Solar Family
Solar Family :
Sun = 332 950 x Earths
The Sun is so massive its interior could hold 1.3 million Earths.
Mercury = 0.055 x Earths
Because of its proximity to the Sun the average surface temperature on Mercury is 179 degrees Celsius. - Solar Family
Venus = 0.815 x Earths
Venus was named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty. This is probably due to the fact Venus is very bright in the night sky in comparison to the other planets.
Earth = 1 x Earth
The Earth's surface is comprised of 71% water. Earth is the only planet that has liquid water on its surface. - Solar Family
Mars = 0.107 x Earths
The solar day on Mars is very close to Earth's day - 24 hours, 39 minutes and 35.244 seconds.
Jupiter = 317.8 x Earths
Although Jupiter consists mainly of gas, its core is quite different. It consists of rocky material which equals roughly the mass of 10-15 Earths.
Saturn = 95.162 x Earths
Because Saturn's core is so hot it radiates more energy into space than it receives from the Sun.
Uranus = 14.536 x Earths
Uranus, like Saturn, Jupiter and Neptune, also has rings. All the rings are very faint. The outermost ring, known as the Epsilon, is comprised mostly of ice boulders several feet across.
Neptune = 17.147 x Earths
Neptune has the strongest winds recorded at any planet. They can reach up to 2000 km/h. - Solar Family
AMAZING FACTS about Our Solar System :
The solar system includes the Sun, the nine planets and their 158 presently known moons. It also includes asteroids, meteoroids, comets and interplanetary dust. Come on a journey and travel through our solar system. Visit all nine planets and discover if NEOs are a threat to Earth.
The inner solar system is separated from the outer by the asteroid belt.
The solar system is port of the Milky Way galaxy which is a barred-spiral galaxy.
There were 9 planets in the Solar System until 2006 when the International Astronomical Union decided that Pluto could no longer be considered a planet due to its size being smaller than our moon.
If all the planets were joined together, the Sun would still be more than 700 times bigger. It contains over 99% of the solar system's mass.
It takes two million years for gamma rays produced in the core of the Sun to reach its surface.
The Sun is the largest object the solar system. It is about 332 950 times more massive than Earth.
The relationship between the Sun and the Earth drives the seasons, currents in the ocean, weather and climate.
The Sun has been burning for about five billion years and will bum for another five billion.
If you stood on Venus, the atmospheric pressure would be the same as if you were 900 metres underneath an ocean on Earth. - Solar Family
Much of the surface of Venus, including craters, has been covered in lava from previous eruptions.
Mercury and Venus are the only two planets in our solar system that don't have moons.
Mercury has the greatest variation in surface temperature of any planet in the solar system — can be over 600 degrees Celsius.
Because there is no wind or rain on the Moon, any footprints left by the astronauts should remain for millions of years.
It is thought that Earth was hit by a large object and the debris that was ejected into space joined together to form the Moon.
The official Latin name for planet Earth is Terra. It is named after the Roman goddess of fertility and growth - Terra Mater.
The Moon is the only other planet or satellite in the solar system that humans hove set foot upon.
The length of each Martian season is almost twice as long as a season on Earth.
Mars has the least hostile environment of all the other planets in the solar system.
The surface area of Mars is approximately equal to that of Earth's dry land as Mars does not have any oceans.
Mars has two small moons. They have uneven shapes and may originally have been asteroids.
After the Sun, the Moon and Venus, Jupiter is usually the fourth brightest object in the sky.
Saturn is almost exactly the same as Jupiter, just smaller. The only striking difference is the rings around Saturn.
Saturn's rings are thought to be particles of an old moon which was smashed to pieces in a collision million of years ago.
Jupiter is made of hydrogen and helium gases which also make up the Sun. If Jupiter had been any bigger, it could have become a star.
It takes 84 Earth years for Uranus to complete one full orbit around the Sun.
The Kuiper Belt contains many comets, asteroids and other small bodies made largely of ice.
As its orbit is so for from the sun, Neptune receives very little heat - in fact the uppermost regions of its atmosphere are -218 degrees Celsius.
A comet's tail can be millions of kilometres long.
Over 9 000 asteroids hove been located and named.
An asteroid, called Ido, has its own moon called Dactyl.
Halley's comet lost visited Earth in 1986
Astronomers look in space for asteroids or meteorites that might be headed towards Earth.
Today, in the United States and Australia, we can still see craters that are the result of meteorites hitting Earth.
Huge asteroids like the one that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs collide with Earth about once every 100 million years. That asteroid was 15 km wide.
When small fragments of cosmic debris, often left over from a passing comet, enter Earth's atmosphere at high speed we get a meteor shower.
In some regions of the planet, like India, people refer to wet and dry seasons instead of the four seasons.
When it is summer in the Southern Hemisphere, it is winter in the Northern Hemisphere and vice versa.
When it is spring and autumn, neither hemisphere is tilted toward the Sun.
Nights on average are shorter than days. This is because even when then Sun has gone down, its light still reaches the ground, because of the way it passes through the atmosphere.
The Moon's surface doesn't give off any light. Rather it reflects the light of the Sun.
Solar Family:
