Solar System

The Solar System is the gravitationally bound system of the Sun and the objects that orbit it, either directly or indirectly. Of the objects that orbit the Sun directly, the largest are the eight planets, with the remainder being smaller objects, the dwarf planets and small Solar System bodies. Of the objects that orbit the Sun indirectly—the natural satellites—two are larger than the smallest planet, Mercury. The Solar System formed 4.6 billion years ago from the gravitational collapse of a giant interstellar molecular cloud. The vast majority of the system's mass is in the Sun, with the majority of the remaining mass contained in Jupiter. The four smaller inner system planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars, are terrestrial planets, being primarily composed of rock and metal. The four outer system planets are giant planets, being substantially more massive than the terrestrials.

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A new study suggests yet another theory for a possible extra planet in our solar system

Voyager 1 Reconnects With Earth — And Reveals A Mysterious Wall Of Fire At The Edge Of The Solar System

3I/ATLAS, comet hurtling toward solar system, is much bigger than previously thought, and likely weighs more than 33 billion tons

Asteroid ‘Families’ Reveal Solar System’s Secret History

Astronomers Have Found 6,000 Planets Outside the Solar System

Dwarf planet Makemake sports the most remote gas in the solar system

LIFTOFF: NASA's IMAP, SWFO-L1 & Carruthers successfully launch from Kennedy Space Center atop Falcon 9 rocket. The missions will study our solar system's heliosphere, provide 24/7 spaceweather updates about solar winds, give insights into Earth's water history and habitability, and much more

SpaceX launches 3 probes to study space weather and map the boundaries of our solar system (video)

NASA Confirms: 6,000 Planets Beyond Our Solar System Discovered

NASA’s Tally of Planets Outside Our Solar System Reaches 6,000

Interstellar visitors like comet 3I/ATLAS are the most common objects in the Milky Way: 'There's almost always one within the solar system'

NASA Scientist Disputes Claim That Mysterious Object Headed Into Solar System Was Sent by Aliens

Scientists: It’s do or die time for America’s primacy exploring the Solar System. "When you turn off those spacecraft’s radio receivers, there's no way to turn them back on."

NASA Detects New Interstellar Visitor to Our Solar System: Could It Be an Alien Probe?

Nasa dismisses theory by Harvard astronomer who suggested an object from beyond the solar system could be a relic from a distant civilization

SpaceX targets Sept. 23 for launch of NASA's IMAP mission to map the boundaries of our solar system

Four Telescopes Confirm There's Something Deeply Strange About the Mysterious Object Headed Into the Solar System

Astronomers uncover a hidden world on the solar system’s edge

This Week In Space podcast: Episode 176 — Beyond the Solar System

Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 launched in 1977 and made a grand tour of the solar system's outer planets. They are the only functioning spacecraft in interstellar space, and they are still sending back measurements of the interstellar medium.