Wonders of the Solar System
In this spellbinding series, Professor Brian Cox visits the most extreme locations on Earth to explain how the laws of physics carved natural wonders across the solar system.
Cast: Brian Cox
TV-GHDCC
Season 1
5 episodes
1. Empire of the SunPhysicist Brian Cox examines the sun's rule over our planet, heading for India to witness a total solar eclipse, and viewing the Northern Lights in the Arctic Circle.TV-GCC58minMar 7, 2010
2. Order Out of ChaosBrian reveals how the beauty and order of the solar system was formed from a chaotic cloud of gas.TV-GCC59minMar 14, 2010
3. The Thin Blue LineBrian reveals how something as flimsy as an atmosphere can create some of the most wondrous sights in the solar system. He takes a ride to the top of earth's atmosphere, and in the Namib desert, he tells how Mercury lost its atmosphere.TV-GCC59minMar 21, 2010
4. Dead or AliveThe worlds that surround our planet are all made of rock, but there the similarity ends. Some have a beating geological heart, others are frozen in time. Brian travels to the tallest mountain on earth, the volcano Mauna Kea on Hawaii, to show how something as basic as a planet's size can make the difference between life and death. Even on the summit of this volcano, Brian would stand in the shade of the tallest mountain in the solar system, an extinct volcano on Mars called Olympus Mons, which rises up 27 km.
Yet the fifth wonder in the series isn't on a planet at all. It's on a tiny moon of Jupiter. The discoveries made on Io have been astonishing. This fragment of rock should be cold and dead, yet, with the volcanic landscape of eastern Ethiopia as a backdrop, Brian reveals why Io is home to extraordinary lakes of lava and giant volcanic plumes that erupt 500 km into the sky.TV-GCC59minMar 28, 2010
5. AliensProfessor Brian Cox visits some of the most stunning locations on earth to describe how the laws of nature have carved natural wonders across the solar system.
Brian descends to the bottom of the Pacific in a submarine to witness the extraordinary life forms that survive in the cold, black waters. All life on Earth needs water so the search for aliens in the solar system has followed the search for water.
Soaring above the dramatic Scablands of the United States, Brian discovers how the same landscape has been found on Mars. And it was all carved out in a geological heartbeat by a monumental flood.
Armed with a gas mask, Brian enters a cave in Mexico where bacteria breathe toxic gas and leak concentrated acid. Yet relatives of these creatures could be surviving in newly-discovered caves on Mars.TV-GCC59minApr 4, 2010
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Wonders of the Solar System
★ 8.1/1020101 season5 episodesEnded
In this spellbinding series, Professor Brian Cox visits the most extreme locations on Earth to explain how the laws of physics carved natural wonders across the solar system.
Creators and cast
- Directors
- Gideon Bradshaw, Chris Holt, Paul Olding, Michael Lachmann
- Created by
- Andrew Cohen, Danielle Peck
- Cast
- Brian Cox
- Studio
- Science Channel, BBC
Maturity rating
TV-GCheck the rating before watching with younger viewers.
Audio languages
English
Where to watch
Stream
