Comets can supply volatile and prebiotic material to rocky planets, but survival of fragile molecules depends on atmospheric entry and impact.

Earth’s annual orbit around the Sun is not always perfectly circular; instead, it displays variations in what is known as eccentricity — in which the planet’s orbit varies between a more-circular and ...

Long-term fluctuations in the intensity and inclination of the Earth’s magnetic field could arise from variations in the eccentricity of our planet’s orbit, according to Japanese geophysicists.

This artist’s impression shows a Jupiter-like exoplanet that is on its way to becoming a hot Jupiter — a large, Jupiter-like exoplanet that orbits very close to its star. NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/J. da Silva ...

The first exoplanet ever discovered in 1995 was what we now call a "hot Jupiter," a planet as massive as Jupiter with an orbital period of just a few days. Today, hot Jupiters are thought to have ...

Professor John Chiang of UC Berkeley explains the impact of Earth's axial tilt and orbital eccentricity on global climate. He highlights their influence on seasonal variations, including monsoon ...

These two curves show the final distribution of orbit shapes for giant planets and brown dwarfs. The orbital eccentricity determines how elongated the ellipse is, with a value of 0.0 corresponding to ...

Changes in Earth's orbit that favored hotter conditions may have helped trigger a rapid global warming event 56 million years ago. Researchers found the shape of Earth's orbit, or eccentricity, and ...

The world is currently experiencing the Ice Age called the Quarternary period. There have been five ice ages since the planet was born. Each of them was characterized by periods of lower temperatures ...