Is there a massive undiscovered planet on the outer reaches of the solar system? The idea has been around since before the ...

Have you ever wondered why the Earth doesn’t fall straight into the Sun, despite being constantly pulled by its immense ...

Does the Elliptical ‘Count’ Toward Your Daily Steps? Here’s What Experts Say Asking for those of us whose pedometers don’t track it.

The small world was found during a search for the hypothetical Planet Nine, and astronomers say the next time it will reach its closest point to the sun is in the year 26186.

Blame Mercury. Astronomers have long known that the innermost planet’s orbit, which is fairly oval-shaped, can become even more elliptical due to gravitational jiggles from Jupiter.

An elliptical orbit is stretched, so the distance from Earth− and the speed the craft moves at− changes as the spacecraft travels along the orbit.

Maxmath12/Wikimedia Commons Unlike a circular or an elliptical orbit, the spacecraft’s path in hyperbolic orbit won’t keep it orbiting around Mars.

The other mission, Kosmos 482, failed to leave Earth’s orbit. Photo: NASA A Soviet spacecraft launched in 1972 is falling back to Earth after 53 years.

The failed Soviet spacecraft Kosmos 482 has finally returned to Earth after 53 years in orbit. It disappeared into the Indian Ocean early Saturday morning.

Kosmos-482, a failed mission to Venus from the former Soviet Union that stalled in Earth orbit in the 1970s, is about to fall back to our planet. Exactly where or when it will strike, however ...

An elliptical orbit is stretched, so the distance from Earth − and the speed the craft moves at − changes as the spacecraft travels along the orbit.

A Soviet space probe stuck in orbit since a failed 1972 launch has finally crashed to Earth. At 9:24 a.m. Moscow time (2:24 a.m. EDT) on May 10, the spacecraft, dubbed Kosmos 482, entered Earth ...