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Solar System

Our solar system is filled with planets, asteroids, comets, the sun and more, making it a wealth of discoveries waiting to be found. See the latest discoveries from across our solar system here.

Related topics: Earth, Mercury, Venus, Mars, asteroids, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, the moon, comets

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Saturn's moon Mimas bears an uncanny resemblance to the Death Star in Star Wars.

Saturn's 'Death Star' moon could have a secret underground ocean

By Ben Turner published 26 January 22

Scientists have found "compelling evidence" that Saturn's "Death Star" moon is hiding an ocean just beneath its surface, furthering the search for possible life in our solar system.

An artist's depiction of the first identified interstellar object to visit our solar system, 'Oumuamua.

Will we ever know the true nature of 'Oumuamua, the first interstellar visitor?

By Paul Sutter published 23 January 22

Astronomers have proposed lots of ideas to explain 'Oumuamua's odd characteristics, and we're unlikely ever to find out which one is correct.

An artist's illustration of NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft, the farthest human-built object from Earth, which launched in 1977 and reached interstellar space in 2012.

Voyager 1: Earth's farthest spacecraft

By Elizabeth Howell published 19 January 22

Voyager 1, which launched in 1977, is farther from Earth than any other spacecraft.

Nicolaus Copernicus biography: Facts & discoveries

By Nola Taylor Tillman published 17 January 22

Nicolaus Copernicus proposed his theory that the planets revolved around the sun in the 1500s, when most people believed that Earth was the center of the universe.

This false-colored image, captured by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, shows rings around a young star named HD163296 (not the sun).

The sun used to have rings like Saturn

By Yasemin Saplakoglu published 11 January 22

Before Earth and the other planets in our solar system existed, the sun may have been surrounded by giant rings of dust similar to Saturn's, according to a new study.

An artist's depiction of an asteroid hitting Earth.

Mars and Earth likely formed from collisions of moon-sized rocks

By Charles Q. Choi published 22 December 21

Earth and Mars must have formed from collisions between giant moon-sized rocks rather than from clumping together of a huge amount of tiny pebbles, a new study found.

An artist's depiction of the largest bodies in the solar system (not to scale).

How did the solar system form?

By Nola Taylor Tillman published 13 December 21

The solar system formed about 4.5 billion years ago. Scientists have developed three models of how it happened.

Curious Kids: What is the coldest planet in the solar system?

By Brad Gibson published 27 November 21

The heat inside planets is left over from when they were formed.

New images from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope capture stunning views of the outer planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, as part of this year's "grand tour" of the solar system.

Hubble telescope's annual 'grand tour' tracks changes in outer solar system

By Samantha Mathewson published 24 November 21

It's time for the solar system's annual weather report!

An artist's depiction of Didymos and Dimorphos.

Asteroid Didymos: NASA's galactic target practice for DART

By Vicky Stein published 22 November 21

In NASA's galactic game of pinball, Didymos is the jackpot.

An animation showing the location of the near-Earth asteroids discovered as of January 2018; Earth's orbit is marked by the white line.

Just how many threatening asteroids are there? It's complicated.

By Meghan Bartels published 22 November 21

So you've heard that an asteroid could slam into Earth wreaking all sorts of havoc, but just how many space rocks out there threaten our planet?

The European Space Agency's CESAR team captured this view of a lunar eclipse in January 2019.

What time is the Beaver Moon lunar eclipse?

By Elizabeth Howell published 17 November 21

Here's when you can watch the longest partial lunar eclipse in 580 years.

An image of Comet 29P taken a few days after one of its super-outbursts.

This mysterious comet's super-bright outbursts have astronomers puzzled

By Tereza Pultarova published 2 November 21

One of the strangest comets in the solar system has been erupting with unpredictable bright outbursts since late September and nobody knows why.

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured this view of the interstellar Comet 2I/Borisov on Oct. 12, 2019.

How much of the solar system is made of interstellar stuff?

By Paul Sutter published 21 October 21

The detection of interstellar objects in the solar system has raised an interesting question: How much of the solar system is made of foreign material?

This still from a NASA animation depicts a comet as it enters the inner solar system, with light from the sun warming the comet to create its coma and tail.

Wild idea: Tagalong spacecraft could watch a comet form

By Mike Wall published 18 October 21

A few decades from now, humanity could get an up-close look at a comet blazing to life for the first time.

An electron microscope image of a micron-sized silicon carbide stardust grain extracted from the Murchinson meteorite.

Ancient meteorites preserve building blocks of early solar system

By Tereza Pultarova published 13 October 21

Scientists have used a new method to analyse the composition of ancient grains in meteorites with unprecedented accuracy to shed light on their mysterious origin.

The joint European-Japanese BepiColombo spacecraft captured this view of Mercury on Oct. 1, 2021 during the first of six flybys on its voyage to orbit the planet in 2025.

Mercury looks stunning in this 1st flyby photo from Europe and Japan's BepiColombo mission

By Tariq Malik published 2 October 21

The BepiColombo mission captured its first up-close look at the planet Mercury in a flyby, revealing a rocky world covered with craters.

Artwork showing the planets orbiting the sun (from inner to outer): Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

Why do the planets in the solar system orbit on the same plane?

By JoAnna Wendel published 21 September 21

About 4.5 billion years ago, the solar system was just a giant, spinning cloud of gas and dust. Today, it's flat. Here's how that happened.

A quarter of sunlike stars eat their own planets, according to new research

By Lorenzo Spina published 1 September 21

How rare is our solar system? In the 30 years or so since planets were first discovered orbiting stars other than our sun, we have found that planetary systems are common in the galaxy.

The outer solar system might be full of comets from other stars.

Interstellar comets visit our solar system more frequently than thought

By Tereza Pultarova published 26 August 21

Comets from other star systems, such as 2019 Borisov, visit the sun's neighborhood more frequently than scientists had thought, a new study suggests.