Solar System Discoveries

Who discovered the planets? For many of the planets in the solar system, we'll never know! Some planets are so bright in the sky that the first observers of these planets are lost in the distant past of early civilizations. Venus was carefully observed in early Mesoamerican cultures. The most distant planets were discovered in the last century, and we're now still discovering Dwarf planets, in our solar system and beyond. Visit the links here to find out more about what we know about the discovery of planets."
Have you ever seen the <a href="/earth/Magnetosphere/aurora.html">Southern or Northern Lights</a>? Earth isn't the only planet that puts on these beautiful light shows, which are also called the "<a href="/earth/Magnetosphere/aurora.html">aurora</a>". Aurora have been seen at both <a href="/saturn/saturn_polar_regions.html">poles of Saturn</a>, too, as well as at the poles of <a href="/jupiter/magnetosphere/jupiter_aurora.html">Jupiter</a>. These "<a href="/earth/Magnetosphere/tour/tour_earth_magnetosphere_09.html">curtains of light</a>" sometimes rise 1,200 miles (2,000 km) above the <a href="/saturn/atmosphere/S_clouds_overview.html">cloud tops</a> near Saturn's poles. The <a href="/space_missions/HST.html">Hubble Space Telescope</a> took this picture in 2004.<p><small><em>Image courtesy of NASA, ESA, J. Clarke (Boston University), and Z. Levay (STScI)</em></small></p>Neptune's <a href="/neptune/lower_atmosphere.html">atmosphere</a> shows a striped pattern of <a href="/neptune/atmosphere/N_clouds_overview.html">clouds</a>. This cloud pattern is very similar to that of <a href="/jupiter/jupiter.html">Jupiter</a> and <a href="/saturn/saturn.html">Saturn</a>. Neptune even has a <a href="/neptune/atmosphere/N_clouds_GDS.html">Great Dark Spot</a> similar to Jupiter's <a href="/jupiter/atmosphere/J_clouds_GRS.html">Great Red Spot</a>. The Great Dark Spot of Neptune is thought to be a hole, similar to the hole in the <a href="/earth/Atmosphere/ozone_layer.html">ozone layer on Earth</a>, in the <a href="/physical_science/chemistry/methane.html">methane</a> cloud deck of Neptune.<p><small><em>Image courtesy of NASA</em></small></p><a href="/mercury/mercury.html">Mercury</a>, the innermost planet of the solar system, is a little bigger than the Earth's Moon. The <a href="/mercury/Interior_Surface/Surface/surface_overview.html">surface</a> of the planet is covered with craters, like the Moon, but temperatures there can reach over 800&deg;F because Mercury is so close to the Sun and rotates so slowly. This picture was taken by the <a href="/space_missions/robotic/messenger/messenger.html">MESSENGER spacecraft</a> in October 2008.<p><small><em>Image courtesy of NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington.</em></small></p>The uniquely red <a href="/mars/interior/Martian_global_geology.html">global surface</a> of Mars is marked by many interesting features - some like those on the <a href="/earth/earth.html">Earth</a> and others strangely different. The reddish color is caused by rust (iron oxide) in the <a href="/mars/exploring/martian_soils.html">soil</a>. Some of these features are; <a href="/mars/interior/mars_volcanoes.html">volcanoes</a>, canyon systems, <a href="/mars/interior/Martian_running_water.html">river beds</a>, <a href="/mars/interior/Mars_cratered_terrain.html">cratered terrain</a>, and <a href="/mars/interior/Martian_dunefields.html">dune fields</a>. This image shows a global mosaic of 102 Viking 1 Orbiter images of Mars taken in February, 1980.<p><small><em>Image courtesy of NASA.</em></small></p>

Explore Solar System Discoveries

Discovery of Mercury

Mercury's orbit is so close to the Sun that it is difficult to see from the ground. This explains ...Read more

Discovery of Venus

Venus is one of the brightest objects in the sky, so it is clearly visible to the naked eye. ...Read more

Discovery of Mars

Mars is much like Venus-- it's very bright and therefore easily spotted in the night sky. ...Read more

Discovery of Jupiter

Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system. It is also one of the brighter objects ...Read more

Discovery of Saturn

Like the inner planets and Jupiter, Saturn is clearly visible in the night sky. The ancient ...Read more

Discovery of Uranus

Astronomer William Herschel is credited with the discovery of Uranus in 1781. He was using ...Read more

Discovery of Neptune

If you had a quiz question in school that asked what year Neptune was discovered, you'd probably ...Read more

Discovery of Pluto

After the discovery of Neptune in 1846, mathematics suggested that there still might be a ...Read more

Discovery of Ceres

Ceres is the largest asteroid in the main asteroid belt. It was classified as a "dwarf ...Read more

Discovery of Haumea

Haumea is a dwarf planet in our Solar System. Haumea is officially the fifth dwarf planet. ...Read more

More about Solar System Discoveries

Historical Events

Full Earth and Space Science    History Calendar (Members only)

Teacher Opportunities

Full Teacher Events Calendar (Educator Members only)

Did you know?

Do you know what Pluto, Ceres, Haumea, Makemake, and Eris have in common?

Do you know how far away the Oort cloud is?

 

Earth and Space Science Concept of the Day

Do you know what this word or phrase means?

Epicenter
xEpicenter : The epicenter is the point on the earth's surface vertically above the hypocenter (or focus), point in the crust where a seismic rupture begins.

Click on the word to find out!

Research Highlights

East Africa's Lake Tanganyika is Warming More Than Ever Before

Geologists think that the waters of Lake Tanganyika, a long lake located in East Africa, has experienced a huge amount of warming in the last 100 years. Currently, the surface water of this lake is the...Read more


Windows to the Universe, a project of the National Earth Science Teachers Association, is sponsored in part is sponsored in part through grants from federal agencies (NASA and NOAA), and partnerships with affiliated organizations, including the American Geophysical Union, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Earth System Information Partnership, the American Meteorological Society, the National Center for Science Education, and TERC. The American Geophysical Union and the American Geosciences Institute are Windows to the Universe Founding Partners. NESTA welcomes new Institutional Affiliates in support of our ongoing programs, as well as collaborations on new projects. Contact NESTA for more information. NASA ESIP NCSE HHMI AGU AGI AMS NOAA