Wednesday, April 7, 2010 as of 11:14 AM ET
Neptune is the eighth and farthest planet from the Sun in the Solar System. It is the fourth-largest planet by diameter and the third largest by mass.
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The Fifth Planet sounds like a great name for a sci-fi movie -- perhaps a sequel to the 1997 movie "The Fifth Element.
" But the fifth planet may be real; a hypothesized giant world that was flung out of our solar system four billion years ago. It would have drifted tens of thousands of light years away by now.Why even suspect that such a planet existed?SLIDE SHOW: Top Exoplanets for Alien LifeThough astronomers have found many planetary systems around neighboring stars, our own solar system looks like it's the exception rather than the rule. We're discovering that our system is an uncommonly orderly place where the planets behave themselves in wide orbits that are nearly circular.But the planetary systems around other stars found so far present sort of a Wild West of planets. Their orbits can be steeply inclined to one another (our eight major planets are coplanar). There are many giant planets that have migrated precariously close to their stars. Other planets are in roller-coaster hi...Endeavour may be grounded, but Voyager just keeps on going.NASA experts noted that more than 30 years after the twin Voyager probes set sail for space, they are now ...
NASA's prolific planet-hunting spacecraft has hit the jackpot again, discovering 11 new planetary systems with 26 confirmed alien planets among them. The findings ne...
This year provided plenty of cosmic eye-openers for astronomers and casual stargazers alike. Neighborhood planets such as Mercury and Jupiter received makeovers in b...
Light from an alien "super-Earth" twice the size of our own Earth has been detected by a NASA space telescope for the first time in what astronomers are calling a hi...
This July 4th, U.S. citizens around the world may proudly display American flags to celebrate Independence Day while away from home, but they won't hold a candle to ...
If cold weather is what he's after, there are plenty of frigid territories in the solar system where Santa could set up shop beyond the North Pole. Here we tour of s...
More than three decades after launching, NASA's workhorse spacecraft is inching closer to leaving the solar system behind.Currently 11 billion miles away from the su...
Giant Remnants of Cosmic Collision Found Beyond NeptuneFriday, March 16, 2007 By Ker ThanPrint NASA, ESA, and A. Feild (STScI)2003 EL61, a dwarf planet in the Kuiper...
An orbiting NASA telescope is finding whole new worlds of possibilities in the search for alien life, including more than 50 potential planets that appear to be in t...
A fourth moon orbiting the dwarf planet Pluto has just been discovered. The tiny satellite — it's a mere 8 to 21 miles (13 to 34 km) across — showed up as a faint do...
Uranus , Neptune may have diamond oceans
Mystery at edge of solar system solved
Neptune and Uranus May Have Swapped SpotsTuesday, December 18, 2007 By Dave MosherPrintFour billion years ago, Uranus and Neptune switched places during a gentle rid...
NASA 's Hubble Space Telescope has confirmed the existence of a completely new type of planet.By analyzing the previously identified world GJ 1214b -- an Earth-like ...
The sun's most distant planet has completed its first full orbit since humans first laid eyes on it 165 years ago.It's been a long year for Neptune. A full 165 Earth...
Astronomers have discovered a cache of 14 large space rocks beyond the orbit of Neptune while sifting through archival observations from the Hubble Space Telescope.I...
One of the solar system's most evocative mysteries — the origin of Saturn's rings — may be a case of cosmic murder, new research suggests.The victim: an unnamed moon...
By Earth standards, Hurricane Irene is a monster storm. But it's just a baby compared to the massive cyclones of Jupiter and Saturn.Our planet is not the only one in...
A dust cloud around a nearby star appears to be the debris from a collision between a giant comet and an Earth-like planet -- possibly a re-enactment of the comet ba...
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