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Cook Islands issued a complete set of coins depicting the main bodies of the Solar System for the International Year of Astronomy in 2009.

The coin set issued by the Cook Islands contains ten pieces. The first one shows the Sun in the centre while around the rim the planets: "MERCURY", "VENUS", "EARTH", "MARS", "JUPITER", "SATURN", "URANUS", "NEPTUNE", "PLUTO". Interestingly the Pluto is listed here, although it lost its planet status in 2006. More interesting that the nine remaining pieces of the set depicts each of the planets listed above (plus the Sun) and their allegoric characters, astrological signs, except Pluto. The planets and the Sun are pictured using telescopic images and surface of Pluto was not pictured until July in 2015, when New Horizon space probe made its historic first images. The legend of the ten coins are the same: "INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF ASTRONOMY 2009". Besides these each coin holds the name of its planet.

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The reverse follows the usual design of Cook Islands coins. All the ten coins of the set have the same design, the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II. The face value of these coins are 1 dollar.

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