Solar system
The solar system is a gravitationally bound system of the sun and the orbiting objects around it. The Solar System formed 4.6 billion years ago from the gravitational collapse of a giant interstellar molecular cloud.
It is located in an outer spiral arm of the Milky Way galaxy. There are eight planets with about 210 known planetary satellites, countless asteroids, comets, meteoroids, and other icy bodies.
The four inner system planets – Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars – are called terrestrial planets because of their rocky surfaces. The four giant planets of the outer system – Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are substantially more massive than the terrestrials.
Jupiter’s moon Europa may have had a slow evolution
Europa’s seafloor may be cool and hydrated, and may experience limited, if any, seafloor volcanism.
The subsurface ocean of Saturn’s moon- Enceladus, contains a key building block for life
Key building block for life found at Saturn's moon Enceladus.
‘Hot Jupiters’ may not be orbiting alone
Result challenges longstanding beliefs about the isolation of “hot Jupiters”.
First observation: Scientists discovered a cyclone on the north pole of Uranus
It’s a much more dynamic world than you might think.
Webb finds water, and a new mystery, in rare main belt comet
The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has enabled another long-sought scientific breakthrough, this time for Solar System scientists studying the origins of the water...
The warm dust around a nearby young star, Fomalhaut
Astronomers used the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope to image the warm dust around a nearby young star, Fomalhaut, in order to study the...
An explosion the size of our solar system baffled scientists
The flattest explosion ever seen in space.
Space dust could offer clues about alien life
A proposed way to search for alien life using tiny rocks ejected from other worlds.
Hubble monitors changing weather and seasons on Jupiter and Uranus
Ever since its launch in 1990, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has been an interplanetary weather observer, keeping an eye on the ever-changing atmospheres...
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe completed its 15th close approach to the Sun
Dozens of observatories collected data during this encounter.
Astronomers observed the aftermath of DART’s asteroid impact
Using ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), two teams of astronomers have observed the aftermath of the collision between NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART)...