Discovery and exploration of the Solar System Discovery and exploration of the Solar System Discovery and exploration of the Solar System is observation, visitation, and increase in knowledge and understanding of Earth's "cosmic neighborhood". This includes the Sun, Earth and the Moon, the major planets including Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, their satellites, as well as smaller bodies including comets, asteroids, and dust. For many thousands of years, astronomers maintained a geocentric world view and did not recognize the existence of a Solar System. Most believed Earth was stationary at the center of the Universe and categorically different from the divine or ethereal objects
Sun Dutch "zon", Old High German "sunna", modern German "Sonne", Old Norse "sunna", and Gothic "sunnō". All Germanic terms for the Sun stem from Proto-Germanic *"sunnōn". The Latin name for the Sun, "Sol", is used at times as another name for the Sun, but is not commonly used in everyday English. "Sol" is also used by planetary astronomers to refer to the duration of a solar day on another planet, such as Mars. The related word "solar" is the usual adjectival term used for the Sun, in terms such as solar day, solar eclipse, and Solar System. A mean Earth solar