Our Solar System
Our Solar System is an awesome place. It's full of astronomical bodies like planets, moons, asteroids, comets, minor planets and also some space junk we sent to explore and learn more about it. The Sun is the main component which also happens to compose 99.86% of our solar system and all the objects in our solar system essentially revolve around it due to its gravity and mass. Scientists are still finding the exact reason how our solar system came into existence. There are many theories which try to explain this phenomenon, Big Bang theory being the most popular one.
The eight planets in our Solar System are classified as Terrestrial Planets and Gas Giants. Terrestrial Planets are referred to the closer four planets of the sun, namely, Mercury, Venus, Earth & Mars. They are said so because of their solid rocky surface. The four outer planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are called Gas Giants because unlike Terrestrial Panets they are composed of light gases such as Hydrogen & Helium and have planetary rings. The Universe & the Solar System is still a mystery which humans are trying to unravel.
Sun is a huge ball of gases which holds the Solar System together and provides light and energy for the survival of life on earth. It's a big hot star with a surface temperature of 5,500 degrees Celsius. Our Sun is about 4.5 billion years old and has used up nearly half of the hydrogen in its core.
- Diameter: 4,878 km
- Length of Year: 88 days
- Natural Satellites: Nil
Mercury is the smallest planet in our solar system. Due to its proximity to Sun the temperature in day can rise upto 430 degrees Celsius. Mercury doesn't have an atmosphere to retain the heat so the temperature at night can dip upto -173 degrees Celsius. The surface is rocky and quite similar to Earth.
- Diameter: 12,100 km
- Length of Year: 225 days
- Natural Satellites: Nil
Venus is the brightest and the hottest planet in our solar system. The thick atmosphere on Venus consisting of carbon dioxide and clouds of sulphuric acid traps the sun's heat which keeps the surface temperature on Venus around 470 degrees Celsius.
- Diameter: 12,756 km
- Length of Year: 365 days
- Natural Satellites: 1 (Moon)
Earth is the only planet known to us which supports life. The three quarters of Earth is water. It is the densest planet in our solar system. It's sole natural satellite; Moon is the second brightest object in our solar system.
- Diameter: 6,795 km
- Length of Year: 687 days
- Natural Satellites: 2 (Phobos, Deimos)
Mars is the also called Red Planet because of its red, dusty landscape. The surface temperature on the Mars varies from -100 degrees Celsius to 0 degrees Celsius. Mars is also home to Olympus Mons which is the largest volcano in the solar system.
- Diameter: 142,984 km
- Length of Year: 4,331 days
- Natural Satellites: 63 (Europa, Io, Callisto & Ganymede etc.)
Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system and appproximately 318 times larger than Earth. Its atmosphere is mainly composed of Helium & Hydrogen which is similar to that of sun. Jupiter also has rings but they are much smaller and fainter than that of Saturn.
- Diameter: 120,537 km
- Length of Year: 10,759 days
- Natural Satellites: 62 (Janus, Mimas, Enceladus, Tethys, Dione & Titan etc.)
Saturn is the least-dense planet in our Solar System. It has planetary rings which are mainly composed of ice and dust and thus makes Saturn one of the most conspicuous planet in our Solar System.
- Diameter: 51,119 km
- Length of Year: 30,687 days
- Natural Satellites: 27 (Miranda, Ariel, Unbriel, Oberon & Titania etc.)
Uranus is similar to Saturn and has a ring system, a magnetosphere, and numerous moons. The atmosphere of Uranus consists of light gases such as Helium, Hydrogen while some presence of Methane gives it a bright blue-green color.
- Diameter: 49,529 km
- Length of Year: 60,190 days
- Natural Satellites: 13 (Nereid, Triton & Galatea etc.)
Neptune is the fourth largest planet in our Solar System characterized by hurricane-like storms. The winds on Neptune can get up to 2,000 km/hour. The blue color of Neptune is due to Methane in its atmosphere and some other mysterious component.