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solar system
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solar system solar system orbits
Understand the relative size of the Sun, the Moon, and other solar system objects
solar system to scale Jovian planets Gaspra Comet Wild 2
Hear about the band of dust and debris left by comets, which are visible as meteors (shooting stars)
Discover how the solar system, which started as a shapeless spherical blob ended up being flat
For Students
solar system to scale
solar system summary
Quizzes
View of the Andromeda Galaxy (Messier 31, M31).
Astronomy and Space Quiz
The orbits of the planets and other elements of the solar system, including asteroids, Kuiper belt, Oort cloud, comet
Space Odyssey
Ursa major constellation illustration art. (Big Dipper) stars, space, night sky)
Stars: Explosions in Space
Saturn. Saturn and its rings. Second largest planet of the solar system. Space Art
Planets and the Earth’s Moon
Nicolaus Copernicus. Nicolas Copernicus (1473-1543) Polish astronomer. In 1543 he published, forward proof of a Heliocentric (sun centered) universe. Coloured stipple engraving published London 1802. De revolutionibus orbium coelestium libri vi.
All About Astronomy
Related Questions
Read Next
Solar system illustration. (planets; sun)
Why Are Planets Round?
Remarkable new details of Pluto's largest moon Charon are revealed in this image from New Horizons' Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI), taken late on July 13, 2015 from a distance of 289,000 miles
Why Is Pluto No Longer a Planet?
Colorful winter sunset
What's the Difference Between a Solstice and an Equinox?
Specially designed Cassini orbits place Earth and Cassini on opposite sides of Saturn's rings, a geometry known as occultation. Cassini conducted the first radio occultation observation of Saturn's rings on May 3, 2005. (solar system, planets)
10 Places to Visit in the Solar System
Background: abstract bubble planets with clouds. astrology, astronomy, atomosphere, big bang, bubbles, fantasy, future, galaxy, universe, stars
9 Ghostly Planets
Discover
Lusitania sinking, illustration from The War of the Nations (New York), December 31, 1919. World War I, WWI. This image is one of three on the page. (See source file for the other two.)
7 of the World’s Deadliest Shipwrecks
Close up of books. Stack of books, pile of books, literature, reading. Homepage 2010, arts and entertainment, history and society
12 Novels Considered the “Greatest Book Ever Written”
Entrants falling and tumbling over while chasing the cheese at the 2016 'Cheese Rolling' held at Cooper's Hill, in the Cotswolds, Brockworth England
7 of the World’s Most Dangerous Festivals
Battle of the Alamo from "Texas: An Epitome of Texas History from the Filibustering and Revolutionary Eras to the Independence of the Republic, 1897. Texas Revolution, Texas revolt, Texas independence, Texas history.
6 Wars of Independence
Rural Irish landscape, Sligo, Ireland.
Why Is Ireland Two Countries?
New Zealand. Political/Physical map. Includes locator.
Where Is “Old Zealand”?
Two chicks near an egg with a white background (poultry, chick, chickens, birds).
What Do Eggs Have to Do with Easter?

solar system: Related Content

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Near-Earth Asteroid 2024 YR4 Likely Originated in Main Belt • Apr. 14, 2025, 11:42 PM ET (Sci.News)
'City Killer' Asteroid's Origin Traced to an Unexpected Part of The Solar System • Apr. 8, 2025, 9:02 PM ET (ScienceAlert)
First-Ever Images of Neptune's Eerie Glow Finally Reveal Missing Aurora • Mar. 28, 2025, 2:05 AM ET (ScienceAlert)

Photos and Videos

solar system
orbits
solar system to scale
Jovian planets
Gaspra
Comet Wild 2
solar system
Saturn
Images taken with the Hubble Space Telescope of four protoplanetary disks around young stars in the Orion Nebula.
Nicolaus Copernicus: heliocentric system
Understand the relative size of the Sun, the Moon, and other solar system objects
Hear about the band of dust and debris left by comets, which are visible as meteors (shooting stars)
Discover how the solar system, which started as a shapeless spherical blob ended up being flat
View an animation of a brown dwarf surrounded by a swirling disk of planet-building dust
Copernicus's revolutionary theory: The Sun as the center
See All Videos, Images and Interactives →

Related Topics and References

Topics
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Key People

Johannes Kepler
Johannes Kepler
German astronomer
Galileo
Galileo
Italian philosopher, astronomer and mathematician
Harold C. Urey
American chemist
Laplace, Pierre-Simon, marquis de
Pierre-Simon, marquis de Laplace
French scientist and mathematician
Gerard Peter Kuiper
American astronomer
Sir Harold Jeffreys
Sir Harold Jeffreys
British astronomer and geophysicist
Jean Richer
French astronomer
Johann Elert Bode
German astronomer
Audouin Dollfus
French astronomer

Related Quizzes and Features

Quiz
Ursa major constellation illustration art. (Big Dipper) stars, space, night sky)
Stars: Explosions in Space
Encyclopaedia Britannica thistle graphic to be used with a Mendel/Consumer quiz in place of a photograph.
36 Questions from Britannica’s Most Popular Science Quizzes
The orbits of the planets and other elements of the solar system, including asteroids, Kuiper belt, Oort cloud, comet
Space Odyssey
View of the Andromeda Galaxy (Messier 31, M31).
Astronomy and Space Quiz
Saturn. Saturn and its rings. Second largest planet of the solar system. Space Art
Planets and the Earth’s Moon
Planet Neptune
Giants of Our Solar System
Nicolaus Copernicus. Nicolas Copernicus (1473-1543) Polish astronomer. In 1543 he published, forward proof of a Heliocentric (sun centered) universe. Coloured stipple engraving published London 1802. De revolutionibus orbium coelestium libri vi.
All About Astronomy
Nicolaus Copernicus. Nicolas Copernicus (1473-1543) Polish astronomer. In 1543 he published, forward proof of a Heliocentric (sun centered) universe. Coloured stipple engraving published London 1802. De revolutionibus orbium coelestium libri vi.
All About Astronomy
View of the Andromeda Galaxy (Messier 31, M31).
Astronomy and Space Quiz
Demystified
Colorful winter sunset
What's the Difference Between a Solstice and an Equinox?
Solar system illustration. (planets; sun)
Why Are Planets Round?
Remarkable new details of Pluto's largest moon Charon are revealed in this image from New Horizons' Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI), taken late on July 13, 2015 from a distance of 289,000 miles
Why Is Pluto No Longer a Planet?