Explore Solar System Discoveries
![](/images/icons/systemdiscovery_mercury.jpg)
Mercury's orbit is so close to the Sun that it is difficult to see by ground-based observers. ...
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![](/images/icons/systemdiscovery_venus.jpg)
Venus is one of the brightest objects in the sky, so it is clearly visible to the naked eye. ...
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![](/images/icons/systemdiscovery_mars.jpg)
Mars is much like Venus-- it's very bright and therefore easily spotted in the night sky. ...
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![](/images/icons/systemdiscovery_jupiter.jpg)
Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system. It is also one of the brighter objects ...
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![](/images/icons/systemdiscovery_saturn.jpg)
Like the inner planets and Jupiter, Saturn is clearly visible in the night sky. The ancient ...
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![](/images/icons/systemdiscovery_uranus.jpg)
Astronomer William Herschel is credited with the discovery of Uranus in 1781. He was using ...
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![](/images/icons/systemdiscovery_neptune.jpg)
If you had a quiz question in school that asked what year Neptune was discovered, you'd probably ...
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![](/images/icons/systemdiscovery_pluto.gif)
After the discovery of Neptune in 1846, mathematical theory suggested that there still might ...
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![](/images/icons/systemdiscovery_ceres.jpg)
Ceres is the largest asteroid in the main asteroid belt. It was classified as a "dwarf ...
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![](/images/icons/systemdiscovery_haumea.jpg)
Haumea is a dwarf planet in our Solar System. Haumea is the fifth object officially classified ...
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More about Solar System Discoveries
Did you know?
Do you know the difference between
meteors, meteoroids, and meteorites?
Do you know Kepler’s three laws of planetary motion?
Earth and Space Science Concept of the Day
Do you know what this word or phrase means?
Rayleigh wavexRayleigh wave : A Rayleigh wave is a seismic surface wave causing the ground to shake in an elliptical motion, with no transverse, or perpendicular, motion.
Click on the word to find out!
Research Highlights
Geologists have found evidence that sea ice extended to the equator 716.5 million years ago, bringing new precision to a "snowball Earth" event long suspected to have taken place around that time. Funded...
Read more![](/olpa/images/glaciation1_sm.jpg)