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 …
Pluto - National Air and Space Museum
Today, Pluto is known as a dwarf planet. Pluto is found in the icy outer edges of our Solar System in what is called the Kuiper Belt. While Pluto is too small to be considered a planet, it is the …
What's Beyond Our Solar System? - National Air and Space Museum
Activity: Build a Solar System in an Bowl Exoplanets orbit around their stars because of gravity, just like the planets in our solar system orbit around the Sun. Gravity works by bending the …
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, …
The Planets in Our Solar System – A Timeline - National Air and …
Oct 8, 2024 · Okay, we can. But we are not going to talk other dwarf planets—there are so many! Ceres, Makemake, Quaoar, and Sedna are some of the larger dwarf planets, just to name a …
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 …
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 …
What an Accidental Discovery Told Us About Pluto
Jun 22, 2018 · June of this year marks the 40th anniversary of the discovery of Pluto’s largest moon, Charon. At the time of Charon’s discovery, scientists weren’t even looking for it.
Venus - 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 …
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 …