Orange sun with colorful planets trailing out to one side.

Solar System Exploration


Join us as we explore our planetary neighborhood: The Sun, planets, moons, comets, and asteroids.

Solar System Overview

The solar system has one star, eight planets, five officially named dwarf planets, hundreds of moons, thousands of comets, and more than a million asteroids. Our solar system is located in the Milky Way, a barred spiral galaxy with two major arms, and two minor arms. Our Sun is in a small, partial arm of the Milky Way called the Orion Arm, or Orion Spur, between the Sagittarius and Perseus arms. Our solar system orbits the center of the galaxy at about 515,000 mph (828,000 kph). It takes about 230 million years to complete one orbit around the galactic center. We call it the solar system because it is made up of our star, the Sun, and everything bound to it by gravity.

Help Celebrate the Launch!

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    Host a Launch Party

    Get ready to experience a once-in-a-lifetime event as NASA's Europa Clipper mission takes flight! This historic mission will explore Jupiter’s icy moon, Europa, and you’re invited to host your very own watch party to share the excitement with friends, family, and fellow space enthusiasts. We’ve got everything you need to make your launch celebration out of this world.

    Visit Our Launch Party Hub

  2. An illustration calling for participation in a NASA public engagement activity for the Europa Clipper launch. This illustration has a pale blue background with outlines of narrow stars drawn in red, gold, and blue. It says Share Your Space Style, #RunwayToJupiter NASA Style Challenge. Enter by Oct. 10, 2024
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    #RunwayToJupiter Style Challenge

    Express your space style! Show off your outfits, makeup looks, nail art, and other creative expressions inspired by Jupiter's swirls, Europa's icy glam, and the exploration of the planets. Share your look with the hashtag #RunwayToJupiter for a chance to be featured on NASA’s website and social media channels.

    How to Participate

  3. A bright blue graphic with images cut in to promote NASA's Social Media Toolkit for the launch of Europa Clipper. It has seven small images related to the launch. It has the words Join Our Social Space in white lettering.
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    Get the Social Media Toolkit

    If you’re interested in sharing content about Europa Clipper on social media, this is your space!

    Get the Toolkit

  4. A woman points to a poster as a woman and child look on from across the table.
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    More Ways to Participate

    Explore this page for mission updates, activities, spacecraft models, posters, stickers, animations, and more. This content is suitable for educators, students, and anyone interested in the Europa Clipper mission.

    Explore Ways to Participate

Eyes on the Solar System: A real-time visualization of our solar system using planetary science data.
NASA/JPL-Caltech

10 THINGS about our solar system

This is an updated montage of planetary images taken by spacecraft managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA. Included are from top to bottom images of Mercury, Venus, Earth and Moon, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

Our solar system has eight planets, and five dwarf planets.

Gray-colored asteroid Bennu is shaped like a spinning top.

About 1.4 million asteroids, and about 4,000 comets are in our solar system.

Our solar system has more than 200 planetary moons.

A swirling Milky Way Galaxy, with our Sun seen on the outskirts.

Our solar system is in one of the Milky Way galaxy’s spiral arms called the Orion Spur.

Sun and planets in solar system

Our solar system takes about 230 million years to orbit the galactic center.

Spitzer Milky Way 1600px

The Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy.

The blue limb of Earth as viewed from the space station.

Our solar system has many worlds with many types of atmospheres.

The four giant planets – and at least one asteroid – have rings.

Man in the moon with American flag

More than 300 robotic spacecraft have left Earth's orbit, and 24 U.S. astronauts have traveled to the Moon.

Earth blue marble photo

So far, Earth is the only place we've found life in our solar system.

Featured Missions

Explore our solar system with NASA. Here are some of our upcoming missions.

A spacecraft hovers over a reddish striped moon with planet Jupiter in the background.

Europa Clipper

NASA's Europa Clipper is the first mission designed to conduct a detailed science investigation of Jupiter's moon Europa.

NASA's NEO Surveyor is seen in this illustration against an infrared observation of a starfield made by the agency's WISE mission.

NEO Surveyor

Near-Earth Object (NEO) Surveyor is the first space telescope specifically designed to hunt asteroids and comets that may be potential hazards to Earth.

A gray spacecraft is illustrated over Venus with one of its instruments scanning the planet below.

VERITAS

VERITAS, and another mission called DAVINCI, will be the first NASA spacecraft to explore Venus since the 1990s.

Solar System Feature Stories

Illustration of eight planets and one dwarf planet displayed three across and three down.

Planet Sizes and Locations

A colorful. symbolic thermometer showing planets in our solar system ordered from hottest a the top to coldest at the bottom. The top of the graphic is red, then it fades to orange, yellow, green, then blue. It has illustrations of the planets.

Temperatures Across the Solar System

animation of clouds moving around Saturn's pole in a hexagonal formation

Storms Across the Solar System

Pluto is reddish and has a heart shape lighter patch in the lower right half of this image from the New Horizons spacecraft.

Find Your Pluto Time

two rocky asteroids in black space

What's That Space Rock?

A full globe view of reddish Mars featuring Valles Marineris - which looks like a huge gash on the planet.

10 Things: Grand Canyons

Skywatching Tips

NASA's guide to the night skies.

Learn More
Moon rising over a white building with domes sitting on a hillside.

Go Beyond Our Solar System

Featured Story

NASA, Global Astronomers Await Rare Nova Explosion

Around the world this summer, professional and amateur astronomers alike will be fixed on one small constellation deep in the…

Read the Story

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