The Solar System
There's never anything more fascinating than finding out about the neighbours. Explore the solar system with our expert guides:
Relatively there
Observing through a water-filled telescope, Fizeau got incredibly close to discovering relativity - forty years before Einstein. It was all thanks to aberration and parallax.
The Hipparcos spacecraft
Named after the first astronomer, Hipparcos was launched with the intention of making the best star guide ever. Find out more about its mission to create a stereoscopic star map.
Search for extrasolar planets
A little like a really huge digital camera, recording enormous numbers of stars. Discover more about the SuperWASP.
Newton's G
Needed to understand astrophysics on a grand scale, discovered through table-top experiments: what is the gravitational constant?
What does the AU mean?
Why do we need to use the Astronomical Unit? Why won't metres and kilometres suffice? What is the AU anyway?
Astronomical distances
Dr Alan Cooper explains some of the many methods used across time to measure our Solar System.
Relive, remeasure
Relive the once-in-a-lifetime day, and use our online calculator to try coming up with your own figures: Measure the AU.
Surface discoveries
We can't quite run to the budget for a trip to Titan, so - to show how the equipment on Huygens tells us about the surface of the planet - join us on our mission to Brighton.
Did you know...?
From the Sun at its warm heart, out to the cold, bleak expanse of Pluto, our planetary system is a remarkable place. Find out just how remarkable with our Solar System facts.
Your place in the universe
Get to know the neighbourhood - and what's beyond - with our simple-to-use guide to our place in space: You are here.
A trip to the neighbours
Discover the secrets of the red planet - without moving from your computer. Join us and explore Mars.
The planet and the mission
Before the European probe reaches its orbit, observation and other missions have already given a good idea of what to expect. Meet the target of Venus Express.
Surface details
Three different methods of discovery have given us a surprisingly detailed view of the Venus terrain.
Flowing forth
Where there are volcanoes, there will be lava. And with volcanoes the size of those on Venus, you'd expect to see some spectacular lava flows.
The pockmarked planet
The face Venus presents to the universe is a battered one. Take a close look at just some of her craters.
Mysterious arcs
It might be rising magma, but nobody is quite sure what creates the astonishing Venus coronae.
Splitting up
Many probably carved by flowing lava rather than water, Venus is covered with massive surface fractures.
Distant peaks
They're not so very different to the ones we have here. Come and explore Venus' mountains.
Beneath the sulphuric acid clouds
Ninety times the pressure, barely any water and clouds of acid. Find out what we already know about the Venus atmosphere.
The Oxfordshire sun machine
Inside a nondescript warehouse in Culham, a team spend their days making stars.