, as well as within, the so-called “habitable zone,” University of Arizona planetary ...

Scientists propose a 'remelting' of the Moon's surface 4.35 billion years ago due to the tidal pull of Earth causing widespread geological upheaval and intense heating. Much about the Moon remains ...

ITHACA, N.Y. – By staring into the hellish landscape of Jupiter’s moon Io – the most volcanically active location in the solar system – Cornell University astronomers have been able to study a ...

Artist's impression of what the Moon looked like during the tidal-heating event. There would have been intense volcanic activity everywhere. The early Earth would have loomed much larger in the sky ...