The Solar System
In the Solar System Channel, you can explore the planets and celestial objects around our own sun. Learn about topics such as Mars, Jupiter and the Moon.
What Are the 'Dog Days of Summer'?
How to Find Orion's Belt in the Night Sky
Astronomers Tell You How and Where to Best View Meteor Showers
Shooting the Stars as an Astrophotographer
Stellarium Is the Free 'Planetarium' for Your Computer
What is astrophotography?
Surprise! The Big Dipper Is an Asterism, Not a Constellation
Aldebaran: The Brightest Star in the Constellation Taurus
6 Red-Hot Facts About the Red Giant Star Arcturus
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Native American tribes have called the May moon the flower moon for centuries. The name even inspired a best-selling novel and film.
Nothing lasts forever. Does that include our home planet, too?
Sometimes hundreds of people armed with high-tech cameras can make amazing scientific discoveries, as in the case of STEVE.
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April's pink moon isn't called pink because our beloved bright white moon suddenly takes on a rosy hue. So, why is it called the "pink moon"?
March's full moon is called the worm moon for an unusual reason. What are some other names for the March moon and when can you see it?
Every 24 hours, Earth makes a full rotation on its axis. But why does Earth spin in the first place?
Researchers at Australian National University studied 5,000 star-eating behemoths to find out.
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February is a cold time of year, and the snow moon nickname pays homage to that. What are some other names for February's full moon and what do they mean? Plus, when can you see the snow moon?
News headlines talk about a rare green comet appearing in the sky. The comet itself is rare, but green comets, not so much. What makes some comets appear green?
Head's up, stargazers! Mark your calendars for the 22 must-see events this year.
January's moon is called the wolf moon, but it's also known as the center moon and the freeze up moon (among other names). Here's why.
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This doughnut-shaped ring around the sun is home to millions of comets, moons, dwarf planets and other celestial objects. What are these objects doing in the Kuiper belt?
When December's moongazing rolls around, you'll want to take a look at the cold moon, an appropriate moniker if there ever was one.
Blood moons always bring out the stargazers though they aren't that rare. So what makes blood moons red? And do they differ from lunar eclipses?
In 2022, the full moon, called the hunter's moon, will occur Oct. 9. Why is it called that and when can you see it?
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The solar system's largest planet will pass closest to Earth at the same time it's at opposition. That means it will be the biggest and brightest it's been in the sky in decades.
There are eight phases in the lunar cycle and the moon is in one of them every night. What are these phases of the moon?
The August 2022 full moon is known as the sturgeon moon and it's extra-special this year as it's also a supermoon.
And this month's buck moon is extra-special because it is a supermoon!
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The Tau Herculids meteor shower was made of debris from the broken comet SW3 and produced a lot of shooting stars, but not quite the meteor shower that was hoped for.
If you imagine the eight major planets in a single line stretching out from the sun, this alignment occurs roughly every 13.4 trillion years. And our solar system is 4.5 billion years old.
Many people dream of climbing Mount Everest, but what if you could scale the highest mountain in the solar system? That one is more than twice as tall as Everest! So, where is it?
Astronomers at Haleakalā Observatory in Hawaii noted a bright X-ray emission in 2018, which persisted for three weeks and glowed ten times more brightly than previously studied supernovas, but are just now beginning to understand it.
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The gegenschein, "faint light" in German, occurs under very specific astronomical conditions when the sun reaches the exact opposite of Earth from wherever you're stargazing.
Early dark energy, a form of dark energy that may have existed a few hundred thousand years after the big bang, could help clarify the universe's rate of expansion. But its existence hasn't been proven.