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Fun Facts About The Geminids Meteor Shower

Each December, stargazers are treated to the year’s grand finale meteor shower known as the Geminids. This dazzling two week spectacle is one of the 10 biggest annual meteor showers, and considered one of the …

Fun Facts About The Leonid Meteor Shower

James Miller

Each year in November, a spectacular meteor shower known as the Leonids lights up the heavens in that region of the night sky associated with the constellation Leo. This famous meteor shower has captivated stargazers …

Neptune’s Great Dark Spot and surrounding white clouds photographed by Voyager 2

Neptune: Facts About the Solar System’s Farthest Planet

James Miller

Neptune is the eighth and most distant planet from the Sun. This cold, blue world lies at the outer edge of the Solar System’s planetary region, where sunlight is about 900 times fainter than it …

Pale blue-green planet Uranus photographed by Voyager 2

Uranus: Facts About the Solar System’s Sideways Planet

James Miller

Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun and one of the Solar System’s two ice giants. Approximately four times wider than Earth, it is immediately recognizable by its pale blue-green appearance. What makes Uranus …

Saturn and its ring system photographed by the Hubble Space Telescope

Saturn: Facts About the Solar System’s Ringed Planet

James Miller

Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest planet in the solar system after Jupiter. It is a gas giant composed mainly of hydrogen and helium, with no solid surface beneath its …

Mars photographed against the blackness of space

Mars: Facts About the Red Planet

James Miller

Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and one of the most intensively explored worlds beyond Earth. Its rust-colored surface, polar ice caps and evidence of ancient rivers and lakes have made it a …

Earth’s curved horizon, atmosphere and cloud-covered surface seen from space

Earth: Facts About Our Home Planet

James Miller

Earth is the third planet from the Sun, the largest of the four rocky planets and the only world known to support life. Its global oceans, protective atmosphere, active geology and magnetic field interact to …

Venus and its thick cloud cover photographed by NASA's Mariner 10 spacecraft

Venus: Facts About the Solar System’s Hottest Planet

James Miller

Venus is the second planet from the Sun and one of the four rocky planets of the inner solar system. It is slightly smaller than Earth, but beneath its bright clouds lies a profoundly different …

Mercury shown in a global mosaic assembled from MESSENGER spacecraft images

Mercury: Facts About the Closest Planet to the Sun

James Miller

Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun and the smallest planet in the solar system. This rocky world is only slightly larger than Earth’s Moon and completes an orbit in just 88 Earth days. …

Jupiter showing its cloud bands and Great Red Spot

Jupiter: Facts About the Solar System’s Largest Planet

James Miller

Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet in the solar system. It is a gas giant composed mainly of hydrogen and helium, with no solid surface beneath its deep atmosphere. …