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You are here: Home › Research Activities › Sun and Solar System › The Planets and minor bodies in the Solar System and other stellar systems › Recent projects and on-going activity in the study of planets and minor bodies

Models of the origin and evolution of planets, natural satellites and minor bodies

The formation of the solar system is one of the most complex arguments in planetary science. In fact, even though observations provide direct evidence on the current state of its constituent bodies, it is very complex to deduce, only from these, the process which generated them. The Planetology groups of INAF-IASF and INAF-IFSI in Rome, have been conducting, since the '70s, pioneering work on the origin of various bodies of the solar system and the principal processes that determine their evolution and differentiation, accompanied by numerical modeling.

ALMA WITNESSES STAR BIRTH BEYOND THE EDGES OF THE MILKY WAY

Apr 22, 2026

ALMA WITNESSES STAR BIRTH BEYOND THE EDGES OF THE MILKY WAY A new study, led by INAF, has mapped, for the first time, the mass distribution of newly formed cores in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Thanks to high-resolution images from ALMA, it has emerged that these cores form according to the same patterns observed in the Milky Way. The result suggests that the initial fragmentation mechanisms of gas and dust clumps, from which stars are born, are universal and independent of the galactic environment.

RR Lyrae variables as beacons to investigate the early formation of the Milky Way

Jan 26, 2026

RR Lyrae variables as beacons to investigate the early formation of the Milky Way

CALVERA EXPLODED WHERE IT SHOULDN’T HAVE: A “RUNAWAY” PULSAR DEFIES THE RULES OF THE MILKY WAY

Aug 29, 2025

CALVERA EXPLODED WHERE IT SHOULDN’T HAVE: A “RUNAWAY” PULSAR DEFIES THE RULES OF THE MILKY WAY A stellar explosion, a pulsar, and a supernova remnant - that’s the story of Calvera. Positioned more than 6,500 light-years above the Galactic plane, this system is rewriting what we know about stellar evolution in our galaxy. The research originates from a team at the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF), in collaboration with the University of Palermo, and is detailed in a study published in Astronomy & Astrophysics