Professor Brian Cox is to take BBC Two and iPlayer viewers on an exploration of the incredible events happening in our solar system as revealed by the latest space missions.
There are more craft exploring our galactic neighbourhood than ever before – over 30 space probes and 29 state of the art space telescopes – revealing a host of never seen before wonders.
In Solar System, Professor Cox will guide viewers as they explore the volcano covered surface of Venus where at least one volcano the size of Mount Everest was recently seen erupting.
Audiences will also fly with NASA’s Juno probe past eruptions bursting hundreds of kilometres into space from Jupiter’s tiny moon Io, see ice crystals falling on Mars and red frost on the mountain tops of Pluto.
Cox said: “We are living through a golden age of exploration. As we speak, there are spacecraft in orbit around or on the surface of five of the eight planets in our solar system, and there are a host of new missions close to launch or en-route to their targets.
“The latest, the European Space Agency’s “Juice” spacecraft, was launched towards Jupiter last week. As new data cascades in, we are building an ever more accurate picture of our solar system.
“Rovers on Mars are exploring ancient lake beds, two new missions to Jupiter’s ice moons aim to probe their oceans for life, and the New Horizons spacecraft has forced us to contemplate biology beneath the frigid nitrogen glaciers of Pluto.
“Are we alone in the Universe? Maybe the answer will be found in our cosmic backyard. The exploration of the solar system is therefore about much more than the exploration of space – out there – beyond Earth.
“It is allowing us to paint a picture of our place in the Universe, and that picture is getting more detailed and more accurate with every bit of data returned in real time from our fleet of explorers scattered from the Sun to the edge of interstellar space.”
The five-part series is being made by BBC Studios Science Unit and will air next year.