Earth has a newly-discovered neighbor in the solar system. But the heavenly body – possibly a dwarf planet à la Pluto – isn't a frequent visitor. Located beyond Neptune, its extreme orbit ...

When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. A composite image comparing the relative sizes of our solar system's known dwarf planets, ...

In the cold, distant reaches of the Solar System, far beyond Pluto, astronomers have just identified what could be a new dwarf planet. It's called 2017 OF 201, a rock that appears to be some 700 ...

A recent research paper suggests that a planet may exist far beyond Neptune — less than 20 years after the previous ninth planet, Pluto, was demoted. That research paper, accepted last month for ...

A composite image showing the five dwarf planets recognized by the International Astronomical Union, plus the newly discovered trans-Neptunian object 2017 OF201. The TNO is potentially large enough to ...

In 2006, updated research led to Pluto being controversially demoted to dwarf planet status by the International Astronomical Union. The reasoning was that Pluto's location in the far-flung ...

Once the quirky underdog of our solar system, Pluto held planetary status until 2006, when it got a cosmic demotion that still stings space fans. Discovered in 1930, Pluto was the ninth planet for ...

On August 24, 2006, our solar system lost a planet. It wasn't by cataclysmic destruction, but rather by the vote of the International Astronomical Union, which declared that Pluto, considered the ...