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 | Our Solar System – NASA Solar System Exploration
For this reason, the first four planets – Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars – are terrestrial planets. They are all small with solid, rocky surfaces. Meanwhile, materials we are used to seeing as ice, liquid, or …
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 | Earth's Moon – NASA Solar System Exploration
The temperature on the Moon reaches about 260 degrees Fahrenheit (127 degrees Celsius) when in full Sun, but in darkness, the temperatures plummet to about -280 degrees Fahrenheit (-173 degrees …
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 …
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 …
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 | Ganymede – NASA Solar System Exploration
Ganymede is much colder than Earth, with daytime surface temperatures ranging from -297 to -171 degrees Fahrenheit (90 to 160 Kelvin). Jupiter and its moons receive less than 1/30th the amount of …
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 metal bellows approach has been tested at Venus temperatures. The metal bellows technology also appears to be applicable to the proposed VME mission and would easily permit operations over an …