Solar System Exploration
Join us as we explore our solar system.
10 THINGS about our solar system
Solar System Overview
Our solar system has one star, eight planets, five officially named dwarf planets, hundreds of moons, thousands of comets, and more than a million asteroids.
Could Life Exist Below Mars Ice? NASA Study Proposes Possibilities
Researchers think meltwater beneath Martian ice could support microbial life. While actual evidence for life on Mars has never been…
Read the StoryEuropa Clipper Sets Sail
NASA’s Europa Clipper has embarked on its long voyage to Jupiter, where it will investigate Europa, a moon with an enormous subsurface ocean that may have conditions to support life. The spacecraft launched at 12:06 p.m. EDT Monday aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Read MoreComet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS Arrives from Afar
Skywatchers are being treated to a rare sight over the next few days. Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, which likely traveled from the outer reaches of our solar system, made its closest transit past the Sun on September 27 and came within approximately 44 million miles (70 million kilometers) of Earth on October 12. The comet was visible in the Southern Hemisphere and the Tropics until about October 8. It's now visible in Northern Hemisphere. The best time to observe is before October 24 using binoculars or a small telescope.
Learn MoreSkywatching Resources
Hubble Tours the Solar System
Featured Missions
Explore our solar system with NASA. Here are some of our upcoming missions.
Europa Clipper
NASA's Europa Clipper is the first mission designed to conduct a detailed science investigation of Jupiter's moon Europa.
NEO Surveyor
Near-Earth Object (NEO) Surveyor is the first space telescope specifically designed to hunt asteroids and comets that may be potential hazards to Earth.
VERITAS
VERITAS, and another mission called DAVINCI, will be the first NASA spacecraft to explore Venus since the 1990s.
Go Beyond Our Solar System
NASA, Global Astronomers Await Rare Nova Explosion
Around the world this summer, professional and amateur astronomers alike will be fixed on one small constellation deep in the…
Read the StorySolar System News
Christine Knudson Uses Earthly Experience to Study Martian Geology
NASA, NOAA: Sun Reaches Maximum Phase in 11-Year Solar Cycle
Eclipse Megamovie Coding Competition
Night Lights: Aurora, Noctilucent Clouds, and the Zodiacal Light