The Solar System
The Solar System
The Solar System
The Solar System is made up of the Sun and all of the smaller objects that move around it. Apart from the Sun, the largest members
of the Solar System are the eight major planets. Nearest the Sun are four fairly small, rocky planets - Mercury, Venus, Earth and
Mars.
Beyond Mars is the asteroid belt – a region populated by millions of rocky objects. These are left-overs from the formation of the
planets, 4.5 billion years ago.
On the far side of the asteroid belt are the four gas giants - Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. These planets are much bigger than
Earth, but very lightweight for their size. They are mostly made of hydrogen and helium.
Until recently, the furthest known planet was an icy world called Pluto. However, Pluto is dwarfed by Earth’s Moon and many
astronomers think it is too small to be called a true planet.
An object named Eris, which is at least as big as Pluto, was discovered very far from the Sun in 2005. More than 1,000 icy worlds
such as Eris have been discovered beyond Pluto in recent years. These are called Kuiper Belt Objects. In 2006, the International
Astronomical Union decided that Pluto and Eris must be classed as “dwarf planets”.
Even further out are the comets of the Oort Cloud. These are so far away that they are invisible in even the largest telescopes. Every
so often one of these comets is disturbed and heads towards the Sun. It then becomes visible in the night sky.
Mercury
Mercury is the first planet from the Sun. It is not very easy to observe since it is always close to the Sun in the sky. Even when best
placed, it is close to the horizon and only visible for a few hours after sunset or before sunrise.
Named after the winged messenger of the gods, the planet speeds around the Sun once every 88 days. However, it spins on its axis
very slowly – once every 58.6 days. This is exactly two thirds of its orbital period.
Mercury is a small, rocky world. It is only about as wide as the Atlantic Ocean and 18 Mercurys would fit inside the Earth.
Venus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun, so it is always fairly close to the Sun in the sky. It appears as a brilliant morning or evening
“star” – the brightest object in the night sky apart from the Moon. In a telescope, it can be seen to go through phases, just like the
Moon.
Venus is so bright because it is covered by clouds that reflect much of the incoming sunlight. The yellowish clouds are made of
sulphur and sulphuric acid.
In some ways, Venus is Earth’s twin. It is about the same size and made of the same rocky materials. It also comes closer to us than
any other planet. However, it is blanketed with a thick atmosphere of carbon dioxide – the gas that we breathe out. This atmosphere
is so dense that walking through would be like wading through water.
Everyone on Earth is a traveller through space. First, the Earth zooms around the Sun at a speed of 30 km/s – 45 times faster than
Concorde. It takes 365 days (one year) to complete one orbit of the Sun.
It also spins very quickly, like a top that is leaning to one side. People living at the equator travel from west to east at a speed of
1670 km per hour. (The speed is slower for people living near the poles). Since everything around us is moving in the same way, we
do not usually notice our high speed journey. The most obvious way to tell is to watch the Sun, Moon and stars as they appear to
move across the sky.
Mars is often called the 'Red Planet' because it appears in the sky as an orange-red star. The colour caused the ancient Greeks and
Romans to name it after their god of war. Today, thanks to visiting spacecraft, we know that the planet's appearance is due to rust in
the Martian rocks.
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It orbits the Sun at an average distance of 228 million km, half as far again as the Earth, so
human visitors would find it very cold. Although summers near the equator can be quite warm, the average temperature is 63
degrees Celsius below zero - similar to winters in Antarctica. The nights are also bitterly cold.
Jupiter
Beyond the asteroid belt is Jupiter, the fifth planet from the Sun. Everything about Jupiter is large. It is so big that it could easily
swallow all of the other planets (or more than 1,300 Earths). It also weighs more than twice as much as all the other planets. Despite
its huge size, Jupiter is the fastest-spinning planet, rotating once in less than 10 hours.
Jupiter is five times as far from the Sun as the Earth, so its surface temperature is low, around –145°C. Every 13 months or so it
comes closer to us and becomes very bright in the night sky.
Jupiter is a giant ball of gas, with no solid surface. It is mainly made of the very light gases, hydrogen and helium. Telescopes show a
cloudy atmosphere with colourful belts and spots. The largest feature – called the Great Red Spot – is a giant storm, several times the
size of the Earth. It has been blowing non-stop for more than 300 years.
Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun. It was thought to be the furthest of the planets until the telescope was invented.
Second only in size to Jupiter, Saturn is made mainly of the light gases hydrogen and helium. 764 Earths would fit inside Saturn, but
the gas giant weighs only 95 times as much as our rocky world. If you could put all of the planets in a pool of water, Saturn is the
only one that would float.
Despite its size, Saturn spins once in a little more than 10 hours. Its spin is so rapid that it bulges outwards at the equator, making it
look like a ball that has been squashed.
Uranus
Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun. It was discovered by William Herschel in 1781.
Uranus lies more than 2,800 million km from the Sun. At this distance, the temperature of its cloud tops is -214 degrees C. It moves
quite slowly and has a long way to travel, so each orbit lasts 84 years.
Uranus is a giant world, the third largest planet in our Solar System. 64 Earths would fit inside it. Despite its size, it spins rapidly. A
day on Uranus lasts only 17 hours 14 minutes.
Uranus spins like a top knocked over on its side. This means that the Sun is sometimes directly overhead at the poles. Each pole has
a summer and a winter lasting 21 years, making them the hottest and coldest places on the planet!
Neptune
Neptune was discovered in 1846 by Johann Galle, an astronomer at the Berlin Observatory. Galle knew where to look because of
calculations by French mathematician Urbain Le Verrier. Both Le Verrier and John Adams in England had realised that an unseen
planet was pulling on Uranus, causing it to slow down or speed up.
Neptune turned out to be almost an identical twin of Uranus. It is 57 times bigger than the Earth, but spins quite rapidly – one day
lasts only 16 hours 7 minutes. Its average distance from the Sun is about 4,500 million km, and one year on Neptune lasts for almost
165 Earth years.
Like Uranus, it has an atmosphere of hydrogen, helium and methane. Its interior is made of ices, with a possible rocky core. Although
the atmosphere is very cold (-220 degrees C), the blue planet has some very strong winds and violent storms. Voyager 2 imaged a
huge spot the size of the Earth.
Pluto
Pluto was discovered in 1930 by 24 year-old Clyde Tombaugh, who was using a special machine to compare photos of the sky. It
turned out to be a tiny world, even smaller than our Moon.
Pluto follows an elliptical (egg-shaped) orbit that varies between 7,381 million km (49 Sun-Earth distances) and 4,446 million km (30
Sun-Earth distances). Since one orbit lasts 248 years, no one born on Pluto would ever experience a single birthday!
Very little is known about Pluto. Its surface is extremely cold (-230 degrees C) and seems to be covered with frozen ices. In recent
years it has been fairly close to the Sun and enjoying a brief summer. Surface ices have vaporised, producing a thin atmosphere.
However, it is now retreating into the cold depths of the Solar System and this atmosphere will soon freeze again.