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.

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And solving that issue could go a long way toward making our planetary neighbor habitable.

By Jonathan Strickland

The sun's atmosphere is actually hotter than its surface, even though you'd assume the surface is what generates all that heat. How does that work?

By Patrick J. Kiger & Yara Simón

Saturn's largest moon Titan is the only other celestial body we know of that has liquid lakes on its surface. NASA has just captured some amazing footage of clouds.

By Christopher Hassiotis

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The space telescope's ultraviolet observations come days before the Juno space probe will arrive to orbit the gas giant's polar regions.

By Christopher Hassiotis

Precipitation does fall from the clouds of other planets, but it's a little more exotic than the rainwater we get here on Earth. Imagine sheets of methane, sulfuric acid and, yes, diamonds falling from the sky.

By Alison Cooper

Astronomers have just discovered a gas in Uranus' clouds that does nothing to help the planet being taken seriously.

By Ian O'Neill, Ph.D.

The August 2023 full moon is known as the sturgeon moon. This year, it's also a supermoon and will be followed by a blue moon at the end of the month!

By Melanie Radzicki McManus

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The Mars solar conjunction occurs every two years and forces NASA to stop communicating with assets on the Red Planet. So what's the deal?

By Sharise Cunningham

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.

By Patrick J. Kiger

Leash your cheetah, buckle your seatbelt and tell Usain Bolt to take a knee. We're about to power through some of the speediest stuff this universe - both in the real world and in fiction - has to offer.

By Melanie Radzicki McManus & Kate Kershner

When you think about massive, mysterious cosmic bodies like accretion disks, the water swirling around your bathtub probably isn't the first thing to come to mind. But hey, physics works the same magic on all scales.

By Kate Kershner

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A lunar land rush is the most likely thing in the world (or, rather, out of it). As private companies gaze spaceward with dollar signs in their eyes, it's time to start settling some questions about space ownership, use and management.

By Nicholas Gerbis