Moons orbiting rogue planets, worlds flung from their parent star systems into the cold of interstellar space, could maintain ...

A new study led by researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics ...

We perform numerical simulations of the TRAPPIST-1 system of seven exoplanets orbiting a nearby M dwarf, starting with a previously suggested stable configuration. The long-term stability of this ...

"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 ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. An award-winning reporter writing about stargazing and the night sky. Io, the innermost giant moon of Jupiter, may not have a ...

A new study suggests that moons orbiting free-floating planets, with dense hydrogen atmospheres and tidal heating, could ...

Liquid water is considered essential for life. Surprisingly, however, stable conditions that are conducive to life could exist far from any sun. A research team from the Excellence Cluster ORIGINS at ...

Tidal heating is the major source of heat in the outer Solar System. Because of its strong tidal interaction with Jupiter and the other Galilean Satellites, Io is incredibly volcanically active. We ...

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 ...

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 ...