The Solar System
A BRIEF DESCRIPTION ABOUT SOLAR SYSTEM AND ITS PLANETS
INTRODUCTION
The solar system has one star,
eight planets, five officially
recognized dwarf planets, at
least 290 moons, more than 1.3
million asteroids, and about
3,900 comets.
It is located in an outer spiral arm
of the Milky Way galaxy called
the Orion Arm, or Orion Spur.
Our solar system orbits the
center of the galaxy at about
515,000 mph (828,000 kph). It
takes about 230 million years to
complete one orbit around the
galactic center.
The Sun
The Sun's gravity holds the solar system
together, keeping everything – from the
biggest planets to the smallest particles of
debris – in its orbit. The connection and
interactions between the Sun and Earth
drive the seasons, ocean currents,
weather, climate, radiation belts and
auroras. Though it is special to us, there
are billions of stars like our Sun scattered
across the Milky Way galaxy.
Mercury
Mercury—the smallest planet in our solar
system and nearest to the Sun—is only
slightly larger than Earth's Moon. Its surface
is covered in tens of thousands of impact
craters.
From the surface of Mercury, the Sun
would appear more than three times as large
as it does when viewed from Earth, and the
sunlight would be as much as 11 times
brighter.
Venus
Venus is a cloud-swaddled planet named
for a love goddess, and often called
Earth’s twin. But pull up a bit closer, and
Venus turns hellish. Our nearest planetary
neighbor, the second planet from the Sun,
has a surface hot enough to melt lead.
The atmosphere is so thick that, from the
surface, the Sun is just a smear of light.
Earth
While Earth is only the fifth largest planet in
the solar system, it is the only world in our
solar system with liquid water on the
surface. Just slightly larger than nearby
Venus, Earth is the biggest of the four
planets closest to the Sun, all of which are
made of rock and metal. Earth is the only
planet in the Solar System whose English
name does not come from Greek or Roman
mythology. The name was taken from Old
English and Germanic. It simply means "the
ground." There are, of course, many names
for our planet in the thousands of languages
spoken by the people of the third planet from
the Sun.
Mars
Mars is no place for the faint-hearted. It’s
dry, rocky, and bitter cold. The fourth
planet from the Sun, Mars is one of
Earth's two closest planetary neighbors
(Venus is the other). Mars is one of the
easiest planets to spot in the night sky – it
looks like a bright red point of light.
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from our Sun and
is, by far, the largest planet in the solar
system – more than twice as massive as all
the other planets combined.
Jupiter's stripes and swirls are actually
cold, windy clouds of ammonia and water,
floating in an atmosphere of hydrogen and
helium. Jupiter’s iconic Great Red Spot is a
giant storm bigger than Earth that has raged
for hundreds of years.
Saturn
Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the
second largest planet in our solar system. Adorned
with a dazzling system of icy rings, Saturn is unique
among the planets.
It is not the only planet to have rings, but none are
as spectacular or as complex as Saturn's. Like fellow
gas giant Jupiter, Saturn is a massive ball made
mostly of hydrogen and helium.
The farthest planet from Earth discovered by the
unaided human eye, Saturn has been known since
ancient times. The planet is named for the Roman god
of agriculture and wealth, who was also the father of
Jupiter.
Uranus
Uranus is very cold and windy. It is
surrounded by faint rings and more than two
dozen small moons as it rotates at a nearly
90-degree angle from the plane of its orbit.
This unique tilt makes Uranus appear to spin
on its side.
Uranus is blue-green in color due to large
amounts of methane, which absorbs red light
but allows blues to be reflected back into
space. The atmosphere is mostly hydrogen
and helium, but also includes large amounts
of water, ammonia and methane.
Neptune
Dark, cold and whipped by supersonic
winds, giant Neptune is the eighth and
most distant major planet orbiting our Sun.
More than 30 times as far from the Sun as
Earth, Neptune is not visible to the naked
eye. In 2011, Neptune completed its first
165-year orbit since its discovery.
