The solar system consists of our star, the sun, and everything bound to it by gravity: the planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, ...

The Milky Way is known to host a diverse array of planetary systems, providing astronomers with extensive insights into how ...

This would see the mission going from an elliptical to more circular orbit over a six-year span, though mission planners hope for a decade of science and observations around Mercury. Solar sailing ...

"Polar orbit" means that instead of orbiting in the same plane as where the two stellar objects are located, the planet’s ...

Solar Orbiter just delivered its most jaw-dropping image yet—an enormous, detailed snapshot of the Sun's blazing outer ...

the planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, along with dwarf planets like Pluto, dozens of moons, and millions of asteroids and comets. The planets orbit the Sun in ...

Enjoy dark skies for evening observing, then catch a meteor shower and a planetary conjunction in the morning sky this week.

Early on April 25, 2025, a rare triple conjunction of Venus, Saturn, and a crescent Moon will grace the morning sky. This ...

Every planet follows an elliptical path around the Sun at a different speed and distance, and the Moon travels around Earth at a skewed angle about Earth's orbit ... in the sky. Mercury joins ...

Mercury, Venus, and Saturn make an early ... its eastern ramparts and lava lakes visible only when the lunar spin and elliptical orbit line up. This favorable libration (apparent tilt) occurs ...