... nce for it comes from the orbits of long-period comets, which seem to hail from a great distance from the Solar System. This schematic shows how the Solar System is an insignificant part of the Sun's family. ...

Illustration depicting asteroseismology - the study of oscillations inside stars. Because a star's different oscillation modes are sensitive to different parts of the star, they inform astronomers about the internal structure of the star, which is ot...

Animation showing the 3D distribution of the stars in Orion, and how the constellation changes its appearance as we travel towards it. We see the constellation of Orion as just a 2D projection on the night sky, and it is easy to imagine that all the ...

Graphic depicting the current number of natural satellites known to orbit each of the eight major planets (as for October 2021). Mercy and Venus have no satellites; Earth has one; Mars has two; Jupiter has 79; Saturn has the lion's share at 81; Uranu...

Graphic depicting the current number of natural satellites known to orbit each of the eight major planets (as for October 2021). Mercy and Venus have no satellites; Earth has one; Mars has two; Jupiter has 79; Saturn has the lion's share at 81; Uranu...

Diagram comparing the Sun with Stephenson 2-18. The latter is the current contender for the largest known star, a red hypergiant some 2150 times the diameter of the Sun. The Sun can fit into it 10 billion times!...