Solar System

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Solar System : the sun together with the group of celestial bodies that are held by its attraction and revolve around it; also : a similar system centered on another star — Merriam-Webster See also OneLook

Encyclopedia

Solar System is the gravitationally bound system comprising the Sun and the objects that orbit it, either directly or indirectly. Of those objects that orbit the Sun directly, the largest eight are the planets, with the remainder being significantly smaller objects, such as dwarf planets and small Solar System bodies. Of the objects that orbit the Sun indirectly, the moons, 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 most of the remaining mass contained in Jupiter. The four smaller inner planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars, are terrestrial planets, being primarily composed of rock and metal. The four outer planets are giant planets, being substantially more massive than the terrestrials. The two largest, Jupiter and Saturn, are gas giants, being composed mainly of hydrogen and helium; the two outermost planets, Uranus and Neptune, are ice giants, being composed mostly of substances with relatively high melting points compared with hydrogen and helium, called volatiles, such as water, ammonia and methane. All planets have almost circular orbits that lie within a nearly flat disc called the ecliptic. — Wikipedia

Solar System (Encyclopædia Britannica)

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Exploration

Solar Extremes

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Kenneth C. Griffin Exploring The Planets Exhibit (National Air and Space Museum)
Kenneth C. Griffin Exploring The Planets Exhibit (Virtual Tour)

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360° Space Roller Coaster 1 (Bright Side VR 360 Videos, YouTube 360° Video)
360° Space Roller Coaster 2 (Bright Side VR 360 Videos, YouTube 360° Video)

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Adventures

Explore related posts on Cosma …

Moon’scapes - There’s no denying that it’s been a rough week for many Earthlings. On the other hand, it’s been a great week for anyone who spends their time more preoccupied with the Moon than with more earthly concerns. That’s because there’s a treasure trove of news about our lunar realm. For example, NASA’s Goddard Media Studios … Continue reading Moon’scapes
Perspectives on Earth - Last week NASA released this fascinating video entitled Our Living Planet based upon 20 years of data from satellites that observe all plant life at the surface of the land and ocean. NASA Goddard (YouTube Channel) Goddard Space Flight Center (Official Website) You can find out more about the video from this article. The Changing … Continue reading Perspectives on Earth
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Inspiration

Eyes on the Solar System provides realistic simulated views of spacecraft, planets and other features within the Solar System with position and orientation of spacecraft and planets represented in the software are based on real data from JPL. — Wikipedia

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (YouTube Channel)
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (Official Website)

Eyes on the Solar System (NASA’s JPL & Cal Tech)

Solar System Treks are online, browser-based portals that allow you to visualize, explore, and analyze the surfaces of other worlds using real data returned from a growing fleet of spacecraft. You can view the worlds through the eyes of many different instruments, pilot real-time 3D flyovers above mountains and into craters, and conduct measurements of surface features. — Solar System Treks (NASA)

Solar System Treks (NASA)

Solar System Simulator is a graphical engine which will produce simulated views of any body in the solar system from any point in space. — NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Solar System Simulator (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory)

Solar System (Astrum, YouTube Playlist)

Talks about the Solar System (TED: Ideas Worth Spreading)
Articles about the Solar System (Big Think)

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Innovation

Science

Solar System Exploration (NASA Science Website)
NASA Solar System (YouTube Channel)

Solar System Videos (ViewSpace, Space Telescope Science Institute)
Our Dynamic Solar System Videos (ViewSpace, Space Telescope Science Institute)

Solar System (Astrum, YouTube Playlist)
Our Solar System’s Moons (Astrum, YouTube Playlist)

Solar System (SciShow Space, YouTube Playlists)

Our Solar System (National Geographic)

Our Solar System (Lunar & Planetary Institute)
Evolution of our Solar System (Lunar & Planetary Institute)

Solar System (Eric Weisstein’s World of Astronomy, Wolfram Research)
Solar System Formation (Eric Weisstein’s World of Astronomy, Wolfram Research)

Solar System (Wolfram Alpha)

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Preservation

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Participation

Education

NASAeClips (YouTube Channel)
NASAeClips (Official Website)

NASA Space Place (YouTube Channel)
NASA Space Place (Official Website)

Solar System (NASA Space Place, Website)

The Solar System and Beyond: Kids Edition (NASA Video, YouTube Playlist)

Solar System – Level 1 (StarChild, Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA)
Solar System – Level 2 (StarChild, Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA)

Solar System (United States Geological Survey)

Solar System Learning Resources (National Air and Space Museum)

Solar System I (Cosmos4Kids)
Solar System II (Cosmos4Kids)

Solar System (Space Scoop)
Planets (Space Scoop)

Introduction to the Solar System (CrashCourse Astronomy, YouTube Video)

Solar System (Astronomy Center, ComPADRE)

MERLOT: Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching
OER Commons: Open Educational Resources

Community

Organization

The Planetary Society
Lunar & Planetary Institute

News

Solar System (Nova Research Highlights, American Astronomical Society)
Solar System (Sky & Telescope)
Solar System (Astronomy Magazine)
Solar System (JSTOR)
Solar System (Science Daily)
Solar System (Phys.org)

Recent News from Phys.org …

The definitive census of multiple star systems...
on May 28, 2026 at 2:00 am
Our sun is a loner. It lacks a stellar companion hurtling through interstellar space with it. But we've known for a long time that that's actually relatively rare—most stars have at least one gravitationally bound partner. Understanding how exactly those stars are related to each other is critical for observational campaigns—especially for those of exoplanets. So a new paper posted to the arXiv preprint server from researchers at the University of Madrid that categorizes almost every star […]
Listening to the sun reveals previously hidden...
on May 28, 2026 at 12:10 am
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Could aliens ever visit Earth? An aerospace...
on May 27, 2026 at 2:01 pm
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Why is Europe the world's fastest warming...
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Astrophysicists strike black gold with treasure...
on May 26, 2026 at 5:20 pm
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