Planets

Asteroids are chunks of rock, metal, or both that were once part of smallish planets but were destroyed after collisions. Let's learn more about them!

Comets are chunks of ice and rock that orbit the Sun. When they get near the Sun the ice turns into gas, forming the long tail

Today Phil helps keep you from ticking off an astronomer in your life by making sure you know the difference between a meteor, meteorite, and meteoroid.

We look at the sun's core, plasma, magnetic fields, sunspots, solar flares, coronal mass ejections, and what all of that means for our planet.

Learn about our Sun and the formation of the planets and quite a few other things too!

This site is a 3-D environment full of real NASA mission data. Students can explore the cosmos from their computers

This media-rich site provides information on each of planets of our solar system. Learn about the surface of each planet, as well as, statistics, size comparison and moons of each planet.

A 3D adventure through our cosmic neighborhood with NASA and Google. Learn about the planets, moons, and man-made objects that are part of our solar system.

This study jam is about our solar system, specifically the inner planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. Check out the slide show and then take the quiz to test yourself.

Check out this slide show about the outer planets: Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune and the plaetoid Pluto. Take the quiz to test yourself.

Free online model of the solar system and night sky

Neil deGrasse Tyson takes us on a quick (3 minute) tour of our solar system. Could we live on the other planets in our solar system? Related Lesson

It takes light a zippy 8 minutes to reach Earth from the surface of the Sun. But how long does it take that same light to travel from the Sun’s core to its surface? It's a surprisingly long time! Related Lesson

Investigate the theories surrounding cosmic dust bunnies and discover how the tiny particles could hold the key to the formation of life on Earth. Related Lesson