A large ring has been discovered around the dwarf planet Quaoar using the CHEOPS space telescope. The ring is described as a mystery by scientists. Rings are found around all of the solar system’s giant planets, with Saturn’s ring system being the most conspicuous. Around small planets, however, they are rarer, where we only know of two cases previously. What these rings have in common... 

This all-sky image shows the distribution of carbon monoxide (CO), a molecule used by astronomers to trace molecular clouds across the sky, as seen by Planck. New images captured by the European Space Agency (ESA) Planck mission space telescope have revealed a mysterious haze of microwave emissions in the Milky Way Galaxy. “The images reveal two exciting aspects of the galaxy in which we live.... 

An artist's impression of the orbital position of planets in systems discovered by NASA's Kepler mission NASA’s Kepler space telescope has discovered eleven new planetary systems confirming the existence of 26 new planets outside our solar system. The newly found planets range in size from 1.5 to five times the diameter of Earth and are closer to their host star than Venus is to the Sun. None...