Episodes
Season 1 · Season 1
1
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Empire of the Sun
Physicist 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.
Not watched yet
58m
2
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Order Out of Chaos
Brian reveals how the beauty and order of the solar system was formed from a chaotic cloud of gas.
Not watched yet
59m
3
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The Thin Blue Line
Brian 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.
Not watched yet
59m
4
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Dead or Alive
The 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.
Not watched yet
59m
5
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Aliens
Professor 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.
Not watched yet
59m
▶
Empire of the Sun
Physicist 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.
Not watched yet
58m
2
▶
Order Out of Chaos
Brian reveals how the beauty and order of the solar system was formed from a chaotic cloud of gas.
Not watched yet
59m
3
▶
The Thin Blue Line
Brian 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.
Not watched yet
59m
4
▶
Dead or Alive
The 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.
Not watched yet
59m
5
▶
Aliens
Professor 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.
Not watched yet
59m
Cast
Professor Brian CoxSelf - PresenterBecause you watched Wonders of the Solar System
★ 7.7One Strange Rock
★ 7.4Horizon
★ 8.6Planet Earth
★ 7NOVA
★ 8.3Prehistoric Planet
★ 7.8Our Universe
★ 7.7Great Migrations
★ 7.4Natural World
★ 8Top Gear
★ 7.6How Do They Do It?
★ 8Life on Our Planet
★ 8.3The Planets
★ 7.4Night on Earth
★ 8.6Planet Earth II
★ 7.6Forces of Nature with Brian Cox
★ 8.6Planet Earth III
★ 8.4The Blue Planet
★ 7.9Nature