The Solar System

There's never anything more fascinating than finding out about the neighbours. Explore the solar system with our expert guides

Take care - stay safe during the transit

Don't look back into the sun

Don't let solar events become memorable events for the wrong reasons. Stay safe with expert safety advice.

Time and space

Discover how the Transit of Venus fits into the wider story of the history of astronomy in our astronomy timeline.

An illustration of the aberration and parallax

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.

Following the transits

Since Johannes Kepler first predicted a Transit of Venus, these rare events have inspired a range of expeditions and experiments - some thwarted by clouds, some rocked by starvation; and some hugely successful. Read more about the history of transits.

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.

Transit revisited

See the Transit of Venus for yourself in our gallery.

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.

Detail of possible meteorite on Mars surface Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell

A trip to the neighbours

Discover the secrets of the red planet - without moving from your computer. Join us and explore Mars.

Signs of life next door

Could the existence of Martian life be linked to the origin of life on Earth? Professor Paul Davies considers the search for life.

Venus Express launches on a Soyuz Fregat rocket [Image: ESA / STARSEM-S. CORVAJA]

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.