The Improbable Rise of Planet Earth

Planet hunters have detected nearly 5000 confirmed and candidate planets beyond our solar system. Most sun-like stars, it seems, are ringed with giant planets that crowd their parent stars and leave no room for planets like ours. The old theories about planetary formation are giving way to a new one defined by fierce gravitational battles and titanic collisions. How did Earth manage to survive?

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S1 · E37

Star Crash: The Explosion that Transformed Astronomy

Mon, Nov 13, 2017