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From the dawn of man until very recently, humans have been Earthbound, unable to reach even the clouds—let alone space. It's only within the last hundred years or so that the advent of manned flight and rocket ships has made the heavens attainable. In that time, we've sent people to the moon, rovers to Mars, and space probes deep into the reaches of our solar system. And advanced telescopes that orbit Earth are bringing even the most remote edges of the universe closer to home. See where space travel started, and where it's going.
Earth is just one of countless objects—planets, moons, stars, asteroids, and so on—that make up our solar system. Take a look at some of our cosmic neighbors.
From white dwarfs to space junk, our solar system is filled with mysterious and often mind-blowing phenomena. How well do you know our cosmic neighborhood?
Advanced telescopes are bringing galaxies far, far away into spectacularly sharp focus, providing detailed new images that offer clues to the origins of our universe.