The-Solar-System

The Solar System

The force of gravity generated by the Sun’s vast mass keeps a family of planets and other bodies trapped in orbit around it . Together, the Sun and all these bodies make up our Solar System. Our Sun formed from a great could of dust and gas around 4.6 billion years ago.Vastamounts of matter were drawn in by the developing star, but not all of it was fully absorbed. A tiny fraction of leftover material-a mere 0.14 per cent of the Solar System’s mass-formed a disc of gas and dust encircling the  newborn star. Over millions of years, the grains of dust in this disc clumped together,growing into ever larger bodies until they grew to the size of planets,pulled  into spheres by their own gravity.In the inner Solar system, where the Sun’s heat was too intense for gases to condense, planets formed from  rock and metal. In the outer Solar System,gases condensed to form much bigger planets.Today the Solar System haseight planets, more then 100 moons,an unknown number of dwarf planets, and countless millions of coments and asteroids.

The Solar System

The Solar System’s planets form two groups. Ther are  four small,inner planets made of rock and metal, and four giant, outer planets made of gas and liquid.Between the two is a belt of rocky bodies called asteroids,and beyond the planets is a zone of icy bodies including dwarf planets and comets. Even further out is a vast,spherical cloud of more comets-the Oort Cloud.The SolarSystem has no agreed outer boundary.

Sun

The Sun is like a vast nuclear power station that produces energy by converting hydrogen into helium .It is the only star we can study close up.

Mercury

The closest planet to the Sun,Mercury is alos the smallest planet. Its surface is scarred by ancient craters.

Venus

Though similar in size to Earth,Venus is a hellish world where any visiting astronaut would be crushed and boiled alive.

Earth

Our home planet is the only place known to support life, thanks to the liqid water on itssurface

Mars

Mars is a bitterly cold, desert world. Like Earth ,it has mountains,canyons, and icy poles.

Saturn

The second biggest planet is striking for the dazzling system of bright rings that encircle it.It has 62 moons and dozens more moonlets.

Jupiter

The largst planet in the solar system.Jupiter is more massive than all the other planets put together. It has its own family too ,with at lest 67 moons,some as big as planets

Uranus

Blue giant Uranus orbits the sun tipped over on its side. Perhaps because of a crash with a smaller world.It has 27 moons.

Neptune

The most distant planet.Nneptune is a blue giant with 13 known moons.  It takes Neptune nearly 164 years to orbit the sun one.