Show cover for Wonders of the Solar System

The Best Episodes of Wonders of the Solar System

Every episode of Wonders of the Solar System ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of 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...
Genre:Documentary
Network:BBC Two

Best Episodes Summary

"Aliens" is the best rated episode of "Wonders of the Solar System". It scored 8.3/10 based on 155 votes. Directed by N/A and written by N/A, it aired on 4/4/2010. This episode scored 0.1 points higher than the second highest rated, "The Thin Blue Line".

  • Aliens
    8.3/10155 votes
    Loading...

    #1 - Aliens

    Season 1 Episode 5 - Aired 4/4/2010

    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.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • The Thin Blue Line
    8.2/10166 votes
    Loading...

    #2 - The Thin Blue Line

    Season 1 Episode 3 - Aired 3/21/2010

    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.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Empire of the Sun
    8.1/10204 votes
    Loading...

    #3 - Empire of the Sun

    Season 1 Episode 1 - Aired 3/7/2010

    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.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Order Out of Chaos
    8.1/10163 votes
    Loading...

    #4 - Order Out of Chaos

    Season 1 Episode 2 - Aired 3/14/2010

    Brian reveals how the beauty and order of the solar system was formed from a chaotic cloud of gas.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Dead or Alive
    8.0/10147 votes
    Loading...

    #5 - Dead or Alive

    Season 1 Episode 4 - Aired 3/28/2010

    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.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A