How solar systems form
Learn how our sun, the planets, and other solar system bodies came to be with these videos and an infographic from NASA. Use this resource to visualize how the solar system formed and to model and describe the process.
Solar System
Overview
The solar system is the gravitationally bound system of the sun and the objects that orbit it. Of the bodies that orbit the sun directly, the largest are the four gas and ice giants and the four terrestrial planets, followed by an unknown number of dwarf planets and innumerable small solar system bodies. Of the bodies that orbit the Sun indirectly—the natural satellites—two are larger than Mercury and one is nearly as large.
1440 Findings
Hours of research by our editors, distilled into minutes of clarity.
Explore a timeline of NASA's exploration of Mars
NASA has studied Mars extensively over 60 years using telescopes, orbiters, and rovers. From April 2021 to January 24, the Ingenuity helicopter completed its technology demonstration objective by flying more than 17 kilometers above the Martian surface.
Mars was named after the Roman god of war for its reddish hue, resembling blood
A single day on Mars lasts 24.6 hours, while a year lasts 687 Earth days. The rusting of iron in rocks on the Martian surface contributes to brown, gold, and tan colorations.
Mars once had oceans and a thick atmosphere
It formed over millions of years as small clumps of matter orbiting the sun smashed together, solidified, and cooled. Geological features indicate the presence of past surface water, which evaporated away due to the planet's weak gravitational field.
Extraterrestrial volcanoes spew material present during their formation
Unlike Earth's volcanoes that release lava, cryovolcanoes on distant moons erupt cold jets of water, ammonia, and other light gases present during the formation of their host planet. The movement of internal heat produced during formation is thought to drive icy plume movement.
Earth is the only planet in our solar system with fire
And while the sun seems like fire, and other planets have volcanoes, the sun and lava aren't the same thing as fire. To produce fire, a planet needs three ingredients: oxygen, fuel, and heat. No other planet has all three.
Explore an interactive visualization of the solar system
This tool allows you to view the orbits of planets, dwarf planets, moons, asteroids, and other significant objects in the solar system. Clicking on an object reveals key facts and historical data.
Replacing the sun with a black hole would quickly collapse life on Earth
A black hole of the sun's mass would only be six kilometers wide, but it would exert the same gravitational pull as the sun. This means the planets would keep their current orbits but no longer receive solar radiation.
Jupiter may have affected the trajectory of the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs
Despite its reputation as Earth’s cosmic shield, Jupiter’s gravity pulls more asteroids into Earth-crossing orbits. Simulations show that Earth experiences over three times more asteroid impacts because of Jupiter’s influence than if Jupiter didn’t exist.
ESA’s Juice and NASA’s Europa Clipper will search for habitability near Jupiter
Three of Jupiter’s moons—Ganymede, Europa, and Callisto—possess subsurface oceans that may support life. While Clipper will perform flybys of Europa, Juice will be the first spacecraft to orbit a moon in the outer Solar System.
Explore Space
From roughly 60 miles above the Earth's surface to farther than light has traveled during the entire age of the universe, space has captured human imagination for millennia. Explore the final frontier with the best resources curated from across the internet.