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. 

Explore the planets in our solar system: Earth, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune

Related topics: asteroids, Pluto, the moon, comets

Latest Updates

earth and asteroid

Celebrate Asteroid Day 2022 with free online broadcast this week

By Samantha Mathewson published

Asteroid research and planetary defense is of great interest to scientists around the world, which is why June 30 marks international Asteroid Day.

a spacecraft at an asteroid

NASA's metal asteroid mission Psyche won't launch before mid-2023 (and could face cancellation)

By Elizabeth Howell published

NASA's Psyche asteroid mission is facing an uncertain future after software testing issues forced an extended launch delay expected to last at least until July 2023.

An image of comet C/2017 K2 PANSTARRS (K2) taken in June 2017 by the Hubble Space Telescope's Wide Field Camera 3.

A huge comet will fly by Earth in July and you might be able to see it

By Elizabeth Howell published

A comet first spotted in the distance in 2017 might finally be within view soon of amateur astronomers.

On the left, comet 323P/SOHO observed by the Subaru Telescope in December 2020. On the right, an image of the comet taken in February by the Canada-France Telescope.

Telescopes watch the sun bake a comet to death

By Tereza Pultarova published

Telescopes watch as a comet disintegrates near the sun, gathering data that might help explain why some comets seem to disappear.

sky map of five planets

Rare 5-planet alignment comes into better view this week. Here's what to expect.

By Joe Rao published

A rare parade of planets is coming into better view in the second half of June, and even the moon will join the show.

An illustration of the Voyager 1 probe in space.

With Voyager 1 data mystery, NASA relies on slow, long-distance conversation

By Andrew Jones published

NASA's Voyager 1 team is trying to work out why the spacecraft appears to be confused about its location in space, but the mission's distance from Earth makes solving the issue challenging.

Abell 2146, which is a huge collision between a pair of galaxy clusters, located 2.8 billion light-years from the Milky Way. Here, the hot intra-cluster gas, imaged by Chandra, is shown in false color (blue).

Giant galaxy cluster collision triggers vast shock wave stretching over a million light-years long

By Keith Cooper published

NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory spotted enormous shock waves racing away from a collision of two galaxy clusters.

An artist's depiction of Jupiter as seen from the surface of its icy moon Europa.

Jupiter's icy moon Europa will block out a star for lucky skywatchers

By Tom Kerss published

Jupiter's moon Europa is set to obscure a star while being shadowed by its own host planet.

A collage shows a New Horizons image of Pluto against a space background.

Curious Kids: Why does it matter if Pluto is a planet or a dwarf planet?

By Samantha Lawler published

"Comet," "star" and "planet" are category names that immediately tell you something important about what they describe.

The main body of the Europa Clipper spacecraft arrived at the clean room of JPL in early June 2022.

NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft takes big step toward 2024 launch

By Andrew Jones published

NASA's Europa Clipper mission is one step closer to starting its journey to Jupiter's icy moon.

An artist's depiction of the Hayabusa2 spacecraft at the asteroid Ryugu.

Asteroid Ryugu contains material older than the planets, among the most primitive ever studied on Earth

By Keith Cooper published

Analysis of Hayabusa2's samples from the asteroid Ryugu shows they date to before the formation of the planets.

NASA sky map of five bright visible planets before dawn in June 2022.

A 'planetary breakup' of 5 planets in the June's big stargazing sight, NASA says

By Samantha Mathewson published

The rare alignment of five naked-eye planets will begin to "break up" as they appear to grow increasingly distant from one another in the morning sky.

Asteroid collisions in the early solar system exposed their iron cores to space, allowing them to cool rapidly.

Iron meteorites point to millions of years of chaos in early solar system

By Keith Cooper published

An asteroid demolition derby took place between 7.8 million and 11.7 million years after the birth of the solar system.

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this sequence of the 2012 transit of Venus from space.

Venus crossed the sun's face 10 years ago. Most people alive will never see the sight again.

By Tom Kerss published

On the 10th anniversary of the last transit of Venus, find out what makes these events so special and what else to look out for during the long wait for the next one.

Sand blown by wind into ripples within Victoria Crater at Meridiani Planum on Mars, as photographed by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on October 3, 2006.

What's it like to be on Venus or Pluto? We studied their sand dunes and found some clues.

By Andrew Gunn published

What is it like to be on the surface of Mars or Venus? Or even further afield, such as on Pluto, or Saturn's moon Titan?

Scientists expect the Voyager spacecraft to outlive Earth by at least a trillion years.

What the Voyager space probes can teach humanity about immortality as they sail for trillions of years

By James Edward Huchingson published

Both Voyager 1 and its twin, Voyager 2, carry little pieces of humanity in the form of their Golden Records.

This image of the planet Uranus was taken by the spacecraft Voyager 2 in 1986.

Shades of Uranus: Scientists know why the planet and Neptune are different hues of blue

By Elizabeth Howell published

The way each planet's atmosphere responds to methane might be responsible for the different hues of Uranus and Neptune.

A time-lapse image of asteroid 7335 (1989 JA) passing by Earth on May 27, 2022.

Mile-wide asteroid 7335 (1989 JA), the largest yet of 2022, flies safely by Earth

By Elizabeth Howell published

There were no worries whatsoever about the space rock, which passed by at a very safe distance.

Asteroid flybys are common, and we usually can see them coming.

You can watch a huge, mile-wide asteroid fly safely by Earth today

By Elizabeth Howell published

A huge asteroid more than a mile wide will zoom safely by Earth today and you can watch it live today in a free online webcast.

An image of dwarf planet Ceres captured by NASA's Dawn mission.

Jupiter's massive gravity kicked strange Ceres into the asteroid belt

By Tereza Pultarova published

A new computer simulation suggests that dwarf planet Ceres may have been flung by the gravity of gas giant Jupiter into the asteroid belt during the volatile era of planet formation.