In Depth | Our Solar System – NASA Solar System Exploration
There are many planetary systems like ours in the universe, with planets orbiting a host star. Our planetary system is called “the solar system” because we use the word “solar” to describe …
Planet Compare - NASA Solar System Exploration
5 days ago · NASA’s real-time science encyclopedia of deep space exploration. Our scientists and far-ranging robots explore the wild frontiers of our solar system.
RPS 3D Viewer - NASA Solar System Exploration
5 days ago · NASA Solar System Exploration Our Galactic Neighborhood Solar System Planets Moons Asteroids, Comets & Meteors More
In Depth | Asteroids – NASA Solar System Exploration
Most of this ancient space rubble can be found orbiting our Sun between Mars and Jupiter within the main asteroid belt. Asteroids range in size from Vesta – the largest at about 329 miles (530 …
In Depth | Earth's Moon – NASA Solar System Exploration
That means 30 Earth-sized planets could fit in between Earth and the Moon. The Moon is slowly moving away from Earth, getting about an inch farther away each year.
In Depth | Sun – NASA Solar System Exploration
The Sun orbits the center of the Milky Way, bringing with it the planets, asteroids, comets, and other objects in our solar system. Our solar system is moving with an average velocity of …
In Depth | Moons – NASA Solar System Exploration
Many of Jupiter's outer moons have highly elliptical orbits and orbit backwards (opposite to the spin of the planet). Saturn, Uranus and Neptune also have some irregular moons, which orbit …
In March 2004, a team of astronomers announced the discovery of a planet-like transneptunian object orbiting the Sun at an extreme distance, in one of the coldest known regions of our solar …
Venus orbits closer to the Sun than Earth, which would tend to make it warmer there anyway, but the planet’s dense carbon dioxide atmosphere is the main factor in creating its extreme heat.
In Depth | Ganymede – NASA Solar System Exploration
The discovery eventually led to the understanding that planets in our solar system orbit the Sun, instead of our solar system revolving around Earth. (Jupiter now has 53 named moons and 26 …