Planet Compare - NASA Solar System Exploration
Oct 21, 2025 · NASA’s real-time science encyclopedia of deep space exploration. Our scientists and far-ranging robots explore the wild frontiers of our solar system.
In Depth | Sun – NASA Solar System Exploration
It's about 250 miles thick, with temperatures reaching about 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit (5,500 degrees Celsius). That's much cooler than the blazing core, but it's still hot enough to make carbon – like …
In Depth | Enceladus – NASA Solar System Exploration
Oct 9, 2008 · Because Enceladus reflects so much sunlight, the surface temperature is extremely cold, about minus 330 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 201 degrees Celsius). But it is not as cold and inactive …
In Depth | Europa – NASA Solar System Exploration
The reduced density at greater distances is likely due to temperature: denser, rocky, and metal material condenses out first, close to Jupiter or the Sun, while lighter-weight icy material only condenses out …
The Venus Exploration Assessment Group (VEXAG) established a set of Goals, Objectives and Investigations (GOI) for Venus Exploration (VEXAG, GOI, 2016) that provided this study with a …
In Depth | Triton – NASA Solar System Exploration
This atmosphere most likely originates from Triton's volcanic activity, which is driven by seasonal heating by the Sun. Triton, Io and Venus are the only bodies in the solar system besides Earth that …
In Depth | Moons – NASA Solar System Exploration
Of the terrestrial (rocky) planets of the inner solar system, neither Mercury nor Venus have any moons at all, Earth has one and Mars has its two small moons. In the outer solar system, the gas giants Jupiter …
Venus’ 460°C surface temperature creates a hot lithosphere, with similarities to Earth’s initially hot Archean lithosphere. Processes occurring on Venus today may provide a glimpse of those on early …
Venus surface missions pose challenges for energy storage systems where the temperature and pressure are 460°C and 92 bars. However, at an altitude of ~55 km where the winds are strong …
In Depth | Amalthea – NASA Solar System Exploration
Discovery Amalthea was discovered Sept. 9, 1892 by Edward Emerson Barnard. Overview Orbiting within Io's orbit, which is the innermost of the four largest moons of Jupiter (called the Galilean …