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 meteoroids Beyond our own solar system, there
Planet Compare - 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
In Depth | Sun – NASA Solar System Exploration In Depth The Sun is a 4 5 billion-year-old yellow dwarf star – a hot glowing ball of hydrogen and helium – at the center of our solar system It’s about 93 million miles (150 million kilometers) from Earth and it’s our solar system’s only star Without the Sun’s energy, life as we know it could not exist on our home planet
Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud - NASA Solar System Exploration Instead, in 2006, the International Astronomical Union created a new class of objects called dwarf planet, and placed Pluto, Eris, and the asteroid Ceres in this category Subsequent discoveries added Haumea and Makemake to the dwarf planet family Pluto, Eris, Haumea, and Makemake retain their classifi-cation as KBOs (or TNOs)
Dawn at Ceres - NASA Solar System Exploration It will deter-mine the dwarf planet’s elemental and mineral com-position From this information, scientists can explore the possible relationship between meteorites and Ceres, and the thermal histories of the dwarf planet
In Depth | Moons – NASA Solar System Exploration Eris, another dwarf planet even more distant than Pluto, has a small moon of its own, named Dysnomia Haumea, another dwarf planet, has two satellites, Hi'iaka and Namaka
In Progress - 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
In Depth | Proteus – NASA Solar System Exploration Circling the planet in the same direction as Neptune rotates, Proteus remains close to Neptune's equatorial plane Proteus is one of the darkest objects in our solar system