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The Sun, an unremarkable star, holds in orbit a system of planets. If most Sun-like stars have planets, then there should be billions of planets in our Milky Way Galaxy. Numerous other planetary systems have already been detected, many with configurations quite different than that of our solar system. The videos in this tutorial explore planetary systems, moving from those in our galactic neighborhood to those that orbit distant stars. These videos and articles survey the diverse planets in our solar system, from the forces that shape their surfaces to ring systems and moons to the search for the building blocks of life. Last is a documentary about how astrophysicists are using new tools to study the chemical characteristics of these faraway worlds.

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