Dwarf planets - National Air and Space Museum
Jun 9, 2020 · A dwarf planet is a planet that orbits the sun, has enough mass for its gravity to form it into a nearly round shape, has not cleared other large objects from the region it crosses during its orbit, …
Our Solar System - National Air and Space Museum
Our solar system has four giant planets: Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, and Jupiter. Giant planets are much larger than Earth—they are unimaginably huge, stunningly beautiful, and sometimes a little weird.
Solar System - National Air and Space Museum
Aug 7, 2025 · The Solar System, located in the Milky Way Galaxy, is our celestial neighborhood. Our Solar System consists of 8 planets, several dwarf planets, dozens of moons, and millions of …
Dwarf Planets - National Air and Space Museum
The Center for Earth and Planetary Studies (CEPS) at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum houses a Planetary Image Facility that contains hardcopy images ranging from the Ranger missions …
Small solar system bodies - National Air and Space Museum
May 22, 2024 · Small solar system bodies—along with the Sun, planets, and dwarf planets—help make up our Solar System. Small solar system bodies include things like comets, asteroids, moons, and …
How Did We Discover the Planets? - National Air and Space Museum
Aug 1, 2023 · When you look up you can see the stars, the Moon, and sometimes even other planets! We know what these otherworldly objects are because of centuries of research carried out by curious …
Exoplanets - National Air and Space Museum
Many of these newly discovered planets are in the Goldilocks Zone where conditions may be right to support life. More Grade Level Grade 5, Grade 6, Grade 7, Grade 8, and Grade 9 Topics Astronomy, …
What Makes a Moon a Moon? | National Air and Space Museum
Nov 14, 2024 · What Makes a Moon a Moon? A moon is a planetary body that goes around another planetary body. Usually, this is one or more moons going around a planet, but it doesn’t have to be a …
Sun | National Air and Space Museum
What role does the Sun play in our Solar System? A big one—both in size and importance. Our Sun is a 4.5 billion year old star at the center of our Solar System. It's gravity holds our Solar System …
Vulcan? But that’s not logical… - National Air and Space Museum
Feb 26, 2013 · This image, taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, shows five moons orbiting the distant, icy dwarf planet Pluto. As SETI contemplated what names to propose for these two newly …