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The Solar System
Ever wondered if there is life on Mars? Or if Jupiter has five moons? Look no further; here is the category concerning all questions about our solar system and the known planets!
4,302 Questions
What are the dimensions of the solar system?
The size of the Solar System depends partly on what are considered to be its outermost reaches. There are three main candidates:
- the aphelion of the orbit of the farthest planet,
- the farthest observable object which orbits the sun,
- or the edge of the heliosphere.
The furthest distance from the sun reached by the outermost planet, Neptune, is approx 4.5 billion kilometres and this would give the Solar System a diameter of 9.1 billion km. (This definition depends on Eris remaining a dwarf planet and not attaining planetary status.)
The most distance observable object in the Solar System is Sedna. It is 143.7 billion km from the Sun, thus giving the Solar System a diameter of 287.5 billion km or approx 1922 AU.
The heliosphere is the region within which the solar wind pushes against the interstellar medium, or where the Sun's gravity is stronger than that of other stars. The edge of the heliosphere, called the heliopause is reached at a distance of 90 AU giving the heliosphere a diameter of 180 AU.
Incidentally, although at its aphelion, Sedna is outside the heliosphere, its orbit is very eccentric and brings it to 76 AU at its nearest approach to the sun - well within the heliosphere.
What is the Meteors distance for the sun?
93 million miles (they only exist in the Earth's atmosphere).
What is the 'solar system' and how does Earth fit into it?
When we refer to the solar system we mean our sun and the bodies that are gravitationally bound to it. There are eight planets at varying distances from the sun. In order of increasing distance they are; Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Most have moons.
In addition to these there are several minor planets, countless asteroids and occasional comets which may or may not remain a part of the solar system.
Earth is the third planet from the sun and, so far, the only place we know of where life exists.
How do you observe solar system?
buy a telescope.
You could also, go to a planetarium or use a planetarium program on a computer or even just go to NASA's website and look at the deep space images there.Obviously it's not as good as seeing it for real, but it is a lot warmer (from experience) than standing outside all night.
If you're up for a real challenge you could arrange a visit to an observatory. Most will do open days for enthusiastic junior astronomers and there are quite a few around from really big ones to small ones in colleges and universities.
What planet has the largest number of moons in your solar system?
To date, Jupiter is in the lead with 67 confirmed moons; Saturn is a close second with 62 moons with confirmed orbits.
What sentence can you make with the word solar system?
The sun is the centre of our solar system.
The sun, planets and many other items make up our solar system.
The Asteroid belt is one of the regions of the Solar System situated between the orbits of the planets Mars, and Jupiter.
What are solar system expolers called?
Often referred to as Astronauts, Solar System explorers are more accurately called Cosmonauts.
What criteria are the planets placed into either the inner or outer groups?
Gas giants (for the outer planets), versus rocky planets.
Does a comets speed change as it orbits the sun?
Yes. Comets have highly elliptical orbits. They move fastest when they are nearest the sun and slowest when they are farthest away.
Can a asteroid be the size of a pebble?
Asteroids can vary widely in size, from just a few meters to hundreds of kilometers in diameter. A pebble-sized asteroid is certainly possible, and such small objects are known as meteoroids. These small asteroids or meteoroids often burn up in Earth's atmosphere, creating shooting stars.
No. Kepler is a telescope created to find planets orbiting other stars. Planets found using it are given designations beginning with Kepler, such as Kepler 440b.
What keeps the planets and other solar system objects in orbit around the sun?
The force of gravity is what keeps planets and other objects in orbit around the sun, along with the angular momentum of the planets and objects. Without gravity, they would just fly away into space, and without angular momentum, they would just fall into the sun. But both of those together produce orbital motion.
What is the hottest and coldest surface teprature on all of the planets in our solar system?
The solid planets that are of rock
low to high surface temperature
Mercury - 275 °F (- 170°C) + 840 °F (- 450°C)
Venus + 870 °F (+ 465°C) + 870 °F (+ 465°C)
Earth - 129 °F (- 89°C) + 136 °F (+ 58°C)
Moon - 280 °F (- 173°C) + 260 °F (+ 127°C)
Mars - 195 °F (- 125°C) + 70 °F (+ 20°C)
others:-
Uranus (Ice planet minus 153 degrees Celsius) to minus (minus 218 C)
Neptune (minus 210 C) to (minus 220 C)
Saturn (minus 173 C) to minus (113 C).
Pluto (minus 223 C). At its coolest, temperatures can fall to (minus 233 C).
What three things keep the planets in their orbit?
A planet is kept in its orbit because the Sun's gravitational attraction on it produces acceleration towards the Sun, which exactly balances the force, by Newton's laws of motion.
An object that is travelling along in a curved path is accelerating to the side, according to Newton's theory, and in a stable orbit this can go on for ever without the energy ever diminishing.
A planet is a celestial body that orbits around a star, has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid forces so that it assumes a nearly round shape, and has cleared its orbit of other debris.
How is the rotation of the Sun different from the rotation of the Earth-?
Unlike Earth and other solid objects, the entire Sun doesn't rotate at the same rate of gas and plasma, different parts of the Sun spin at different rates.
Is earth magnetic field bigger then Venus?
The Earth's magnetic field and the plant Venus is the same size. Scientist say that Earth and Venus are twin plants.
What is a solar system object that enters Earths atmosphere and becomes very hot?
A meteoroid is a solar system object that enters Earth's atmosphere and becomes very hot due to friction with the air. As it travels through the atmosphere, the meteoroid heats up and creates a bright streak of light called a meteor, commonly known as a shooting star.
