Solar System

Cosma / Communication / Knowledge / Realm / Physical / Universe / Solar System, Our Neighborhood
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Introduction1

NASAJPL Edu (YouTube Channel)
NASA JPL Edu (Official Website)

Dictionary

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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Use the menu to visit other Toy Worlds.

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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

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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

History

WonderWhy (YouTube Channel)

History of Astronomy: Solar System (Astronomiae Historia: History of Astronomy)

Best of: Space Exploration (The History Guy, YouTube Video)

Earth, Planetary, and Solar Science History (NASA’s History Office)

Museum

Solar System (National Air and Space Museum)

Library

DDC: 523.2 Solar System (Library Thing)
Subject: Solar System (Library Thing)

Subject: Solar System (Open Library)

LCC: QB 500.5 Solar System (UPenn Online Books)

LCC: QB 500.5 Solar System (Library of Congress)
Subject: Solar System (Library of Congress)

Subject: Solar System (WorldCat)

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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 …

  • Scientists estimate sunlight in 18th and 19th...
    on May 14, 2026 at 9:08 pm

    The amount of sunlight, or solar radiation, that a location receives makes a big impact on weather conditions, crop success, rainfall and overall climate trends. Today, instruments called pyrheliometers are used to carefully calculate how much sunlight occurs at a particular location, but these instruments weren't available to quantify sunlight until 1838, and automated pyrheliometers weren't invented until the early 20th century.

  • Old journals unlock monthly climate shifts behind...
    on May 14, 2026 at 9:07 pm

    The Tenpō Famine of the 1830s was one of the worst in Japanese history, with the poor weather causing escalating rice prices as a major cause. To better understand how historical weather anomalies affected crop prices in Japan and ultimately led to the famine, researchers developed a new framework to analyze historical weather data.

  • NASA's Psyche spacecraft buzzing Mars on its way...
    on May 14, 2026 at 5:13 pm

    A NASA spacecraft chasing a rare metal asteroid swings past Mars this week for a gravity boost, snapping thousands of pictures as practice for the main encounter in 2029.

  • Will future missions to the moon be sustainable?...
    on May 14, 2026 at 4:27 pm

    There's a new space race to the moon, and this time the ambitions are not just to visit but to stay. NASA's Artemis program aims to establish a long-term human presence on the lunar surface in the 2030s. China, India, Japan and a number of private companies all have lunar mission programs of their own.

  • The dam dilemma: How to build anew without...
    on May 13, 2026 at 9:05 pm

    As the U.S. and other countries expand clean energy, large hydropower dams, often seen as a reliable renewable solution, can come with significant environmental and social costs if not planned thoughtfully.

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Related

Here are links to pages about closely related subjects.

Knowledge Realm

Physical

“Fundamentals”
Law (Constant) Relativity
Force Gravity, Electromagnetism (Light, Color)
Matter (Microscope) Molecule, Atom (Periodic Table), Particle

“Space”
Universe (Astronomical Instrument)
Galaxy Milky Way, Andromeda
Planetary System Star, Brown Dwarf, Planet, Moon

Our Neighborhood
Solar System Sun
Terrestrial Planet Mercury, Venus, Earth (Moon), Mars
Asteroid Belt Ceres, Vesta
Jovian Planet Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
Trans-Neptunian Object
Kuiper Belt Pluto, Haumea, Makemake
Scattered Disc Eris, Sedna, Planet X
Oort Cloud Etc. Scholz’s Star
Small Body Comet, Centaur, Asteroid

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Notes

1.   The resources on this page are are organized by a classification scheme developed exclusively for Cosma.