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Planet Compare - NASA Solar System Exploration
NASA’s real-time science encyclopedia of deep space exploration. Our scientists and far-ranging robots explore the wild frontiers of our solar system.
In Depth | Our Solar System – NASA Solar System Exploration
The planetary system we call home is located in an outer spiral arm of the Milky Way galaxy. Our solar system consists of our star, the Sun, and everything bound to it by gravity – the planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune; dwarf planets such as Pluto; dozens of moons; and millions of asteroids, comets, and meteoroids. Beyond our own solar system, there ...
In Depth | Callisto – NASA Solar System Exploration
Callisto is Jupiter’s second largest moon and the third largest moon in our solar system. It’s about the same size as Mercury. In the past, some scientists thought of Callisto as a boring “ugly duckling moon” and a “hunk of rock and ice.” That’s because the crater-covered world didn’t seem to have much going on—no active volcanoes or shifting tectonic plates. But data from ...
In Depth | Ganymede – NASA Solar System Exploration
Jupiter’s moon Ganymede is proving to be a fascinating world. Not only is it the largest moon in our solar system, bigger than the planet Mercury and the dwarf planet Pluto, but NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has found the best evidence yet for an underground saltwater ocean on Ganymede. The ocean is thought to have more water than all the water on Earth's surface. Ganymede’s ocean is ...
Pluto By the Numbers - NASA Solar System Exploration
Pluto was once our solar system's ninth planet, but has been reclassified as a dwarf planet. It's located in the Kuiper Belt.
Europa By the Numbers - NASA Solar System Exploration
Europa is one of the largest of Jupiter’s more than 90 moons. It's the sixth-closest moon to the planet.
Mars By the Numbers - NASA Solar System Exploration
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun, and the seventh largest. It’s the only planet we know of inhabited entirely by robots.
Jupiter - NASA Solar System Exploration
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun, and the largest in the solar system – more than twice as massive as the other planets combined.
In Depth | Enceladus – NASA Solar System Exploration
Also, like some other moons in the extensive systems of the giant planets, Enceladus is trapped in what’s called an orbital resonance, which is when two or more moons line up with their parent planet at regular intervals and interact gravitationally. Enceladus orbits Saturn twice every time Dione, a larger moon, orbits once.
In Depth | Titan – NASA Solar System Exploration
Saturn's largest moon, Titan, is an icy world whose surface is completely obscured by a golden hazy atmosphere. Titan is the second largest moon in our solar system. Only Jupiter's moon Ganymede is larger, by just 2 percent. Titan is bigger than Earth's moon, and larger than even the planet Mercury. This mammoth moon is the only moon in the solar system with a dense atmosphere, and it’s the ...
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