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 research team used advanced geochemical dating and analysis techniques to reveal that certain carbonaceous chondrites, like the asteroid Ryugu and meteorite Ivuna, originate from celestial bodies that formed less than 2 million years after the beginning of the solar system

Exoplanets Offer Clues to What Lies Beyond Our Solar System

Is there a hidden 'Planet 9' in our solar system?

How To See The Zodiacal Light — The Solar System’s ‘False Dawn’

NASA’s Hubble, Webb Find Far-out Solar System Objects ‘Remember’ Past

On this day in space! Sept. 5, 1977: NASA launches Voyager 1 on epic journey across the solar system

This NASA-funded 'Slingshot' spacecraft idea could map minerals on planets and moons across our solar system

NASA’s New Horizons mission may shut down two instruments over lack of funding

Once the Solar System's Ninth Planet, Pluto Was Reclassified 20 Years Ago. Here's Why Planetary Scientists and the Public Alike Love the Small, Icy Body

‘Exciting’ Earth-Like Planet Found Close To The Solar System

Japanese scientists are readying a mission to Mars’ moons to retrieve samples that may unlock the origins of the solar system and life on Earth

Astronomers May Have Found the First Moon Beyond Our Solar System

1st three-headed asteroid found in our solar system — and it has a little moon

This genuinely pocket-sized smart telescope makes capturing the deep sky and the solar system almost effortless

Scientists may have found the first moon beyond our solar system

Astronomers Discover the First Known Moon Outside our Solar System

Astronomers may have discovered the 1st moon outside of our solar system — or is it something weirder?

UCF researchers advance tech that could help scientists detect habitable worlds beyond our solar system - EurekAlert!

NASA’s Pluto Probe Is Finally Approaching a Major Boundary of Deep Space | The probe is set to become the third human-made object to leave the solar system, but it must first cross this mysterious boundary.

'Stellar death is not the end': James Webb Space Telescope glimpses the fate of the solar system in a weird exoplanet orbiting a dead star