solar system Is a system of celestial bodies welded together by the forces of mutual attraction. It includes: the central star - the Sun, 8 major planets with their satellites, several thousand minor planets, or asteroids, several hundred observed comets and countless meteoric bodies, dust, gas and small particles .
It was formed by gravitational compressiongas and dust cloud about 4.57 billion years ago.
The sun
The Sun is the closest star to the Earth, all others are immeasurably farther from us. For example, the closest star to us is Proxima from the systema Centauri is 2500 times farther than the Sun. For the Earth, the Sun is a powerful source of cosmic energy. It provides light and heat necessary for the flora and fauna, and forms the most important properties of the Earth's atmosphere. In general, the Sun determines the ecology of the planet. Without it, there would be no air necessary for life: it would turn into a liquid nitrogen ocean around frozen waters and frozen land. For us, earthlings, the most important feature of the Sun is that our planet arose around it and life appeared on it.
Merkur ui
Mercury is the planet closest to the Sun.
The ancient Romans considered Mercury the patron saint of commerce, travelers and thieves, as well as the messenger of the gods. It is not surprising that a small planet, rapidly moving across the sky after the Sun, received his name. Mercury has been known since ancient times, but the ancient astronomers did not immediately realize that they saw the same star in the morning and evening. Mercury is closer to the Sun than Earth: the average distance from the Sun is 0.387 AU, and the distance to Earth ranges from 82 to 217 million km. The inclination of the orbit to the ecliptic i \u003d 7 ° is one of the largest in the solar system. The axis of Mercury is almost perpendicular to the plane of its orbit, and the orbit itself is very elongated (eccentricity e \u003d 0.206). The average speed of Mercury in orbit is 47.9 km / s. Due to the tidal effect of the Sun, Mercury fell into a resonance trap. Measured in 1965, the period of its revolution around the Sun (87.95 Earth days) refers to the period of rotation around the axis (58.65 Earth days) as 3/2. Mercury completes three complete revolutions around the axis in 176 days. During the same period, the planet makes two revolutions around the Sun. Thus, Mercury occupies the same orbital position relative to the Sun, and the orientation of the planet remains the same. Mercury has no satellites. If they were, then in the process of planet formation they fell on protomercurium. The mass of Mercury is almost 20 times less than the mass of the Earth (0.055M or 3.3 10 23 kg), and the density is almost the same as that of the Earth (5.43 g / cm3). The radius of the planet is 0.38R (2440 km). Mercury is smaller than some of the moons of Jupiter and Saturn.
Venus
The second planet from the Sun, has an almost circular orbit. It passes closer to Earth than any other planet.
But the dense, cloudy atmosphere makes it impossible to directly see its surface. Atmosphere: CO 2 (97%), N2 (about 3%), H 2 O (0.05%), impurities of CO, SO 2, HCl, HF. Thanks to the greenhouse effect, the surface temperature heats up to hundreds of degrees. The atmosphere, which is a dense blanket of carbon dioxide, traps the heat from the sun. This leads to the fact that the temperature of the atmosphere is much higher than in the oven. Radar images show a very wide variety of craters, volcanoes and mountains. There are several very large volcanoes up to 3 km high. and hundreds of kilometers wide. The outpouring of lava on Venus takes much longer than on Earth. The surface pressure is about 107 Pa. Surface rocks of Venus are similar in composition to terrestrial sedimentary rocks.
Finding Venus in the sky is easier than any other planet. Its dense clouds reflect sunlight well, making the planet bright in our sky. Every seven months for several weeks, Venus is the brightest object in the western sky in the evening. Three and a half months later, it rises three hours earlier than the Sun, becoming the brilliant "morning star" of the eastern sky. Venus can be seen one hour after sunset or one hour before sunrise. Venus has no satellites.
Third from Sol 
nza planet. The speed of the Earth's revolution in an elliptical orbit around the Sun is 29.765 km / s. The inclination of the earth's axis to the plane of the ecliptic is 66 o 33 "22" ". The earth has a natural satellite - the moon. The earth has a magneticnet and electric fields. The Earth was formed 4.7 billion years ago from gas scattered in the protosolar system-dust substances. The composition of the Earth is dominated by: iron (34.6%), oxygen (29.5%), silicon (15.2%), magnesium (12.7%). The pressure in the center of the planet is 3.6 * 10 11 Pa, the density is about 12 500 kg / m 3, the temperature is 5000-6000 o C. Most of thethe surface is occupied by the World Ocean (361.1 million km 2; 70.8%); land is 149.1 million km 2 and forms six motherscoves and islands. It rises above the world ocean level by an average of 875 meters (the highest height is 8848 meters - the city of Jomolungma). Mountains occupy 30% of the land, deserts cover about 20% of the land surface, savannahs and woodlands - about 20%, forests - about 30%, glaciers - 10%. The average depth of the ocean is about 3800 meters, the greatest is 11022 meters (the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean), the volume of water is 1370 million km 3, the average salinity is 35g / l. The atmosphere of the Earth, the total mass of which is 5.15 * 10 15 tons, consists of air - a mixture of mainly nitrogen (78.1%) and oxygen (21%), the rest is water vapor, carbon dioxide, noble and other gases. About 3-3.5 billion years ago, as a result of the natural evolution of matter, life arose on Earth, and the development of the biosphere began.
Mars
The fourth planet from the Sun, similar to Earth, but smaller and colder. Mars has deep canyons
giant volcanoes and vast deserts. Around the Red Planet, as Mars is also called, two small moons fly: Phobos and Deimos. Mars is the planet next to the Earth, if we count from the Sun, and the only cosmic world besides the Moon that can already be reached with the help of modern rockets. For astronauts, this 4-year journey could be the next frontier in space exploration. Near the equator of Mars, in an area called Tarsis, there are volcanoes of colossal size. Tarsis is the name given by astronomers to a height of 400 km. wide and about 10 km. in height. There are four volcanoes on this plateau, each of which is just a giant in comparison with any terrestrial volcano. The most grandiose volcano in Tarsis, Mount Olympus, rises 27 km above the surrounding area. About two-thirds of Mars' surface is mountainous with many impact craters surrounded by debris. Near the volcanoes of Tarsis, a vast system of canyons snakes about a quarter of the equator. The Mariner Valley is 600 km wide, and its depth is such that Mount Everest would sink entirely to its bottom. Sheer cliffs rise thousands of meters from the bottom of the valley to the plateau above. In ancient times, there was a lot of water on Mars, and large rivers flowed along the surface of this planet. Ice caps lie at the South and North Poles of Mars. But this ice does not consist of water, but of solidified atmospheric carbon dioxide (solidifies at a temperature of -100 o C). Scientists believe that surface water is stored in the form of ice blocks buried in the ground, especially in the polar regions. The composition of the atmosphere: CO 2 (95%), N 2 (2.5%), Ar (1.5 - 2%), CO (0.06%), H 2 O (up to 0.1%); pressure at the surface is 5-7 hPa. In total, about 30 interplanetary space stations were sent to Mars.
Jupiter
The fifth planet from the Sun, the largest planet in the solar system. Jupiter is not a solid planet. Unlike the four solid planets closer to the Sun, Jupiter is a ball of gas. The composition of the atmosphere: H 2 (85%), CH 4, NH 3, He (14%). Jupiter's gas composition is very similar to that of the Sun. Jupiter is a powerful source of thermal radio emission. Jupiter has 16 satellites (Adrastea, Metis, Amalthea, Thebes, Io, Lysitea, Elara, Ananke, Karma, Pasiphae, Sinope, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto, Leda, Himalia), as well as a ring 20,000 km wide, almost closely adjacent to planet. Jupiter's rotation speed is so high that the planet bulges along the equator. In addition, this rapid rotation causes very strong winds in the upper atmosphere, where clouds are drawn in long colorful ribbons. Jupiter's clouds have a very large number of vortex spots. The largest of them, the so-called Great Red Spot, is larger than the Earth. The Great Red Spot is a massive storm in Jupiter's atmosphere that has been observed for 300 years. Inside the planet, under tremendous pressure, hydrogen turns from gas to liquid, and then from liquid to solid. At a depth of 100 km. there is an endless ocean of liquid hydrogen. Below 17000 km. hydrogen is compressed so strongly that its atoms are destroyed. And then he begins to behave like metal; in this state it conducts electricity easily. An electric current flowing in metallic hydrogen creates a strong magnetic field around Jupiter.
Saturn
The sixth planet from the Sun has a striking ring system. Due to the rapid rotation around its axis, Saturn will seem to be flattened at the poles. The wind speed at the equator reaches 1800 km / h. The width of Saturn's rings is 400,000 km, but they are only a few tens of meters thick. The inner parts of the rings revolve around Saturn faster than the outer ones. The rings are mainly made up of billions of small particles, each of which orbits Saturn as a separate microscopic satellite. Probably, these "microsatellites" are composed of water ice or rocks covered with ice. Their size ranges from a few centimeters to tens of meters. There are also larger objects in the rings - boulders and fragments up to hundreds of meters in diameter. The gaps between the rings are caused by the gravitational forces of the seventeen moons (Hyperion, Mimas, Tethys, Titan, Enceladus, etc.), which cause the rings to split. The atmosphere includes: CH 4, H 2, He, NH 3.
Uranus
Seventh from 
The sun is a planet. It was discovered in 1781 by the English astronomer William Herschel, and named aftergreek about the sky god Uranus. The orientation of Uranus in space differs from the rest of the planets of the solar system - its axis of rotation lies, as it were, "on its side" relative to the plane of rotation of this planet around the sun. The axis of rotation is tilted at an angle of 98 o. As a result of this, the planet is turned to the Sun alternately by the north pole, then the south, then the equator, then the middle latitudes. Uranus has more than 27 satellites (Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, Oberon, Cordelia, Ophelia, Bianca, Cressida, Desdemona, Juliet, Portia, Rosalind, Belinda, Peck, etc.) and a ring system. In the center of Uranus is a core made of stone and iron. The composition of the atmosphere includes: H 2, He, CH 4 (14%).
Neptune
E its orbit intersects with Pluto's orbit in some places. The equatorial diameter is the same as that of Uranus, although ra neptune is located 1627 million km further from Uranus (Uranus is located 2869 million km from the Sun). Based on these data, we can conclude that this planet could not be noticed in the 17th century. One of the brightest achievements of science, one of the evidence of the unlimited cognizability of nature was the discovery of the planet Neptune through calculations - "at the tip of a pen". Uranus, the planet following Saturn, which for many centuries was considered the most distant planet, was discovered by V. Herschel at the end of the 18th century. Uranus is hardly visible to the naked eye. By the 40s of the XIX century. accurate observations have shown that Uranus is subtly deviating from the path it should follow, taking into account the disturbances from all known planets. Thus, the theory of the motion of celestial bodies, so rigorous and precise, was tested. Le Verrier (in France) and Adams (in England) suggested that if perturbations from the known planets do not explain the deviation in the motion of Uranus, it means that the attraction of a still unknown body acts on it. They almost simultaneously calculated where behind Uranus there should be an unknown body, producing these deviations by its attraction. They calculated the orbit of the unknown planet, its mass and indicated the place in the sky where the unknown planet was supposed to be at this time. This planet was found in a telescope at the place indicated by them in 1846. It was named Neptune. Neptune is not visible to the naked eye. On this planet, winds blow at speeds up to 2400 km / h, directed against the rotation of the planet. These are the strongest winds in the solar system.
Atmosphere composition: H 2, He, CH 4. Has 6 satellites (one of them is Triton).
Neptune is the god of the seas in Roman mythology.
Not so long ago, any educated person would answer the question of how many planets in the solar system without hesitation - nine. And he would be right. If you do not really follow the events in the world of astronomy and are not a regular viewer of the Discovery Channel, then today you will answer the question posed the same way. However, this time you will be wrong.
And the point is this. In 2006, namely, on August 26, 2.5 thousand participants in the Congress of the International Astronomical Union made a sensational decision and actually deleted Pluto from the list of planets of the solar system, since 76 years after its discovery, it ceased to meet the requirements of scientists for planets.
Let's figure out, first, what a planet is, and also - how many planets in the solar system astronomers have left us, and consider each of them separately.
A bit of history
Previously, a planet was considered to be any body that revolves around a star, glows with light reflected from it, and has a size larger than that of asteroids.
Even in Ancient Greece, they mentioned seven luminous bodies that move across the sky against the background of fixed stars. These cosmic bodies were: the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Moon, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. The Earth was not included in this list, since the ancient Greeks considered the Earth to be the center of everything. And only in the 16th century, Nicolaus Copernicus, in his scientific work entitled "On the Circulation of the Celestial Spheres", came to the conclusion that not the Earth, but the Sun should be in the center of the planetary system. Therefore, the Sun and the Moon were removed from the list, and the Earth was added to it. And after the appearance of telescopes, Uranus and Neptune were added, in 1781 and 1846, respectively.
The last discovered planet of the solar system from 1930 until recently was Pluto.
And now, almost 400 years after the creation of the world's first telescope for observing stars by Galileo Galilei, astronomers have come to the following definition of a planet.
Planet Is a celestial body that must satisfy four conditions:
the body must revolve around the star (for example, around the sun);
the body must have sufficient gravity to be spherical or close to it;
the body should not have other large bodies near its orbit;
The body doesn't have to be a star.
In turn star Is a cosmic body that emits light and is a powerful source of energy. This is explained, firstly, by the thermonuclear reactions taking place in it, and secondly, by the processes of gravitational compression, as a result of which a huge amount of energy is released.
The planets of the solar system today
solar system Is a planetary system that consists of a central star - the Sun - and all natural space objects revolving around it.
So, today the solar system consists of of eight planets: four inner, so-called terrestrial planets, and four outer planets, called gas giants.
The terrestrial planets include Earth, Mercury, Venus and Mars. They are all composed mainly of silicates and metals.
The outer planets are Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. The gas giants are composed mainly of hydrogen and helium.
The sizes of the planets of the solar system differ both within groups and between groups. So, gas giants are much larger and more massive than the terrestrial planets.
The closest to the Sun is Mercury, then, as far away as possible: Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
It would be wrong to consider the characteristics of the planets of the solar system without paying attention to its main component: the sun itself. Therefore, we will start with him.
The sun 
The sun is the star that gave rise to all life in the solar system. Planets, dwarf planets and their satellites, asteroids, comets, meteorites and cosmic dust revolve around it.
The Sun appeared about 5 billion years ago, is a spherical, incandescent plasma ball and has a mass that is more than 300 thousand times the mass of the Earth. The surface temperature is over 5000 Kelvin, and the core temperature is over 13 million K.
The Sun is one of the largest and brightest stars in our galaxy, which is called the Milky Way Galaxy. The Sun is located at a distance of about 26 thousand light years from the center of the Galaxy and makes a complete revolution around it in about 230-250 million years! For comparison, the Earth makes a complete revolution around the Sun in 1 year.
Mercury
Mercury is the smallest planet in the system, which is closest to the Sun. Mercury has no satellites.
The planet's surface is covered with craters that arose about 3.5 billion years ago as a result of massive meteorite bombardments. The craters can range in diameter from a few meters to over 1000 km.
Mercury's atmosphere is highly rarefied, composed mostly of helium, and is blown up by the solar wind. Since the planet is located very close to the Sun and does not have an atmosphere that would keep warm at night, the surface temperature ranges from -180 to +440 degrees Celsius.
By earthly standards, Mercury makes a complete revolution around the Sun in 88 days. But the Mercurian days are equal to 176 Earth days.
Venus
Venus is the second closest planet to the Sun in the solar system. Venus is only slightly inferior in size to the Earth, therefore it is sometimes called the "sister of the Earth". Has no satellites.
The atmosphere is composed of carbon dioxide with admixtures of nitrogen and oxygen. The air pressure on the planet is more than 90 atmospheres, which is 35 times more than on Earth.
Carbon dioxide and, as a consequence, the greenhouse effect, the denser atmosphere, as well as the proximity to the Sun allow Venus to bear the title of “the hottest planet”. The temperature on its surface can reach 460 ° C.
Venus is one of the brightest objects in the earth's sky after the Sun and Moon.
Earth 
The Earth is the only known planet in the Universe today that has life. The Earth has the largest size, mass and density among the so-called inner planets of the solar system.
The Earth is about 4.5 billion years old, and life appeared on the planet about 3.5 billion years ago. The moon is a natural satellite, the largest of the satellites of the terrestrial planets.
The Earth's atmosphere is fundamentally different from the atmospheres of other planets due to the presence of life. Most of the atmosphere is nitrogen, and it also contains oxygen, argon, carbon dioxide and water vapor. The ozone layer and the Earth's magnetic field, in turn, attenuate the life-threatening effects of solar and cosmic radiation.
Due to the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the Earth also has a greenhouse effect. It does not manifest itself as strongly as on Venus, but without it, the air temperature would be about 40 ° C lower. Without the atmosphere, temperature fluctuations would be very significant: according to scientists, from -100 ° С at night to + 160 ° С during the day.
About 71% of the Earth's surface is occupied by the world ocean, the remaining 29% are continents and islands.
Mars
Mars is the seventh largest planet in the solar system. "Red planet", as it is also called due to the presence of a large amount of iron oxide in the soil. Mars has two moons: Deimos and Phobos.
The atmosphere of Mars is very rarefied, and the distance to the Sun is almost one and a half times greater than that of the Earth. Therefore, the average annual temperature on the planet is -60 ° C, and temperature drops in some places reach 40 degrees during the day.
Distinctive features of the surface of Mars are impact craters and volcanoes, valleys and deserts, polar ice caps like those on Earth. The highest mountain in the solar system is located on Mars: the extinct volcano Olympus, whose height is 27 km! And also the largest canyon: the Mariner Valley, whose depth reaches 11 km and the length is 4500 km.
Jupiter
Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system. It is 318 times heavier than Earth, and almost 2.5 times more massive than all the planets of our system put together. In its composition, Jupiter resembles the Sun - it consists mainly of helium and hydrogen - and emits a huge amount of heat, equal to 4 * 1017 W. However, in order to become a star like the Sun, Jupiter must be 70 to 80 times heavier.
Jupiter has as many as 63 satellites, of which it makes sense to list only the largest ones - Callisto, Ganymede, Io and Europa. Ganymede is the largest satellite in the solar system, even larger than Mercury.
As a result of certain processes in the inner atmosphere of Jupiter, many vortex structures arise in its outer atmosphere, for example, stripes of brown-red clouds, as well as the Great Red Spot - a giant storm known since the 17th century.
Saturn
Saturn is the second largest planet in the solar system. Saturn's calling card is, of course, its ring system, which consists mainly of ice particles of various sizes (from tenths of a millimeter to several meters), as well as rocks and dust.
Saturn has 62 moons, the largest of which are Titan and Enceladus.
In its composition, Saturn resembles Jupiter, but in density it is inferior even to ordinary water.
The outer atmosphere of the planet appears to be calm and uniform, due to a very dense layer of fog. However, the wind speed in some places can reach 1800 km / h.
Uranus
Uranus is the first planet discovered with a telescope and is also the only planet in the solar system to orbit the sun "lying on its side."
Uranus has 27 moons, which are named after Shakespeare's heroes. The largest of them are Oberon, Titania and Umbriel.
The composition of the planet differs from gas giants in the presence of a large number of high-temperature modifications of ice. Therefore, along with Neptune, scientists have identified Uranus in the category of "ice giants". And if Venus has the title of the "hottest planet" in the solar system, then Uranus is the coldest planet with a minimum temperature of about -224 ° C.
Neptune
Neptune is the outermost planet in the solar system. The history of its discovery is interesting: before observing the planet through a telescope, scientists, using mathematical calculations, calculated its position in the sky. This happened after the discovery of unexplained changes in the movement of Uranus in its own orbit.
Today science knows 13 satellites of Neptune. The largest of them - Triton - is the only satellite that moves in the direction opposite to the rotation of the planet. The fastest winds in the solar system also blow against the rotation of the planet: their speed reaches 2200 km / h.
Compositionally, Neptune is very similar to Uranus, therefore it is the second "ice giant". However, like Jupiter and Saturn, Neptune has an internal source of heat and emits 2.5 times more energy than it receives from the Sun.
The blue color of the planet is given by traces of methane in the outer layers of the atmosphere.
Conclusion
Pluto, unfortunately, did not have time to get into our parade of the planets of the solar system. But there is absolutely no need to worry about this, because all the planets remain in their places, despite changes in scientific views and concepts.
So, we answered the question of how many planets are there in the solar system. There are only 8 .
This is a system of planets, in the center of which is a bright star, the source of energy, heat and light - the Sun.
According to one theory, the Sun was formed together with the solar system about 4.5 billion years ago as a result of the explosion of one or more supernovae. Initially, the solar system was a cloud of gas and dust particles, which in motion and under the influence of their mass formed a disk, in which a new star, the Sun and our entire solar system, arose.
In the center of the solar system is the Sun, around which nine large planets revolve in orbits. Since the Sun is displaced from the center of planetary orbits, then during the cycle of revolution around the Sun, the planets either approach or move away in their orbits.
There are two groups of planets:
Terrestrial planets: and ... These planets are small in size with a rocky surface, they are closer to the Sun than others.
Planets giants: and ... These are large planets, mostly made of gas, and are characterized by rings of ice dust and many rocky pieces.
And here does not fall into any group, because, despite its location in the solar system, it is too far from the sun and has a very small diameter, only 2320 km, which is half the diameter of Mercury.
The planets of the solar system
Let's start a fascinating acquaintance with the planets of the solar system in order of their location from the sun, and also consider their main satellites and some other space objects (comets, asteroids, meteorites) in the gigantic expanses of our planetary system.
Rings and moons of Jupiter: Europa, Io, Ganymede, Callisto and others ...
The planet Jupiter is surrounded by a whole family of 16 satellites, each of which has its own, unlike other features ...
Rings and moons of Saturn: Titan, Enceladus and others ...
Not only the planet Saturn has characteristic rings, but also other giant planets. Around Saturn, the rings are especially clearly visible, because they consist of billions of small particles that revolve around the planet, in addition to several rings, Saturn has 18 satellites, one of which is Titan, its diameter is 5000 km, which makes it the largest satellite of the solar system ...
Rings and moons of Uranus: Titania, Oberon and others ...
The planet Uranus has 17 satellites and, like other giant planets, thin rings encircling the planet, which practically do not have the ability to reflect light, so they were discovered not so long ago in 1977 by accident ...
Rings and moons of Neptune: 
Triton, Nereid and others ...
Initially, before the exploration of Neptune by the Voyager 2 spacecraft, it was known about two satellites of the planet - Triton and Nerida. An interesting fact is that the satellite Triton has the opposite direction of orbital motion, and strange volcanoes were also discovered on the satellite, which spewed nitrogen gas, like geysers, spreading a dark mass (from a liquid state to vapor) for many kilometers into the atmosphere. During its mission, Voyager 2 discovered six more satellites of the planet Neptune ...
\u003e Planets of the solar system in order
Explore planets of the solar system in order... High quality photo, the place of the Earth and a detailed description of each planet around the Sun: from Mercury to Neptune.
Let's take a look at the planets of the solar system in order: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
What is a planet?
According to the criteria established by the IAU in 2006, an object is considered a planet:
- staying on an orbital path around the sun;
- is robust enough for hydrostatic balance;
- cleared the surroundings of foreign bodies;
This led to the fact that Pluto could not meet the last point and went into the categories of dwarf planets. For the same reason, Ceres is no longer an asteroid, but has joined Pluto.
But there are also trans-Neptunian objects that are considered a subcategory of dwarf planets and are called the plutoid class. These are celestial bodies revolving beyond the orbit of Neptune. This includes Ceres, Pluto, Haumea, Eris, and Makemake.
The planets of the solar system in order
Let's now examine our planets in the solar system in order of increasing distance from the sun with a high quality photo.
Mercury
Mercury is the first planet from the Sun, at a distance of 58 million km. Despite this, it is not considered the hottest planet.
Now considered the smallest planet, inferior in size to the satellite Ganymede.
- Diameter: 4,879 km
- Mass: 3.3011 × 10 23 kg (0.055 Earth).
- Length of the year: 87.97 days.
- Length of a day: 59 days.
- Included in the category of terrestrial planets. The crater surface resembles the Earth's Moon.
- If you weigh 45 kg on Earth, you will get 17 kg on Mercury.
- There are no satellites.
- Temperature reading ranges from -173 to 427 ° C (-279 to 801 degrees Fahrenheit)
- Only 2 missions were sent: Mariner 10 in 1974-1975. and MESSENGER, which flew past the planet three times before entering orbit in 2011.
Venus
It is located at a distance of 108 million km from the Sun and is considered an earthly sister, because it is similar in parameters: 81.5% of the mass, 90% of the earth's area and 86.6% of its volume.
Due to the thick atmospheric layer, Venus has become the hottest planet in the solar system, where temperatures rise to 462 ° C.
- Diameter: 12104 km.
- Weight: 4.886 x 10 24 kg (0.815 earth)
- Length of the year: 225 days.
- Length of a day: 243 days.
- Temperature heating: 462 ° C.
- The dense and toxic atmosphere is filled with carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrogen (N2) with droplets of sulfuric acid (H2SO4).
- There are no satellites.
- Retrograde rotation is characteristic.
- If you weigh 45 kg on Earth, you will get 41 kg on Venus.
- It was called the Morning and Evening Star because it is often brighter than any other object in the sky and is usually seen at dawn or dusk. It is often even mistaken for a UFO.
- More than 40 missions have been sent. Magellan mapped 98% of the planet's surface in the early 1990s.
Earth
Earth is a home, living at a distance of 150 million km from the star. So far, the only world that has life.
- Diameter: 12,760 km.
- Weight: 5.97 x 10 24 kg.
- Duration of the year: 365 days.
- Length of a day: 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4 seconds.
- Surface heating: medium - 14 ° C, with ranges from -88 ° C to 58 ° C.
- The surface is constantly changing and 70% is covered by oceans.
- There is one satellite.
- Atmospheric composition: nitrogen (78%), oxygen (21%) and other gases (1%).
- The only world with life.
Mars
The red planet, distant 288 million km. Received the second name because of the reddish hue created by iron oxide. Mars resembles Earth due to its axial rotation and tilt, which shape seasonality.
There are also many familiar surface features such as mountains, valleys, volcanoes, deserts, and ice caps. The atmosphere is thin, so the temperature drops to -63 ° C.
- Diameter: 6787 km.
- Weight: 6.4171 x 10 23 kg (0.107 Earth).
- Length of the year: 687 days.
- Day length: 24 hours and 37 minutes.
- Surface temperature: Medium - about -55 ° C with a range of -153 ° C to + 20 ° C.
- Belongs to the category of terrestrial planets. The rocky surface has been affected by volcanoes, asteroid attacks, and atmospheric effects such as dust storms.
- The thin atmosphere is represented by carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrogen (N2) and argon (Ar). If you weigh 45 kg on Earth, you will get 17 kg on Mars.
- There are two tiny moons: Phobos and Deimos.
- It is called the Red Planet because the iron minerals in the soil are oxidized (rust).
- More than 40 spacecraft were sent.
Jupiter
Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system, living at a distance of 778 million km from the Sun. It is 317 times larger than Earth and 2.5 times larger than all the planets combined. Represented by hydrogen and helium.
The atmosphere is considered to be the most intense, where the wind speeds up to 620 km / h. There are also some amazing auroras that practically never stop.
- Diameter: 428 400 km.
- Mass: 1.8986 × 10 27 kg (317.8 Earth).
- Length of a year: 11.9 years.
- Length of a day: 9.8 hours.
- Temperature index: -148 ° C.
- There are 67 known satellites, with 17 more moons awaiting confirmation of their discovery. Jupiter looks like a mini-system!
- In 1979, Voyager 1 noticed a weak ring system.
- If you weigh 45 kg on Earth, you get 115 kg on Jupiter.
- The Great Red Spot is a large-scale storm (larger than Earth) that has not stopped for hundreds of years. In recent years, there has been a downward trend.
- Many missions have flown past Jupiter. The last one arrived in 2016 - Juno.
Saturn
It is 1.4 billion km away. Saturn is a gas giant with a gorgeous ring system. There are gas layers concentrated around a solid core.
- Diameter: 120,500 km.
- Mass: 5.66836 × 10 26 kg (95.159 Earth).
- Length of a year: 29.5 years.
- Length of a day: 10.7 hours.
- Temperature mark: -178 ° С.
- Atmospheric composition: hydrogen (H2) and helium (He).
- If you weigh 45 kg on Earth, you will get about 48 kg on Saturn.
- There are 53 known satellites with an additional 9 pending confirmation.
- 5 missions were sent to the planet. Since 2004, Cassini has been involved in the system.
Uranus
Lives at a distance of 2.9 billion km. It belongs to the class of ice giants due to the presence of ammonia, methane, water and hydrocarbons. Methane also creates a blue appearance.
Uranus is the coldest planet in the system. The seasonal cycle is quite bizarre, as it lasts 42 years for each hemisphere.
- Diameter: 51,120 km.
- Length of the year: 84 years.
- Length of a day: 18 hours.
- Temperature mark: -216 ° С.
- Most of the planetary mass is represented by a red-hot dense liquid made of "ice" materials: water, ammonia and methane.
- Atmospheric composition: hydrogen and helium with a small admixture of methane. Methane produces a blue-green cast.
- If you weigh 45 kg on Earth, you get 41 kg on Uranus.
- There are 27 satellites.
- There is a weak ring system.
- The only ship was sent to the planet - Voyager 2.
Neptune
It's hard to believe, but once the Space was completely empty. There were no planets, no satellites, no stars. Where did they come from? How was the solar system formed? These questions have worried mankind for many centuries. This article will help to give some idea of \u200b\u200bwhat the Cosmos is and will reveal interesting facts about the planets of the solar system.
How it all began
The Universe is the entire visible and invisible Cosmos together with all existing cosmic bodies. Several theories of its appearance have been put forward:
3. Divine intervention.Our Universe is so unique, everything in it is thought out to the smallest detail that it could not arise by itself. Only the Great Creator is capable of creating such a miracle. Absolutely not a scientific theory, but it has a right to exist.
The debate about the causes of the true origin of outer space continues. In fact, we have an idea of \u200b\u200bthe solar system, which includes a burning star and eight planets with their satellites, galaxies, stars, comets, black holes, and much more.
Amazing discoveries or interesting facts about the planets of the solar system
Outer spaces beckon with their mystery. Each celestial body keeps its own riddle. Thanks to astronomical discoveries, valuable information about heavenly wanderers appears.
Closest to the sun is Mercury... It is believed that it was once a satellite of Venus. But as a result of the cosmic catastrophe, the space body separated from Venus and acquired its own orbit. A year on Mercury lasts 88 days, and a day lasts 59 days.
Mercury is the only planet in the solar system where you can observe the movement of the sun in the opposite direction. This phenomenon has a completely logical explanation. The speed of rotation of the planet around its axis is much slower than the movement in its orbit. Because of such a difference in speed modes, the effect of changing the movement of the Sun arises.
A fantastic phenomenon can be observed on Mercury: two sunsets and sunrises. And if you move to the 0˚ and 180̊ meridians, you can witness three sunsets and sunrises per day.
Venus goes next to Mercury. It lights up in the sky during sunset on Earth, but you can watch it for only a couple of hours. Because of this feature, she was nicknamed "Evening Star". Interestingly, the orbit of Venus lies within the orbit of our planet. But it moves along it in the opposite direction, counterclockwise. A year on the planet lasts 225 days, and 1 day lasts 243 earth days. Venus, like the Moon, has a phase change, transforming itself into a thin sickle, then into a wide circle. There is an assumption that some types of terrestrial bacteria can live in the atmosphere of Venus.
Earth - truly the pearl of the solar system. Only on it there is a huge variety of life forms. People feel so comfortable on this planet and do not even realize that it rushes along its orbit at a speed of 108,000 km per hour.
The fourth planet from the Sun is Mars. He is accompanied by two companions. A day on this planet is equal in duration to the earth's - 24 hours. But 1 year lasts 668 days, just like on Earth, the seasons change here. The seasons cause changes in the appearance of the planet.
Jupiter is the largest space giant. Has a lot of satellites (more than 60 pieces) and 5 rings. The mass exceeds the Earth by 318 times. But, despite its impressive size, it moves fast enough. It turns around its own axis in just 10 hours, but overcomes the distance around the Sun in 12 years.
The weather on Jupiter is bad - constant storms and hurricanes, accompanied by lightning. A striking representative of such weather conditions is the Great Red Spot - a whirlwind moving at a speed of 435 km / h.
Distinctive feature Saturn, certainly are his rings. These flat formations are composed of dust and ice. The thickness of the circles ranges from 10 - 15 m to 1 km, the width from 3,000 km to 300,000 km. The rings of the planet are not a single whole, but represent formations in the form of thin spokes. Also, the planet is surrounded by more than 62 satellites.
Saturn has an incredibly high rotational speed, so much so that it contracts at the poles. A day on the planet lasts 10 hours, a year - 30 years.
Uranus, like Venus, it moves counterclockwise around the star. The uniqueness of the planet lies in the fact that it "lies on its side", its axis is inclined at an angle of 98˚. There is a theory that the planet took this position after a collision with another space object.
Like Saturn, Uranus has a complex ring system made up of a collection of inner and outer rings. In total, Uranus has 13 of them. It is believed that the rings are the remains of the former satellite of Uranus that collided with the planet.
Uranus does not have a solid surface, a third of the radius, about 8,000 km, is a gas envelope.
Neptune - the last planet of the solar system. It is surrounded by 6 dark rings. Methane, which is present in the atmosphere, gives the planet the most beautiful shade of sea waves. Neptune makes one revolution in orbit in 164 years. But it moves around its axis fast enough, and the day goes by
16 hours. In some places, Neptune's orbit intersects with Pluto's.
Neptune has a large number of satellites. Basically, they all rotate in front of Neptune's orbit and are called internal. There are only two external satellites accompanying the planet.
Neptune can be observed. However, the flares are too weak and occur throughout the planet, and not exclusively at the poles, as on Earth.
Once upon a time, there were 9 planets in space. This number included and Pluto.But due to its small size, the astronomical community has identified it in a series of dwarf planets (asteroids).
Such interesting facts and amazing stories about the planets of the solar system are revealed in the process of exploring the black depths of the Cosmos.