Planets, sizes
The inner planets of the Solar System are terrestrial planets while the outer planets are gas giants.
Geography
Keywords
planets, Solar System, inner planets, outer planets, rocky planet, gas planet, Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, red supergiant, axis of rotation, astronomy, geography
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The life-cycle of the Solar System
The formation of the Sun and the planets started with the contraction of a dust cloud about 4.5 billion years ago.
The Solar System; planetary orbits
The orbits of the 8 planets in our Solar System are elliptical.
Earth
The Earth is a rocky planet with a solid crust and oxygen in its atmosphere.
Jupiter
Jupiter is the largest planet of the Solar System, it has two and a half times the mass of all the other planets combined.
Kepler´s laws of planetary motion
The three important laws describing planetary motion were formulated by Johannes Kepler.
Mercury
Mercury is innermost and smallest planet of the Solar System.
Milky Way
The diameter of our galaxy is about 100,000 light years; it contains more than 100 billion stars, one of which is our Sun.
Our astronomical neighborhood
A demonstration of nearby planets, stars and galaxies.
Saturn
Saturn is the second largest planet in the Solar System, easily recognisable by its rings.
The New Horizons mission
The New Horizons space probe was launched in 2006, with the objective to study Pluto and the Kuiper Belt.
The Sun
The diameter of the Sun is about 109 times that of the Earth. Most of its mass consists of hydrogen.
Venus
Venus is the 2nd planet from the Sun, the brightest object on the night sky (after the Moon).
Voyager space probes
The Voyager space probes were the first man-made objects to leave the Solar System. They gather data about outer space and carry information about humanity.
Hubble Space Telescope
The Hubble Space Telescope orbits outside the distorting influence of Earth´s atmosphere.
Neptune
Neptune is the outermost planet of the Solar System, the smallest of the giant planets
Pluto - Charon system
The largest satellite of Pluto is Charon.
Solar eclipse
When the Sun, Earth, and the Moon are arranged in a straight line, the Moon can partially or completely obscure the Sun.
The Cassini-Huygens Mission (1997-2017)
The Cassini spacecraft was exploring Saturn and its moons for nearly 20 years.
The Dawn mission
Studying Ceres and Vesta will help us learn more about the early history of the Solar System and how rocky planets are formed.
Kepler space telescope
The Kepler space telescope was launched by NASA to discover Earth-like planets orbiting other stars
Mars Exploration Program
Space probes and Mars rovers examine the structure of Mars and possible traces of life.
Space Shuttle
The Space Shuttle was a manned, reusable spacecraft operated by NASA.
Sputnik 1 (1957)
The Soviet-made satellite was the first spacecraft to be launched into outer space (in October 1957).
The Sun's path above the major circles of latitude
The apparent movement of the Sun is caused by the Earth's rotation around its axis.
Types of stars
This animation demonstrates the process of star development for average and massive stars.
Weightlessness
A spacecraft on its path is in a constant state of free fall.
Interesting astronomy facts
This animation presents some interesting facts in the field of astronomy.
ISS
The International Space Station is a habitable satellite built with the cooperation of 16 countries.
Satellite types
Satellites orbiting the Earth can be used for civilian or military purposes.
The structure of Earth (intermediate)
The Earth is composed of several spherical layers.