“New Horizons shattered a major paradigm of planetary science,” says Alan Stern, the mission’s principal investigator. “Pluto ...

Explore daily insights on the USA TODAY crossword puzzle by . Uncover expert takes and answers in our crossword blog.

Stern thinks the dwarf planet distinction is nonsensical—an ... of schoolchildren having to learn all their names. After all, kids don’t have to memorize every element in the periodic table.” ...

According to Dr. Grundy, Pluto is a planet. "I use the word 'planet' to refer to it, and most of the planetary science community does too," Grund ...

I learned that Pluto was a planet. Years later, when my kids were in school, Pluto had just been taken out of the planetary line-up and was instead called a dwarf planet, so it no longer counted. This ...

White dwarf stars could host habitable planets. Fast planetary rotation reduces cloud cover, keeping surface temperatures stable.

The building blocks of life could have been delivered to Ceres by one or more space rocks from the outer asteroid belt.

An international team of astronomers reports the discovery of a new dwarf galaxy, which they have named Pegasus VII. The ...

Explore the impact of stellar flares on the potential for alien life. Discover how higher levels of UV radiation can both ...