Sunday, August 12, 2012

What is the Solar System?

A Solar System consists of a sun, and it has astronomical objects (planets) that are forced to orbit it. The sun is around 99.5% of the mass in our solar system which gives it the stongest gravitational force. Ours consists of 8 planets.

What Planets are in our Solar System?

In this order it goes: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune.
(Pluto is no longer a planet, and was declared a planatoid)

How was our Solar Sytem formed?

It was formed from a large molecular cloud around 4.7 billion years ago.

What are the types of planets in our Solar System?

There is basically two groups, the "gas giants" and then the "rocky planets." The gas giants would be identified as Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, and the rocky planets would be identified as Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. The rocky planets in our Solar System are smaller than the gas giants and are also closer to the sun.

What is the largest planets in our Solar System?

It goes in this order from largest to smallest: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Earth, Venus, Mars, Mercury. (Then Pluto is the smallest, though it is now identified as a dwarf planet).

Does our Solar System have a name?

Sort of, our solar system's name is simply just called, the "Solar System." 

Where is our Solar System?

It is in the known universe, in a galaxy called the Milky Way.