Why is it named "Solar System"?
Our planetary system is located in the Milky Way, with the Sun at its center. All the planets revolve around a big star called the Sun. Hence, our planetary system is known as Solar System because anything related to the Sun is called Solar.
Structure of the Solar System :
Many scientists think that our solar system is made up of a giant gas, a dense cloud of gas, and dust particles known as a solar nebula. As the nebula collapsed under its own gravity, it began to spin rapidly and flatten into a disk. Most of it was drawn towards the center, resulting in the formation of the Sun. Other particles within the disk collided together and became the size of an asteroid. Some of which combined to form the rocky surfaces of asteroids, comets, moons, and planets. The solar wind from the sun was so powerful that it carried away most of the lighter elements, such as hydrogen and helium, leaving behind mostly small, rocky worlds. However, the solar wind was much weaker in the outer regions, with the result being mostly composed of hydrogen and helium, which form the outer planets.The Sun:
•The Sun is the largest planet in our solar system. It contains 99.8 percent of the mass of the Solar System and is a hot ball of glowing gases. The Sun's gravity keeps the Solar System in its orbit. The planets revolve around the Sun in oval-shaped paths called ellipses. Without the energy of the Sun, life on Earth is not possible.
Planets of the Solar System:
• There are eight planets in our Solar System which are revolving around the Sun in elliptical orbits. The nearest four planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars, are called terrestrial planets, which means they have a hard rocky surface. The four farthest planets of the Solar System namely Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are called gas giants. These planets are very large and their surface is made of gas elements (mostly hydrogen)
1•Mercury:
• It is the closest planet to the Sun.• It is the smallest planet in our solar system.
• It can be seen near the horizon, just before sunrise or after sunset.
• It takes only 88 days to complete one round by circumambulating it.
•Mercury has no satellite/moon of its own.
•Fastest spin time.
•Extreme weather conditions +400°C and -200°C.
• Mercury is also known as the Roman God of Commerce.
2.Venus:
• It is the brightest planet in the night sky.It is the hottest planet.
• It is often referred to as the morning or evening star, although it is not a star.
•Venus is considered 'Earth's twin' because its shape and form are very similar to Earth.
•Venus has no moon or satellite of its own.
• It rotates from east to west while the earth rotates from west to east.
3•Earth:•
• Earth is the third closest planet to the Sun, it is the fifth-largest planet.
•It is slightly flattened at the poles. Therefore, its shape is described as a geoid.
•Earth has only one satellite.
• It is known as Blue Planet.
4: Mars :
• It appears slightly red due to the presence of iron oxide and hence, it is also known as the Red Planet.• Mars has two small natural satellites.
• Nix Olympia is a mountain on Mars that is 3 times higher than Mount Everest.
• The names of the two satellites are Phobos and Deimos.
• It is also known as the Roman God of War.
5:Jupiter:
• Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system.• The mass of Jupiter is about 318 times that of our Earth.
• It rotates very fast on its axis.
• It has a blurred ring around it.
• It has 75 natural satellites.
6:Saturn:
• The color of Saturn appears yellow.• It is the second-largest planet in the solar system.
• It looks beautiful because of the rings. It has 7 main rings.
• It has 82 moons or natural satellites.
• Saturn also has a large number of satellites.
• It is the least dense of all the planets.
7:Uranus Planet:
• Due to the presence of methane gas, it is called Green Planet.• Like Venus, Uranus also rotates from east to west.
• Uranus has five major moons: Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, and Oberon. It has a total of 27 moons.
• It is also known as Ancient Greek God.
• It is known as the "sideways planet" because it spins on its side.
• The first planet was observed using a telescope.
8:Neptune:
• It is the coldest planet and the windiest planet.• It has 14 satellites.
• At least 5 main rings are present.
• Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft there.
• It's an ice giant.
Dwarf planets:
Dwarf planets are similar to planets in the solar system, however, they are designated as a planet. There are 5 known dwarf planets in the Solar System, namely Pluto, Ceres, Eris, Haumea, and Makemake.
Comets:
Comets are often referred to as muddy snowballs and consist mainly of ice and rock. As the comet's orbit approaches the Sun, the ice in its central nucleus turns into a gas that travels outwards from the Sun, forming a long tail outward by the solar wind.
Asteroid Belt:
The asteroid belt is the region between Mars and Jupiter. In this region of the asteroid belt, thousands of rocky objects orbit around the Sun. They range in size from tiny dust particles to the dwarf planet Ceres.
Kuiper Belt:
The Kuiper Belt is a region of thousands of small bodies that exist outside the orbits of planets. Objects in the Kuiper Belt contain "ice" such as ammonia, water, and methane.
Facts about our planet - Earth:
•Estimated age of Earth: 4600 million years.• The Earth is tilted on its axis by 23½° and thus makes an angle of 66½º with its orbit.
• It takes 365 days and 5 hours 45 minutes to revolve around the Sun.
•Earth is known as a "water planet" or "blue planet" because it contains a huge amount of water.
• The ozone layer in the atmosphere above the Earth is a protective layer to protect life from harmful ultraviolet radiations from the Sun.
• Average distance from the Sun: 149,407,000 km.
•Equatorial diameter: 12753 km
•Polar diameter: 12710 km
•Equatorial circumference: 40,066 km
•Duration of rotation: 23 hrs 56 mins 4.09 sec (24 hrs)
•Duration of rotation: 365 days 5 hours 48 meters and 45.51 seconds. (365¼ days)
•Total Area: 510,100,500 sq. km.
Facts about the Solar System:
• There are millions of galaxies in the universe or universe. A galaxy is a massive group of stars held together by the forces of gravity.• The existence of galaxies was first demonstrated by Edwin Hubble in 1924. He proved that galaxies are flying away from each other and that the farther they are, the faster they fly. This means that the universe is expanding like a balloon that is being blown up.
• Our galaxy is the Milky Way Galaxy (or Galaxy). It is circular in shape. It consists of more than 100 billion stars revolving and orbiting around its center. The closest galaxy to us is Andromeda.
• The Big Bang Theory assesses that 15 billion years ago, cosmic matter (the universe) was in a highly compressed state, from which expansion was initiated by a primordial explosion. The explosion shattered the super-dense ball and threw its fragments into space, where they are still traveling at thousands of miles per second.
• There are three general types of galaxies in the universe namely elliptical, circular and irregular. The Milky Way is a circular galaxy.
• It takes our solar system about 230 million years to complete one orbit around the galactic center.
• Light year: This is the distance covered by light in one year in a vacuum at a speed of 3 105 km/s.
Astronomical Unit (A.U): It is the distance between the Earth and the Sun. One light-year is equal to 60,000 A.U.
•Parsec: It refers to the distance at which an arc of the average radius of Earth's orbit makes an angle in one second. This is equal to 3.26 light-years.
• The color of a star reflects the temperature of its surface. The blue color indicates the maximum temperature. Then comes yellow, then red, etc.
• If the star is the size of the Sun, it becomes a white dwarf. Their central density can reach 10 grams per cubic cm.
The brightest star outside our solar system is Sirius, also known as the Dog Star.
• The closest star to the Solar System is Proxima Centauri (4.2 light-years away). Then comes Alpha Centauri (4.3 light-years away) and Barnard's Star (5.9 light-years away).
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