Solar System 101 course for all levels

Describe the April 8, 2024 total solar eclipse across North America from Mexico to Newfoundland, as the moon blocks the sun and reveals the corona during totality.

Learn how the IAU defines planets, dwarf planets, and small solar system bodies, and review the three planet criteria: orbit the sun, be nearly round, and clear its orbit.

Trace how scientific inquiry and peer review reshape planetary definitions, from ancient views to the eight planets, Pluto's dwarf status, and the discovery of exoplanets and Kuiper Belt objects.

Explore the solar system, including the sun Sol, eight planets and Pluto, plus moons, asteroids, and comets, located in the Milky Way's outer spiral arm.

Explore the solar system beyond eight planets, including the Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud, and learn about distances, light years, astronomical units, moons, and planet formation.

Explore the solar system's history from heliocentrism to current robotic exploration, tracing key discoveries by Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, and missions like Voyager that journey toward interstellar space.

Discover how the sun, the closest star to Earth and center of the solar system, powers life with light, heat, and gravity from about 93 million miles away.

Explore the sun as a dynamic star, its core, photosphere, and corona, and learn how heliophysics studies its energy, gravity, and influence on the solar system.

Explore how the sun's magnetic fields extend into space, carried by the solar wind to form the heliosphere and drive space weather that can affect satellites and power grids.

Explore the Kuiper Belt, a doughnut-shaped ring of icy objects beyond Neptune, home to Pluto, Arrokoth (MU69), and dwarf planets such as Eris and Haumea, with many comets.

Discover the Kuiper Belt beyond Neptune, including classical and resonant objects like Pluto and Plutinos, the scattered disc, and comet origins from the belt and Oort Cloud.

Explore the Kuiper Belt's exploration through missions like New Horizons and Hubble, revealing Pluto, Arrokoth, Albion, and distant Kuiper Belt objects.

Describe the Oort Cloud, a distant spherical shell of icy objects surrounding the sun, and its role as the probable source of long-period comets.

Explore how the Milky Way, a spiral galaxy with at least 100 billion stars, spans 100,000 light years across and 1,000 light years thick, revealing exoplanet context.

Discover the Oort Cloud, a distant thick bubble of icy bodies beyond Pluto, formed from leftover planetesimals and galactic gravity, hosting long-period comets from all directions.

Explore how the Milky Way sits in a vast, expanding universe filled with billions of galaxies and exoplanets, plus dark energy, dark matter, and Andromeda.

Explore the Milky Way's vast structure, planetary systems beyond our solar system, and the universe's accelerating expansion driven by dark energy, with dark matter composing the rest.

Explore how space telescopes like Hubble and Webb reveal exoplanets and distant worlds, and learn about NASA missions that map the solar system's boundaries and evolution.

Explore mercury, the smallest terrestrial planet and the sun’s closest neighbor, with a cratered surface, a thin exosphere, an 88-day year, and no moons.

Explore Mercury’s extreme temperatures from 800°F highs to -290°F lows, and its small size with a highly eccentric orbit and a lack of atmosphere, with polar ice in permanent shadows.

Trace Mercury's exploration from early transits to spacecraft missions like Mariner 10, Messenger, and Bepicolombo, highlighting flybys, orbit insertions, and the path to its 2026 primary science mission.

Explore Venus, the second planet from the sun and Earth's neighbor. It has a thick carbon dioxide atmosphere and sulfuric acid clouds that trap heat, making it the hottest planet.

Compare Venus to Earth in size and structure, noting its iron core and volcanic history, and its induced magnetic field. Explore the ionosphere and solar wind interactions shaping Venus's atmosphere.

Trace Venus exploration from Mariner 2's flyby to radar mapping by Magellan, Venus Express, and Akatsuki, and outline upcoming Veritas, Da Vinci, and Envision missions.