This finding explains the discrepancy between the number of basins detected on the Moon (~40) and the number predicted (~300) by an accretion scenario of planet formation.

Most of the dense material in the dust cloud is attracted strongly and ends up here. The inner four planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars) are rocky and have solid surfaces that can be walked on.

"How would that affect the inner planets, so Venus, Earth, and Mars, specifically?" According to Chen, since the discovery of the first exoplanet in 1992, researchers have wondered how common ...

The WASP-132 system contains a Hot Jupiter (in the foreground), an inner super-Earth (here transiting in front of the orange host star) and the planet WASP-132d, discovered towards the outside of ...

As Mercury closes in on its greatest elongation east (farthest from the sun in Earth's sky) on March 8, the tiny inner planet will be between Saturn and Venus close to the western horizon.

Actually, Venus is not alone in display moon-like phases. The answer is that Venus is an inner planet—along with Mercury. Venus takes 225 days to orbit the sun while Mercury takes just 88 days.