The Solar System

What is the solar system? It is our Sun and everything that travels around it. Our solar system is elliptical in shape. That means it is shaped like an egg. The Sun is in the center of the solar system. Our solar system is always in motion. Eight known planets and their moons, along with comets, asteroids, and other space objects orbit the Sun. The Sun is the biggest object in our solar system. It contains more than 99% of the solar system's mass. Astronomers think the solar system is more than 4 billion years old. Astronomers are now finding new objects far, far from the Sun which they call dwarf planets. Pluto, which was once called a planet, is now called a dwarf planet. This is by a child from nelson primary school

Olympus Mons, the highest mountain in the solar system, is on Mars.

The Sun provides the majority of the heat and light to our solar system. This is due to nuclear fusion reactions happening in its core that produce energy in the form of heat and light.

The sun's activity, such as sunspots and solar flares, follows an 11-year cycle known as the solar cycle. This can affect space weather and phenomena such as the auroras on Earth, as well as impact satellite communications and power grids.

Neptune. (Note: Pluto was discovered later, but currently it is no longer recognized as a planet.)

The Maori word for the solar system is "Te Whanau o te Rangi."

The Sun would be largely unchanged, though it would be only four billion years from its red giant stage.

If humanity managed to avoid killing itself and explored space, the planet Mercury would probably be gone as we would have mined it into nonexistence.

Venus might have been terraformed and would then be enjoying some primitive life.

Earth? Hard to say. We might have polluted it back to an azoic condition or left it altogether.

Earth's Moon would be much farther away. No more solar eclipses visible from the planet.

Mars would be pretty much as it is today; even if we managed to terraform it, its low mass would have let its atmosphere escape again.

Jupiter might have moved in closer to the Sun.

Saturn's rings would be gone.

The Ice worlds would be unchanged.

Of course, Nemesis/Shiva, the Sun's putative dwarf companion, might have made about forty passes, any one of which could have provoked a catastrophe.

We would in all probability have drifted out of the Origin Spur and into a region of either more or less interstellar matter.

All the constellations would be changed beyond recognition and all the bright stars of the Earth's sky would be burned out.

first, this theory is from the Big Bang.

firstly the solar system would be a big ball of gas with a conentrted center

then it would be spinning faster, with a more defined sun (the concentrated center)

it would continue spinning faster, as to compact (like centrifugal force)

most of the planets will form by particles of matter constantly hitting it

moons will form by parts of the arly planets breaking off

The nearest star system to our solar system is Alpha Centauri, located about 4.37 light-years away. It consists of three stars, Alpha Centauri A, Alpha Centauri B, and Proxima Centauri. Proxima Centauri is the closest individual star to our solar system, at a distance of about 4.24 light-years.

The Sun-centered or heliocentric model of the solar system is called the Copernican model (after Copernicus) and more closely matches the modern astronomical notions. By contrast, the geocentric or Earth-centric model is often called the Ptolemaic.

Uranus

The Moon is a natural satellite and the Sun is a star. The Moon is not a star. Neither the Moon nor the Sun are planets.

In the National Geographic solar system builder, users can explore and learn about the planets in our solar system by customizing their size and distance from the sun. They can also observe the planets' orbits, rotations, and compare their characteristics and features.

The solar system stays together due to the gravitational force exerted by the Sun. Gravity keeps all the planets, moons, and other objects in orbit around the Sun. It is this balance between the outward force of the planets' motion and the inward force of gravity that maintains the stability of the solar system.

Uranus is green-blue in colour

Earth looks blue from space, although at lower altitudes some of the planet appears green

Very few astronomers and scientists routinely use "light-minutes" or "light-hours" to describe distances within the solar system. AU, "astronomical units", are more commonly used.

The people who DO use light-minutes and light-hours often use it in terms of the communication lag between Earth and space probes within the solar system. So an astronomer would refer to the current (12/1/09) distance from Earth to Saturn as "9.8 AU", while the operator of an instrument on the Cassini spacecraft might call it "81 light-minutes". Because that's how far ahead he has to think to manage an instrument so far away.

There are five planets in our solar system which are bigger than Venus;

1. Jupiter(has rings)

2. Saturn (special rings around it made with ice and rocks)

3. Uranus (has rings around it)

4. Neptune (also has rings around it)

5. The Earth (the twin sister)

MissFigglebot-

im doing a research project on venus

hope that helps

The solar wind has a stronger effect on inner planets because they are closer to the Sun and therefore experience higher solar wind densities and stronger solar wind speeds. Outer planets are farther away from the Sun and have weaker solar wind interactions due to the decreased solar wind density and speed at their distance from the Sun.

Astronomers believe that the solar system is about 4.6 billion years old. This age is determined by studying the ages of rocks on Earth and meteorites from space that have been dated using radiometric dating techniques.

Galaxies are vast systems of stars, planets, and other celestial bodies that contain our solar system. They provide the cosmic environment and gravitational forces necessary for the formation and stability of solar systems like ours. Without galaxies, solar systems like ours would not exist.

On average, the distance from Earth to the outer edge of the solar system (known as the heliopause) is about 11 billion miles, or roughly 18 billion kilometers. This distance can vary slightly due to the elliptical nature of the orbits of the planets.

It takes about 225 million years for the solar system to travel once around the Galaxy. Th solar system is about 4.6 thousand million years old. So a rough estimate would be 20 times.

The planet with 25 known moons in the solar system is Saturn. These moons vary in size and composition, with some like Titan and Enceladus being of particular interest due to their potential for hosting conditions conducive to life.

In our solar system, eight known planets revolve or orbit around the Sun (as do a lot of other objects, dwarf or minor planets, asteroids, comets, and so forth).