The Solar System

Science Mission Directorate
Astrobiology
Europa
Europa Clipper
Planetary Science
Planetary Science Division
The Solar System
That’s a great question. And it’s a question that NASA will seek to answer with the Europa Clipper spacecraft. Europa is a moon of Jupiter. It’s about the same size as Earth’s Moon, but its surface looks very different. The surface of Europa is covered with a layer of ice, and below that ice, we […]
Posted February 25, 2025
Goddard Space Flight Center
Mars
The Solar System
A new international study partially funded by NASA on how Mars got its iconic red color adds to evidence that Mars had a cool but wet and potentially habitable climate in its ancient past. The current atmosphere of Mars is too cold and thin to support liquid water, an essential ingredient for life, on its […]
Posted February 25, 2025
Science Mission Directorate
Planetary Science
Planetary Science Division
The Solar System
So how long does it take to get from Earth to the Moon, to Mars or to Jupiter? As with most things in life, the answer is: it depends.
Posted February 19, 2025
Earth's Moon
Skywatching
The Solar System
The Moon will pass into Earth’s shadow and appear to turn red on the night of March 13 or early in the morning on March 14, depending on time zone. Here’s what you need to know about the total lunar eclipse. What is a lunar eclipse? A lunar eclipse occurs when the Sun, Earth, and Moon align […]
Posted February 6, 2025
Juno
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Jupiter
Jupiter Moons
The Solar System
Even by the standards of Io, the most volcanic celestial body in the solar system, recent events observed on the Jovian moon are extreme. Scientists with NASA’s Juno mission have discovered a volcanic hot spot in the southern hemisphere of Jupiter’s moon Io. The hot spot is not only larger than Earth’s Lake Superior, but […]
Posted January 28, 2025
Asteroids
Ames Research Center
Ames Research Center's Science Directorate
General
James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)
Missions
NASA Centers & Facilities
The Solar System
NASA’s powerful James Webb Space Telescope includes asteroids on its list of objects studied and secrets revealed.  A team led by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge repurposed Webb’s observations of a distant star to reveal a population of small asteroids — smaller than astronomers had ever detected orbiting
Posted December 20, 2024
Comets
Asteroids
The Solar System
These celestial objects look like asteroids but act like comets now come in two flavors. The first dark comet — a celestial object that looks like an asteroid but moves through space like a comet — was reported less than two years ago. Soon after, another six were found. In a new paper, researchers announce […]
Posted December 9, 2024
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