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

An image of Venus compiled from data gathered by the Pioneer Venus Orbiter and the Magellan mission, both of which ended in the early 1990s.

Scientists hail 'the decade of Venus' with 3 new missions on the way

By Meghan Bartels published

As planetary scientists resumed meeting in person, Venus experts had something special to celebrate.

March is a month of transition, as we change seasons from winter to spring. Here's some strange things to see in the night sky.

March night sky wonders: Strange sights to see every year

By Joe Rao published

Reference A look into the March night sky for some sky objects with unusual solar system planets, stars and constellations.

China's Zhurong Mars rover captured this panorama of the Red Planet. Visible in the foreground are the rover's solar panels and communications equipment.

China's Zhurong rover reveals how weather and ancient water altered rocks on Mars

By Andrew Jones published

China’s first Mars rover Zhurong reveals how weather and ancient water changed the surface of the largest impact basin on Mars.

The four gas giants of our solar system are Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are collectively known as Jovian planets, meaning “Jupiter-like”.

Gas giants: Jovian planets of our solar system and beyond

By Elizabeth Howell published

Reference The solar system gas giants – Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune – also known as Jovian planets are helping us learn more about gaseous exoplanets.

The Hiawatha impact crater in Greenland, as depicted by NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio.

Huge asteroid slammed into Greenland just a few million years after the dinosaurs died out

By Stefanie Waldek published

It's much, much older than originally anticipated.

These bits of rock and dust were gathered from the C-type asteroid Ryugu by the spacecraft Hayabusa2.

Pristine asteroid Ryugu contains amino acids that are building blocks of life

By Tereza Pultarova published

Samples from asteroid Ryugu are the most pristine pieces of our solar system ever studied and contain amino acids that could have given rise to life on Earth.

In April 2020, NASA's Juno spacecraft spotted something strange in Jupiter's atmosphere. Scientists later identified the observation as a meteor.

Meteor streaks through Jupiter's atmosphere as NASA spacecraft watches

By Chelsea Gohd published

When a rogue meteor careened through the atmosphere of Jupiter last year, it caught the attention of NASA's Juno spacecraft in orbit around the giant planet.

Time-lapse imaging of Yutu 2 progress across the lunar landscape.

China's Yutu 2 rover beams back stunning image after 3 years on moon's far side

By Andrew Jones published

China's Yutu 2 rover has returned a view of its path over three years of travel across the harsh environment of the moon's far side.

Asteroid 2022 AE1, discovered in January 2022, seemed to be on a trajectory to collide with Earth.

It seemed like the most dangerous asteroid in a decade, but it definitely won't hit Earth

By Tereza Pultarova published

A recently discovered asteroid seemed to be on a trajectory to hit Earth next year, but orbit recalculation eventually revealed it will miss our planet.

In this illustration, a low-power laser (red cone) on Earth could be used to shift the orbit (red lines) of a small probe (grey circle), or propel it at rapid speeds to Neptune and beyond.

Tiny laser-propelled spaceships could travel to the far reaches of the solar system and beyond

By Charles Q. Choi published

Miniature spaceships the size of cellphones could fly across the solar system using sails propelled by lasers, reaching distant destinations on very reasonable timescales.

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

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

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

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

Nicolaus Copernicus

Nicolaus Copernicus biography: Facts & discoveries

By Nola Taylor Tillman published

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

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

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

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

coldest planet in the solar system

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

By Brad Gibson published

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

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

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