Our Solar system contains one medium sized, G-type yellow star, 8 planets, 2 asteroid belts, 1 comet cloud, 5 recently discovered dwarf planets and over 150 moons detected to date.
Today we have the most complete picture of our Solar neighbourhood that we’ve ever had and new discoveries are being made all the time, making the Solar system a very dynamic and exciting place to be.
-Mercury-
Distance from the Sun: 57.9 million km
Length of year: 88 days
Diameter: 4875 km
Atmosphere: Trace – Oxygen, Sodium, Helium.
Moons: None.
Interesting facts: Mercury’s temperature fluctuates from 806F at its hottest to -292F. It has a mere 38% of Earth’s gravitational pull.
-Venus-
Distance from the Sun: 108.2 million km
Length of year: 224.7 days
Diameter: 12,104 km
Atmosphere: 96.5% Carbon Dioxide, 3.5%Nitrogen.
Moons: None.
Interesting facts: A day on Venus is actually longer than its year, it takes just under 225 Earth days to complete a year and 243 Earth days equate to a single Venusian day. Despite being further from the Sun than Mercury, Venus is the hottest planet in the solar system with a maximum temperature of 867F, this is due to an out of control greenhouse gas effect in the planet’s atmosphere.
-Earth-
Distance from the Sun:149.6 million km
Length of year: 365.26 days
Diameter: 12,756 km
Atmosphere: 97.1% Nitrogen, 20.9% Oxygen, 1% Argon
Moons: 1, Luna.
Interesting facts: A day on Earth actually lasts 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4 seconds. The hottest temperature ever recorded on Earth is 136F, recorded in Libya. The coldest temperature ever recorded was -128.6F in Antarctica. Earth does not contain the most liquid water in the Solar system, Jupiter’s Moon Europa has an ocean believed to hold twice the amount of water found on planet Earth.
-Mars-
Distance from the Sun: 227.9 million km
Length of year: 687 days
Diameter: 6780 km
Atmosphere: 95.3% Carbon Dioxide, Nitrogen 2.7%, Argon 1.6%, 0.4% Oxygen & Carbon Monoxide
Moons: 2, Phobos & Deimos.
Interesting Facts: Due to suspended particles of iron oxide (rust) in it’s atmosphere, the Martian sky has a beautiful pinkish tinge. Mars is home to both the biggest volcano in the Solar system known as Olympus Mons (24km tall) and the largest canyon system called Valles Marineris (4000km long and up to 8km deep).
-Jupiter-
Distance from the Sun: 778.3 million km
Length of year: 11.86 (Earth) years
Diameter: 142,984 km
Atmosphere: 89.8% Hydrogen, 10.2% Helium with traces of Methane and Ammonia
Moons: 64, including 4 large satellites known as the ‘Galilean’ Moons.
Interesting facts: Jupiter is the most massive planet in the Solar system with over 318 Earths worth of matter. Deep in Jupiter’s atmosphere the Hydrogen is so squashed it behaves like a liquid rather than a gas, this state is known as a plasma state. Jupiter has the strongest magnetic field of all the planets due to the electrically conducive nature of the squashed Hydrogen within it’s atmosphere.
-Saturn-
Distance from the Sun: 1.43 billion km (1,430 million km)
Length of year: 29.46 (Earth) years
Diameter: 120,536 km
Atmosphere: 96.3% Hydrogen, 3.7% Helium and trace gases
Moons: 34, including a large Moon called Titan which is the only Moon in the Solar system to have a thick and permanent atmosphere.
Interesting facts: Saturn experiences beautiful Auroral displays around it’s poles similar to Earth. Saturn’s magnetic field is only 71% that of the Earth’s. Winds around the planet’s equator rage at up to 1200 kph.
-Uranus-
Distance from the Sun: 2.87 billion km (2,870 million km)
Length of year: 84 (Earth) years
Diameter: 51,118 km
Atmosphere: 82.5% Hydrogen, 15.2% Helium, 2.3% Methane
Moons: 27, including 5 major Moons.
Interesting facts: Due to an ancient collision with a planet sized body in the early Solar system, Uranus rotates in the opposite direction to all the other planets, it’s polar axis is also tilted by a massive 98 degrees meaning that Uranus seems to roll along it’s orbital path.
-Neptune-
Distance from the Sun: 4.5 billion (4,500 million km)
Length of year: 164.9 (Earth) years
Diameter: 49,532 km
Atmosphere: 79% Hydrogen, 18% Helium, 3% Methane
Moons:13, including 1 major Moon called Triton.
Interesting fact:Neptune is the windiest planet in the solar system with winds reaching an enormous 2,160 kph. Neptune’s vivid blue atmosphere is due to it’s Methane content which absorbs light waves in the red frequency leaving only blue light to reach our eyes.
-Dwarf Planets-
These are the most recent categorisation of object in the Solar system, 5 of these bodies have been discovered so far. The most famous being Pluto along with Eris, Haumea, Ceres and Makemake.
Pluto is actually the second largest Dwarf Planet not the largest, that accolade goes to Eris discovered in 2005 with a diameter of 3000km. The smallest Dwarf Planet is Haumea, it is the fastest spinning object in the Solar system and has a diameter about one third that of Pluto, around 330km.
-The Main Belt, Kuiper Belt & Oort Cloud-
The main belt is a massive ring of asteroids situated between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, to date 200,000 asteroids have been discovered within the belt but it’s suspected there are billions more waiting to be found.
The Kuiper belt is further out starting at 6 billion km from the sun and extending out to 12 billion km, it is filled with comets (similar to asteroids but made from ice instead of rock).
Finally, the Oort cloud which has forced us to re define the boundaries of our Solar system. A huge spherical shell made up of more than a trillion comets at a distance of 30 trillion km from the Sun. The Oort cloud is so far from the Sun that it can be influenced by the closest stars at almost 4 light years away.
