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 ...
In Depth | Sun – NASA Solar System Exploration
The Sun orbits the center of the Milky Way, bringing with it the planets, asteroids, comets, and other objects in our solar system. Our solar system is moving with an average velocity of 450,000 miles per hour (720,000 kilometers per hour).
including the Milky Way. M15 Globular Cluster The large orbits of these clusters of stars bring them far out in the galactic halo most of the time, like a swarm of bees, thousands of light-years away. Only occasionally do they move through the plane of the Milky Way, making for good viewing of these tightly-packed “galactic suburbs” from Earth.
Cassini Sees Saturn Rings Oscillate Like Mini-Galaxy
Oct 31, 2010 · And the answer, published online today in the Astronomical Journal, is this: The rings are behaving like a miniature version of our own Milky Way galaxy. This new insight, garnered from images of Saturn's most massive ring, the B ring, may answer another long-standing question: What causes the bewildering variety of structures seen throughout ...
least twice as much mass in the Milky Way galactic disk as can be accounted for by adding up the mass of all stars and interstellar clouds. While the solar system does not have any detectable evidence for dark matter, our galaxy is composed of perhaps 90% dark matter.
Search Results - 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.
The Usual Suspects: a Rogues Gallery of Asteroids, Comets and …
Nov 15, 2018 · Observations suggest it had been wandering through the Milky Way, unattached to any star system, for hundreds of millions of years before its chance encounter with our star system. In any case, we’ll probably never get a close look; ‘Oumuamua is …
10 Facts about the Pioneer Spacecraft - NASA Solar System …
Sep 30, 2022 · Pioneers 10 and 11 are two of five spacecraft with sufficient velocity to escape our solar system and travel into interstellar space. The other three – Voyagers 1 and 2 and New Horizons – are still actively talking to Earth. The twin Pioneers are now silent.
What Scientists Found After Sifting Through Dust in the Solar System
Mar 12, 2019 · Solar scientists like Howard — who study solar activity for purposes such as forecasting imminent space weather, including giant explosions of solar material that the Sun can sometimes send our way — have spent years developing techniques to remove the …
Raw Images – NASA Solar System Exploration
Sep 21, 2023 · NASA’s real-time science encyclopedia of deep space exploration. Our scientists and far-ranging robots explore the wild frontiers of our solar system.