The next stop on our virtual tour is Venus, the closest planet to Earth and the hottest planet in our solar system, with surface temperatures scorching enough to melt lead.

Our virtual tour of the solar system continues with Mercury, the closest planet to the Sun. Since it’s tough to observe Mercury except at dawn or twilight, most of what we know about Mercury is from NASA’s Mariner 10 and MESSENGER missions.

We start our “Gravity Assist” virtual tour of the solar system with – where else – the Sun! Jim is joined by Project Scientist Dr. Nicky Fox of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab to talk about our fascinating star and NASA’s upcoming Parker Solar Probe—a mission to “touch the Sun.”

We start our “Gravity Assist” virtual tour of the solar system with – where else – the Sun! Jim is joined by Project Scientist Dr. Nicky Fox of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab to talk about our fascinating star and NASA’s upcoming Parker Solar Probe—a mission to “touch the Sun.”

Hi, I'm Jim Green, NASA's director of planetary science. I'm excited to tell you about a new podcast series. It's called NASA's Gravity Assist. Please join me as I talk with some of the greatest planetary scientists of our time.