Sun

Mankind will not remain on Earth forever, but in its quest for light and space will at first timidly penetrate
beyond the confines of the atmosphere, and later will conquer for itself all the space near the Sun. - Konstantin
E. Tsiolkovsky
Sun Introduction
Sun Statistics
Eclipse & Sun Movies
Views of the Sun

Solar Discoveries
Sun Exploration
Chronology
Sharpest View of the Sun
Sun's Place in the Galaxy
Solar Mystery Nears
Solution
Solar Flare Leaves Sun
Quaking
Solar Atmosphere Gets
Hot
Sun Picture/Animation
Gallery
The Day the Solar Wind
Disappeared
Trace Discovers Moss on
the Sun
Fountains of Fire

Educator's Guides
Guide to Convection
Guide to Eclipses
Guide to Sunspots

Sun Resources
Solar Data Analysis Center
The High Altitude
Observatory
National Solar Observatory
Current Solar Images
Today's Space Weather
Ulysses Home Page
Ulysses/ESA Home Page
The Sun - A Multimedia
Tour
Exploratorium Solar
Eclipse
The Sun is the most prominent feature in our solar
system. It is the largest object and contains approximately
98% of the total solar system mass. One hundred and nine
Earths would be required to fit across the Sun's disk, and
its interior could hold over 1.3 million Earths. The Sun's
outer visible layer is called the photosphere and has a
temperature of 6,000°C (11,000°F). This layer has a
mottled appearance due to the turbulent eruptions of
energy at the surface.

Solar energy is created deep within the core of the Sun. It

is here that the temperature (15,000,000° C; 27,000,000°
F) and pressure (340 billion times Earth's air pressure at
sea level) is so intense that nuclear reactions take place.
This reaction causes four protons or hydrogen nuclei to
fuse together to form one alpha particle or helium
nucleus. The alpha particle is about .7 percent less
massive than the four protons. The difference in mass is
expelled as energy and is carried to the surface of the
Sun, through a process known as convection, where it is
released as light and heat. Energy generated in the Sun's
core takes a million years to reach its surface. Every
second 700 million tons of hydrogen are converted into
helium ashes. In the process 5 million tons of pure energy
is released; therefore, as time goes on the Sun is
becoming
lighter.

The chromosphere is above the photosphere. Solar

energy passes through this region on its way out from the
center of the Sun. Faculae and flares arise in the chromosphere.
Faculae are bright luminous hydrogen clouds which form above
regions where sunspots are about to form. Flares are bright
filaments of hot gas emerging from sunspot regions. Sunspots
are dark depressions on the photosphere with a typical
temperature of 4,000°C (7,000°F).

The corona is the outer part of the Sun's atmosphere. It is in this region that prominences appears. Prominences
are immense clouds of glowing gas that erupt from the upper chromosphere. The outer region of the corona
stretches far into space and consists of particles traveling slowly away from the Sun. The corona can only be
seen during total solar eclipses. (See Solar Eclipse Image).

The Sun appears to have been active for 4.6 billion years and has enough fuel to go on for another five billion
years or so. At the end of its life, the Sun will start to fuse helium into heavier elements and begin to swell up,
ultimately growing so large that it will swallow the Earth. After a billion years as a red giant, it will suddenly
collapse into a white dwarf -- the final end product of a star like ours. It may take a trillion years to cool off
completely.

Sun Statistics
Mass (kg) 1.989e+30
Mass (Earth = 1) 332,830
Equatorial radius (km) 695,000
 Equatorial radius (Earth = 1) 108.97
Mean density (gm/cm^3) 1.410
Rotational period (days) 25-36*
Escape velocity (km/sec) 618.02
Luminosity (ergs/sec) 3.827e33
Magnitude (Vo) -26.8
Mean surface temperature 6,000°C
Age (billion years) 4.5
Principal chemistry
Hydrogen 92.1%
Helium 7.8%
Oxygen 0.061%
Carbon 0.030%
Nitrogen 0.0084%
Neon 0.0076%
Iron 0.0037%
Silicon 0.0031%
Magnesium 0.0024%
Sulfur 0.0015%
All others 0.0015%

* The Sun's period of rotation at the surface varies from approximately 25 days at the equator to 36 days at the
poles. Deep down, below the convective zone, everything appears to rotate with a period of 27 days.

Earth Introduction
My view of our planet was a glimpse of divinity.
-Edgar Mitchell, USA

Table of Contents
Earth Introduction
Earth Statistics
Earth Movies
Views of the Earth

Earth's Moon
The Moon

Earth Science
Earth's Interior & Plate
Tectonics
Earth From Space
Clouds From Space
Terrestrial Impact Craters
Terrestrial Impact Crater
Structures
Chain of Impact Craters
Educator's Guide to Impact
Craters
Terrestrial Volcanoes
Hawaiian Volcanoes
Valles Caldera, New
Mexico
Shrinking of Greenland's
Glaciers
MAGE Spacecraft
Auroral Emmisions
Planetary Icosahedrons
Earth Image/Animation
Gallery
Internet Resources
Earth From Space
Earth Viewer
kilometers (67,000 miles) an hour.
From the perspective we
get on Earth, our planet
appears to be big and
sturdy with an endless
ocean of air. From space,
astronauts often get the
impression that the Earth is
small with a thin, fragile
layer of atmosphere. For a
space traveler, the
distinguishing Earth
features are the blue
waters, brown and green
land masses and white
clouds set against a black
background.
Many dream of traveling in
space and viewing the
wonders of the universe. In
reality all of us are space
travelers. Our spaceship is
the planet Earth, traveling
at the speed of 108,000

Earth is the 3rd planet from the Sun at a distance of about

150 million kilometers (93.2 million miles). It takes
365.256 days for the Earth to travel around the Sun and 23.9345 hours for the Earth rotate a complete
revolution. It has a diameter of 12,756 kilometers (7,973 miles), only a few hundred kilometers larger than that
of Venus. Our atmosphere is composed of 78 percent nitrogen, 21 percent oxygen and 1 percent other
constituents.

Earth is the only planet in the solar system known to harbor life. Our planet's rapid spin and molten nickel-iron
core give rise to an extensive magnetic field, which, along with the atmosphere, shields us from nearly all of the
harmful radiation coming from the Sun and other stars. Earth's atmosphere protects us from meteors, most of
which burn up before they can strike the surface.

From our journeys into space, we have learned much about our home planet. The first American satellite,
Explorer 1, discovered an intense radiation zone, now called the Van Allen radiation belts. This layer is formed
from rapidly moving charged particles that are trapped by the Earth's magnetic field in a doughnut-shaped
region surrounding the equator. Other findings from satellites show that our planet's magnetic field is distorted
into a tear-drop shape by the solar wind. We also now know that our wispy upper atmosphere, once believed
calm and uneventful, seethes with activity -- swelling by day and contracting by night. Affected by changes in
solar activity, the upper atmosphere contributes to weather and climate on Earth.

Besides affecting Earth's weather, solar activity gives rise to a dramatic visual phenomenon in our atmosphere.
When charged particles from the solar wind become trapped in Earth's magnetic field, they collide with air
molecules above our planet's magnetic poles. These air molecules then begin to glow and are known as the
auroras or the northern and southern lights.

Earth Statistics
Mass (kg) 5.976e+24
Mass (Earth = 1) 1.0000e+00
 Equatorial radius (km) 6,378.14
Equatorial radius (Earth = 1) 1.0000e+00
Mean density (gm/cm^3) 5.515
Mean distance from the Sun (km) 149,600,000
Mean distance from the Sun (Earth = 1) 1.0000
Rotational period (days) 0.99727
Rotational period (hours) 23.9345
Orbital period (days) 365.256
Mean orbital velocity (km/sec) 29.79
Orbital eccentricity 0.0167
Tilt of axis (degrees) 23.45
Orbital inclination (degrees) 0.000
Equatorial escape velocity (km/sec) 11.18
Equatorial surface gravity (m/sec^2) 9.78
Visual geometric albedo 0.37
Mean surface temperature 15°C
Atmospheric pressure (bars) 1.013
Atmospheric composition
Nitrogen 77%
Oxygen 21%
Other 2%
Animations of Earth

• Rotation Earth Movie.

• Earth's Lights at Night.
• Earth Topography Animation.
• Aurora Video.
• Earth/Venus Rotation Movie.
• Galileo Earth Encounter.
• Earth: The Movie - Animation of Clouds & Flight.
• Earth: The Movie - Animation of Clouds.

Views of Earth

The following set of images show some of the wonders of our planet, the Earth.

Blue Marble West

This spectacular "blue marble" image is the most detailed true-color image of the entire Earth to date. Using a
collection of satellite-based observations, scientists and visualizers stitched together months of observations of
the land surface, oceans, sea ice, and clouds into a seamless, true-color mosaic of every square kilometer (.386
square mile) of our planet. (Courtesy NASA/MODIS/USGS)

Blue Marble East

 This spectacular "blue marble" image is the most detailed true-color image of the entire
Earth to date. Using a collection of satellite-based observations, scientists and visualizers
stitched together months of observations of the land surface, oceans, sea ice, and clouds
into a seamless, true-color mosaic of every square kilometer (.386 square mile) of our
planet. (Courtesy NASA/MODIS/USGS)

Earth Lights of North and South America

This image of North and South America city lights was created with data from the Defense Meteorological
Satellite Program (DMSP) Operational Linescan System (OLS). Originally designed to view clouds by
moonlight, the OLS is also used to map the locations of permanent lights on the Earth's surface.
The brightest areas of the Earth are the most urbanized, but not necessarily the most populated. Cities tend to
grow along coastlines and transportation networks. Even without the underlying map, the outlines of the
continents are still be visible. The United States interstate highway system appears as a lattice connecting the
brighter dots of city centers. (Copyright Calvin J. Hamilton)

Africa
The crew of Apollo 17 took this photograph of Earth in December 1972 while the
spacecraft was traveling between the Earth and the Moon. The orange-red deserts of
Africa and Saudi Arabia stand in stark contrast to the deep blue of the oceans and
the white of both clouds and snow-covered Antarctica. (Courtesy NASA)

Mariner 10's View of the Earth & Moon

The Earth and Moon were imaged by Mariner 10 from 2.6 million kilometers while completing the first ever
Earth-Moon encounter by a spacecraft capable of returning high resolution digital color image data. These
images have been combined below to illustrate the relative sizes of the two bodies. From this particular
viewpoint the Earth appears to be a water planet! (Courtesy NASA/JPL/Northwestern University)
 The Earth & Moon
During its flight, the Galileo spacecraft returned images of the Earth and Moon. Separate
images of the Earth and Moon were combined to generate this view. The Galileo
spacecraft took the images in 1992 on its way to explore the Jupiter system in 1995-97.
The image shows a partial view of the Earth centered on the Pacific Ocean about latitude
20 degrees south. The west coast of South America can be observed as well as the
Caribbean; swirling white cloud patterns indicate storms in the southeast Pacific. The
distinct bright ray crater at the bottom of the Moon is the Tycho impact basin. The lunar
dark areas are lava rock filled impact basins. This picture contains same scale and
relative color/albedo images of the Earth and Moon. (Courtesy USGS/NASA)

Northeast Africa and the Arabian Peninsula

This image of northeast Africa and the Arabian Peninsula was taken from an altitude
of about 500,000 kilometers (300,000 miles) by the Galileo spacecraft on December
9, 1992, as it left Earth en route to Jupiter. Visible are most of Egypt (left of center),
including the Nile Valley; the Red Sea (slightly above center); Israel; Jordan, and
the Arabian Peninsula. In the center, below the coastal cloud, is Khartoum, at the
confluence of the Blue Nile and the White Nile. Somalia (lower right) is partly
covered by clouds. (Courtesy NASA/JPL)

Horn of Africa, Somalia

The orange and tan colors of this high-oblique photograph of the Horn of Africa indicate an arid-to-semiarid
landscape in the northern half of the east African country of Somalia. Except in the darker areas where thicker
vegetation can be found, most of the vegetation in this part of Somalia is shrub brush and grasslands. The
general climate of this region features hot temperatures and scarce, irregular rainfall. Two distinct drainage
basins are characterized by lighter colors-the Nugaaleed Valley along the western side of the photograph and
the other watershed trending toward the Hafun Peninsula, the tombolo along the east coast of Somalia. The
southern extent of the Saudi Arabian Peninsula is visible north across the Gulf of Aden. (Courtesy NASA)

Southern Tip of Greenland

The southern tip of Greenland is seen in this high-oblique, almost colorless, stark photograph of the world's
largest island. The blackness of space contrasts sharply with the whiteness of clouds, ice, and snow. The only
true color is the blue of the Atlantic Ocean and the Labrador Sea. Cloud-free conditions existing along the
southern coastal area emphasize the deeply indented fjords along the coast. A close look at the white areas
reveals three different features-snow and ice on the land; cloud formations over the central region and the
eastern and western sides of the island; and wispy-looking ice floes off the southeast and the southwest tip of
the fjord-lined coast, which are moved by the East Greenland Current to the south-southwest, and larger ice
packs developing north along the east coast. Greenland has the only surviving continental glacier in the
Northern Hemisphere. This ice sheet covers seven-eighths of Greenland's surface and contains an estimated 11
percent of the world's fresh water. (Courtesy NASA)

Antarctica
This image of Antarctica was taken by Galileo several hours after it flew close to the
Earth on December 8, 1990. This is the first picture of the whole Antarctic continent
taken nearly at once from space. Galileo was about 200,000 kilometers (125,000
miles) from Earth when the pictures were taken.

The icy continent is surrounded by the dark blue of three oceans: the Pacific to the
left, the Indian to the bottom, and a piece of the Atlantic to the upper right. Nearly
the entire continent was sunlit at this time of year, just two weeks before southern summer solstice. The arc of
dark spots extending from near the South Pole (close to the center) toward the lower left is the Transantarctic
Mountain Range. To the left of the mountains is the vast Ross Ice Shelf and the shelf's sharp border with the
dark waters of the Ross Sea. The thin blue line along the Earth's limb marks our planet's atmosphere. (Courtesy
NASA/JPL)

Clementine Mission
This false-colored image was acquired during the Clementine mission. It shows airglow
of the upper atmosphere as a thin blue line. The bright spot toward the bottom is an urban
area. (Courtesy Naval Research Laboratory)

Map projected image of Earth (AVHRR)

This image is a Homolosine projection of the Earth prepared from Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer
(AVHRR) image data. (Courtesy ESA/NASA/NOAA/USGS/CSIRO)

USA
This image is a mosaic of the United States prepared by using 16 images from the Advanced Very High
Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) sensors on the meteorological satellites NOAA-8 and NOAA-9. The images
were acquired between May 24, 1984 and May 14, 1986.

On false-color infrared mosaics, vegetation appears in various tones of red instead of green. The "redness"
indicates vegetation density, type and whether growing on dry land or in a swamp (a mixture of reddish
vegetation and dark blue surface water produces dark tones). Grasslands appear light red, deciduous trees and
croplands appear red, and coniferous forests appear dark red or maroon. Desert areas appear white and urban
areas (pavement and buildings) appear bluish green. Lakes, rivers and oceans appear in various shades of blue,
dark blue for deep water and light blue for shallow or turbid water. Exposed bedrock generally appears as a
dark bluish-green or other dark tone. (Courtesy USGS)
Solar System

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

This article is about the Solar System. For other planetary systems or star systems, see extrasolar planet.

Major features of the Solar System (not to scale, from left to right): Pluto, Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, a comet,
Jupiter, Ceres which lies in the asteroid belt, the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth & Moon, and Mars.

The Solar System or solar system[1] comprises the Sun and the retinue of celestial objects gravitationally
bound to it: the eight planets, their 162 known moons,[2] three currently identified dwarf planets and their four
known moons, and thousands of small bodies. This last category includes asteroids, meteoroids, comets, and
interplanetary dust.

In broad terms, the charted regions of the Solar System consist of the Sun (astronomical symbol ), four rocky
bodies close to it called the inner planets, an inner belt of rocky asteroids, four giant outer planets and a
second belt of small icy bodies known as the Kuiper belt. In order of their distances from the Sun, the planets
are Mercury ( ), Venus ( ), Earth ( ), Mars ( ), Jupiter ( ), Saturn ( ), Uranus ( ), and Neptune ( ). Six
of the eight planets are in turn orbited by natural satellites (usually termed "moons" after Earth's Moon) and
every planet past the asteroid belt is encircled by planetary rings of dust and other particles. The planets other
than Earth are named after gods and goddesses from Greco-Roman mythology.

From 1930 to 2006, Pluto ( ), the largest known Kuiper belt object, was considered the Solar System's ninth
planet. However, in 2006 the International Astronomical Union (IAU) created an official definition of the term
"planet".[3] Under this definition, Pluto is reclassified as a dwarf planet, and there are eight planets in the Solar
System. In addition to Pluto, the IAU currently recognizes two other dwarf planets: Ceres ( ), the largest
object in the asteroid belt, and Eris, which lies beyond the Kuiper belt in a region called the scattered disc.

Contents
[hide]

• 1 Layout and structure

• 2 Planets, dwarf planets, and small solar system bodies
• 3 Formation
• 4 Sun
• 5 Interplanetary medium
• 6 Inner planets
o 6.1 Mercury
 o 6.2 Venus
o 6.3 Earth
o 6.4 Mars
• 7 Asteroid belt
o 7.1 Ceres
o 7.2 Asteroid groups
• 8 Outer planets
o 8.1 Jupiter
o 8.2 Saturn
o 8.3 Uranus
o 8.4 Neptune
• 9 Comets
• 10 Kuiper belt
o 10.1 Pluto and Charon
• 11 Scattered disc
o 11.1 Eris
o 11.2 Centaurs
• 12 Farthest regions
o 12.1 Heliopause
o 12.2 Sedna
o 12.3 Oort cloud
• 13 Galactic context
o 13.1 Neighborhood
o 13.2 Extrasolar systems
• 14 Discovery and exploration
o 14.1 Telescopic observations
o 14.2 Observations by spacecraft
• 15 See also
• 16 References and notes
• 17 External links

[edit] Layout and structure

The principal component of the Solar System is the Sun, a main sequence G2 star that contains 99.86% of the
system's known mass and dominates it gravitationally.[4] Jupiter and Saturn, the Sun's two largest orbiting
bodies, account for more than 90% of the system's remaining mass[5] (The currently hypothetical Oort cloud
would also hold a substantial percentage were its existence confirmed).[6]

The ecliptic viewed in sunlight from behind the Moon in this Clementine image. From left to right: Mercury,
Mars, Saturn

Most objects in orbit around the Sun lie within the ecliptic, a shallow plane parallel to that of Earth's orbit. The
planets are very close to the ecliptic while comets and kuiper belt objects are usually at significantly greater
angles to it.
All of the planets and most other objects also orbit with the Sun's rotation; in a counter-clockwise direction as
viewed from a point above the Sun's north pole (There are exceptions to this rule, a notable one being Halley's
comet).

There is a direct relationship between how far away a planet is from the Sun and how quickly it orbits.
Mercury, the closest to the Sun, travels the fastest, while Neptune, being much farther from the Sun, travels
more slowly. Objects orbit in an ellipse around the Sun, so an orbiting object's distance from the Sun varies in
the course of its year. Its closest approach to the Sun is known as its perihelion while its farthest point from the
Sun is called its aphelion. Although the orbits of the planets are nearly circular (with perihelions roughly equal
to their aphelions), many comets, asteroids and objects of the Kuiper belt follow highly elliptical orbits with
large differences between perihelion and aphelion. The paths of objects around the Sun travel according to a
law of planetary motion discovered by German astronomer Johannes Kepler in the early 1600s. The sun is
slightly off to the side of the center of each ellipse at a point called a focus. The focus is actually a point just
outside the centre of the Sun called the barycenter of the solar system.

Astronomers most often measure distances within the solar system in astronomical units or AU. One AU is
the approximate distance between the Earth and the Sun or roughly 149 598 000 km (93,000,000 mi). Pluto is
roughly 39 AU from the Sun while Jupiter lies at roughly 5.2 AU. One light year, astronomers' principal unit of
interstellar distance, is roughly 63,240 AU.

Informally, the Solar System is sometimes divided into separate zones. The first zone, known as the inner
Solar System, includes the four terrestrial planets and the main asteroid belt. The outer Solar System is
sometimes defined as "everything beyond the asteroids". Alternatively, the term may be used to describe the
region beyond Neptune, with the four gas giants considered a separate "middle zone".[7]

The orbits of the bodies in the solar system to scale (clockwise from top left)

One common misconception is that the orbits of the major objects within the Solar System (planets, Pluto and
asteroids) are equidistant. To cope with the vast distances involved, many representations of the Solar System
simplify these orbits by showing them the same distance apart. However, in reality, with a few exceptions, the
Solar System is arranged so that the farther a planet or belt is from the Sun, the larger the distance between it
and the previous orbit. For example, Venus is approximately 0.33 AU farther out than Mercury while Jupiter is
1.9 AU from the farthest extent of the asteroid belt and Neptune's orbit is roughly 20 AU farther out than that of
Uranus. Attempts have been made to determine a correlation between these distances (see Bode's Law) but to
date there is no accepted theory that explains the orbital distances.

[edit] Planets, dwarf planets, and small solar system bodies

Planets and Dwarf Planets of the solar system. While the size is to scale, the relative distances from the Sun are
not.

The largest cis-Neptunian objects of the Solar System, sizes to scale.

Main articles: Planet, Dwarf planet, and Small solar system body
Further information: 2006 redefinition of planet

In a decision passed by the International Astronomical Union General Assembly on 24 August 2006, the
objects in the Solar System other than the Sun and natural satellites were divided into three separate groups:
planets, dwarf planets and small solar system bodies.

Under this classification, a planet is any body in orbit around the Sun that a) has enough mass to form itself
into a spherical shape and b) has cleared its immediate neighborhood of all smaller objects. Eight objects in the
Solar System currently meet this definition; they are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and
Neptune.

Dwarf planet was a second and new classification. The key difference between planets and dwarf planets is
that while both are required to orbit the Sun and be of large enough mass that their own gravity pulls them into
a nearly round shape, dwarf planets are not required to clear their neighborhood of other celestial bodies. Three
objects in the solar system are currently included in this category; they are Pluto (formerly considered a planet),
the asteroid Ceres, and the scattered disc object Eris. The IAU will begin evaluating other known objects to see
if they fit within the definition of dwarf planets. The most likely candidates are some of the larger asteroids and
several Trans-Neptunian Objects such as Sedna, Orcus, and Quaoar.

The remainder of the objects in the Solar System were classified as small solar system bodies (SSSBs). As the
IAU noted in its resolution:

These currently include most of the Solar System asteroids, most Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs),
comets, and other small bodies.[8]

[edit] Formation
Artist's conception of a protoplanetary disc
Main articles: Formation and evolution of the solar system and Solar nebula

The current hypothesis of Solar System formation is the nebular hypothesis, first proposed in 1755 by
Immanuel Kant and independently formulated by Pierre-Simon Laplace.[9] The nebular theory holds that 4.6
billion years ago (a date determined via radiometric dating of meteorites),[10] the Solar System formed from the
gravitational collapse of a gaseous cloud. This initial cloud was likely several light-years across and probably
played host to the births of several stars.[11] Eventually a disturbance (possibly a nearby supernova) [12] created a
small overdensity in the cloud, leading to the formation of a collapsing region (known as the solar nebula)
with a diameter of between 7000 and 20,000 AU [11][13] and a mass just over that of the Sun (by between 0.1
and 0.001 solar masses).[14] As the nebula collapsed, conservation of angular momentum meant that it spun
faster, and became warmer. As the competing forces associated with gravity, gas pressure, magnetic fields, and
rotation acted on it, the contracting nebula began to flatten into a spinning protoplanetary disk with a diameter
of roughly 200 AU[11] and a gradually contracting protostar at the center.[15] Studies of T Tauri stars, young,
pre-fusing solar mass stars believed to be similar to the Sun at this point in its evolution, show that they are
often accompanied by discs of pre-planetary matter.[14] These discs extend to several hundred AU and are rather
cool, reaching only a thousand kelvins at their hottest.[16]

Hubble image of protoplanetary discs in the Orion nebula, a light years-wide "stellar nursery" likely very
similar to the primordial nebula from which our Sun formed

From this cloud of gas and dust, the various planets formed. The currently accepted method by which the
planets formed is known as accretion, in which the planets began as dust grains in orbit around the central
protostar, which initially formed by direct contact into clumps between one and ten kilometres in diameter,
which in turn collided to form larger bodies (planetesimals), of roughly 5 km in size gradually increasing by
further collisions by roughly 15 cm per year over the course of the next few million years.[17]

The inner solar system was too warm for volatile molecules like water and methane to condense, and so the
planetesimals which formed there were relatively small (comprising only 0.6% the mass of the disc) [11] and
composed largely of compounds with high melting points, such as silicates and metals. These rocky bodies
eventually became the terrestrial planets. Farther out, the gravitational effects of Jupiter made it impossible for
the protoplanetary objects present to come together, leaving behind the asteroid belt. [18]

Farther out still, beyond the frost line, where more volatile icy compounds could remain solid, Jupiter and
Saturn were able to gather more material than the terrestrial planets, as those compounds were more common.
They became the gas giants, while Uranus and Neptune captured much less material and are known as ice
giants because their cores are believed to be made mostly of ices (hydrogen compounds).[19] [20]

After 100 million years, the pressure and density of hydrogen in the centre of the collapsing nebula became
great enough for the protosun to begin thermonuclear fusion, which increased until hydrostatic equilibrium was
achieved.[21]
The young Sun's solar wind (see below) then cleared away all the gas and dust in the protoplanetary disk,
blowing it into interstellar space, thus ending the growth of the planets. T-Tauri stars have far stronger stellar
winds than more stable, older stars. [22] [23]

[edit] Sun
Main article: Sun

The Sun as seen from Earth.

The Sun is the Solar System's parent star, and far and away its chief component. Its large mass gives it an
interior density high enough to sustain nuclear fusion, releasing enormous amounts of energy, most of which is
radiated into space in the form of electromagnetic radiation including visible light. It is classed as a moderately
large yellow dwarf; however, this name is misleading, as on the scale of stars in our galaxy, the Sun is rather
large and bright. Stars are classified based on their position on the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, a graph
which plots the brightness of stars against their surface temperatures. Generally speaking, the hotter a star is,
the brighter it is. Stars which follow this pattern are said to be on the main sequence, and the Sun lies right in
the middle of it. This has led many astronomy textbooks to label the Sun as "average;" however, stars brighter
and hotter than it are rare, whereas stars dimmer and cooler than it are common. The vast majority of stars are
dim red dwarfs, though they are under-represented in star catalogues as we can observe only those few that are
very near the Sun in space.[24]

The Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. The main sequence is from bottom right to top left

The Sun's position on the main sequence means, according to current theories of stellar evolution, that it is in
the "prime of life" for a star, in that it has not yet exhausted its store of hydrogen for nuclear fusion, and been
forced, as older red giants must, to fuse more inefficient elements such as helium and carbon. The Sun is
growing increasingly bright as it ages. Early in its history, it was roughly 75 percent as bright as it is today.[25]
Calculations of the ratios of hydrogen and helium within the Sun suggest it is roughly halfway through its life
cycle, and will eventually begin moving off the main sequence, becoming larger and brighter but also cooler
and redder, until, about five billion years from now, it too will become a red giant.[26]
The Sun is a population I star, meaning that it is fairly new in galactic terms, having been born in the later
stages of the universe's evolution. As such, it contains more elements heavier than hydrogen and helium
("metals" in astronomical parlance) than older population II stars such as those found in globular clusters.[27]
Since elements heavier than hydrogen and helium were formed in the cores of ancient and exploding stars, the
first generation of stars had to die before the universe could be enriched with them. For this reason, the very
oldest stars contain very few metals, while stars born later have more. This high metallicity is thought to have
been crucial in the Sun's developing a planetary system, because planets form from accretion of metals.[28]

[edit] Interplanetary medium

Main article: Interplanetary medium

The heliospheric current sheet

The Sun radiates a continuous stream of charged particles, a plasma known as solar wind, ejecting it outwards
at speeds greater than 2 million kilometres per hour,[29] creating a very tenuous atmosphere (the heliosphere),
that permeates the solar system for at least 100 AU. This environment is known as the interplanetary medium.
The influence of the Sun's rotating magnetic field on the interplanetary medium creates the largest structure in
the solar system, the heliospheric current sheet.[30]

Earth's magnetic field protects its atmosphere from interacting with the solar wind. However, Venus and Mars
do not have magnetic fields, and the solar wind causes their atmospheres to gradually bleed away into space.[31]

The interplanetary medium is home to at least two disclike regions of cosmic dust. The first, which lies in the
inner solar system, is known as the zodiacal dust cloud and is responsible for the phenomenon of zodiacal light.
It was likely formed by collisions within the asteroid belt brought on by interactions with the planets.[32] The
second, which extends from about 10 AU to about 40 AU, was probably created by similar collisions within the
Kuiper belt.[33] [34]

[edit] Inner planets

Main article: Terrestrial planet

The inner planets. From left to right: Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars (sizes to scale)

The four inner or terrestrial planets are characterised by their dense, rocky composition, few or no moons, and
lack of ring systems. They are composed largely of minerals with high melting points, such as the silicates
which form their solid crusts and semi-liquid mantles, and metals such as iron and nickel, which form their
cores. Three of the four inner planets (Venus, Earth and Mars) have substantial atmospheres; all have impact
craters and possess tectonic surface features such as rift valleys and volcanoes. The term inner planet should
not be confused with inferior planet, which designates those planets which are closer to the Sun than the Earth
is (i.e. Mercury and Venus).

The four inner planets are:

[edit] Mercury

Mercury (0.4 AU), the closest planet to the Sun, is also the smallest of the planets, at only 0.055 Earth masses.
Mercury is very different from the other terrestrial planets; it has no natural satellite, and its only known
geological features besides impact craters are "wrinkle ridges" probably produced by a period of contraction
early in its history.[35] Its almost negligible atmosphere consists of atoms blasted off its surface by the solar
wind.[36] Its relatively large iron core and thin mantle have not yet been adequately explained. Hypotheses
include that its outer layers were stripped off by a giant impact, and that it was prevented from fully accreting
by the young Sun's energy. [37][38]

[edit] Venus

Venus (0.7 AU) is of comparable mass to the Earth (0.815 Earth masses), and, like Earth, possesses a thick
silicate mantle around an iron core, as well as a substantial atmosphere and evidence of internal geological
activity, such as volcanoes. However, it is much drier than Earth and its atmosphere is 90 times as dense. Venus
has no natural satellite. It is the hottest planet, with surface temperatures over 400 °C, most likely due to the
amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.[39] Although no definitive evidence of current geological
activity has yet been detected on Venus, its substantial atmosphere and lack of a magnetic field to protect it
from depletion by the solar wind suggest that it must be regularly replenished by volcanic eruptions. [40]

[edit] Earth

The largest and densest of the inner planets, Earth (1 AU) is also the only one to demonstrate unequivocal
evidence of current geological activity. Earth is the only planet known to have life. Its liquid hydrosphere,
unique among the terrestrial planets, is probably the reason Earth is also the only planet where plate tectonics
has been observed, because water acts as a lubricant for subduction.[41] Its atmosphere is radically different
from the other terrestrial planets, having been altered by the presence of life to contain 21 percent free
oxygen.[42] It has one satellite, the Moon; the only large satellite of a terrestrial planet in the Solar System.

[edit] Mars

Mars (1.5 AU), at only 0.107 Earth masses, is smaller than Earth and Venus. It possesses a tenuous atmosphere
of carbon dioxide. Its surface, peppered with vast volcanoes and rift valleys such as Valles Marineris, shows
that it was once geologically active and recent evidence[43] suggests this may have been true until very recently.
Mars possesses two tiny moons (Deimos and Phobos) thought to be captured asteroids.[44]

[edit] Asteroid belt

Main article: Asteroid belt
Image of the main asteroid belt and the Trojan asteroids.

Asteroids are mostly small solar system bodies that are composed in significant part of rocky and metallic non-
volatile minerals.

The main asteroid belt occupies the orbit between Mars and Jupiter, between 2.3 and 3.3 AU from the Sun. It
is thought to be the remnants from the Solar System's formation that failed to coalesce because of the
gravitational interference of Jupiter. Asteroids range in size from hundreds of kilometers to as small as dust. All
asteroids save the largest, Ceres, are classified as small solar system bodies; however, a number of other
asteroids, such as Vesta and Hygieia, could potentially be reclassed as dwarf planets if it can be conclusively
shown that they have achieved hydrostatic equilibrium. The asteroid belt contains tens of thousands - and
potentially millions - of objects over one kilometre in diameter.[45] However, despite their large numbers, the
total mass of the main belt is unlikely to be more than a thousandth of that of the Earth.[46] In contrast to its
various depictions in science fiction, the main belt is very sparsely populated; spacecraft routinely pass through
without incident. Asteroids with diameters between 10 and 10-4 m are called meteoroids. [47]

[edit] Ceres

Ceres

Ceres (2.77 AU) is the largest astronomical body in the asteroid belt and the only known dwarf planet in this
region. It has a diameter of slightly under 1000 km, large enough for its own gravity to pull it into a spherical
shape. Ceres was considered a planet when it was discovered in the nineteenth century, but was reclassified as
an asteroid in the 1850s as further observation revealed additional asteroids.[48] It was again reclassified in
2006, and is now considered to be a dwarf planet.

[edit] Asteroid groups

Asteroids in the main belt are subdivided into asteroid groups and families based on their specific orbital
characteristics. Asteroid moons are asteroids that orbit larger asteroids. They are not as clearly distinguished as
planetary moons, sometimes being almost as large as their partners. The asteroid belt also contains main-belt
comets[49] which may have been the source of Earth's water.

Trojan asteroids are located in either of Jupiter's L4 or L5 points, (gravitationally stable regions leading and
trailing a planet in its orbit) though the term is also sometimes used for asteroids in any other planetary
Lagrange point as well. Hilda asteroids are those Trojans whose orbits are in a 2:3 resonance with Jupiter; that
is, they go around the Sun three times for every two Jupiter orbits.

The inner solar system is also dusted with rogue asteroids, many of which cross the orbits of the inner planets.

[edit] Outer planets

Main article: Gas giant

From top to bottom: Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, and Jupiter (sizes not to scale).

The four outer planets, or gas giants, (sometimes called Jovian planets) are so large they collectively make up
99 percent of the mass known to orbit the Sun. Jupiter and Saturn are true giants, at 318 and 95 Earth masses,
respectively, and composed largely of hydrogen and helium. Uranus and Neptune are both substantially
smaller, being only 14 and 17 Earth masses, respectively. Their atmospheres contain a smaller percentage of
hydrogen and helium, and a higher percentage of “ices”, such as water, ammonia and methane. For this reason
some astronomers suggested that they belong in their own category, “Uranian planets,” or “ice giants.” All four
of the gas giants exhibit orbital debris rings, although only the ring system of Saturn is easily observable from
Earth. The term outer planet should not be confused with superior planet, which designates those planets
which lie outside Earth's orbit (thus consisting of the outer planets plus Mars).

[edit] Jupiter

Jupiter (5.2 AU), at 318 Earth masses, is 2.5 times the mass of all the other planets put together. Its
composition of largely hydrogen and helium is not very different from that of the Sun. Jupiter's strong internal
heat creates a number of semi-permanent features in its atmosphere, such as cloud bands and the Great Red
Spot. The four largest of its 63 satellites, Ganymede, Callisto, Io, and Europa (the Galilean satellites) share
elements in common with the terrestrial planets, such as volcanism and internal heating. Ganymede, the largest
satellite in the Solar System, has a diameter larger than Mercury.

[edit] Saturn

Saturn (9.5 AU), famous for its extensive ring system, has many qualities in common with Jupiter, including
its atmospheric composition, though it is far less massive, being only 95 Earth masses. Two of its 56 moons,
Titan and Enceladus, show signs of geological activity, though they are largely made of ice. Titan, like
Ganymede, is larger than Mercury; it is also the only satellite in the solar system with a substantial atmosphere.

[edit] Uranus

Uranus (19.6 AU) at 14 Earth masses, is the lightest of the outer planets. Uniquely among the planets, it orbits
the Sun on its side; its axial tilt lies at over ninety degrees to the ecliptic. Its core is remarkably cold compared
with the other gas giants, and radiates very little heat into space. Uranus has 27 satellites, the largest being
Titania, Oberon, Umbriel, Ariel and Miranda.

[edit] Neptune

Neptune (30 AU), though slightly smaller than Uranus, is denser and slightly more massive, at 17 Earth
masses, and radiates more internal heat than Uranus, but not as much as Jupiter or Saturn. Neptune has 13
moons. The largest, Triton, is geologically active, with geysers of liquid nitrogen, and is the only large satellite
to revolve around its host planet in a retrograde motion. Neptune possesses a number of Trojan asteroids.

[edit] Comets
Main article: Comet

Comet Hale-Bopp

Comets are small solar system bodies, usually only a few kilometres across, composed largely of volatile ices
and possessing highly eccentric orbits; generally having a perihelion within the orbit of the inner planets and an
aphelion far beyond Pluto. When a comet approaches the Sun, its icy surface begins to sublimate, or boil away,
creating a coma; a long tail of gas and dust which is often visible with the naked eye.

There are two basic types of comet: short-period comets, with orbits less than 200 years, and long-period
comets, with orbits lasting thousands of years. Short-period comets, such as Halley's Comet, are believed to
originate in the Kuiper belt, while long period comets, such as Hale-Bopp (pictured), are believed to originate
in the Oort Cloud. Some comets with hyperbolic orbits may originate outside the solar system.[50] Old comets
that have had most of their volatiles driven out by solar warming are often categorized as asteroids.[51]

[edit] Kuiper belt

Main article: Kuiper belt
Diagram showing the resonant and classical Kuiper belt

The area beyond Neptune, often referred to as the outer solar system or simply the "trans-Neptunian region",
is still largely unexplored.

This region's first formation is the Kuiper belt, a great ring of debris similar to the asteroid belt, but composed
mainly of ice and far greater in extent, extending between 30 and 50 AU from the Sun. This region is thought to
be the place of origin for short-period comets, such as Halley's comet. Though it is composed mainly of small
solar system bodies, many of the largest Kuiper belt objects, such as Quaoar, Varuna, 2003 EL61, 2005 FY9
and Orcus, could soon be reclassified as dwarf planets. There are estimated to be over 100,000 Kuiper belt
objects with a diameter greater than 50 km; however, the total mass of the Kuiper belt is relatively low, perhaps
only a tenth or even a hundredth the mass of the Earth.[52] Many Kuiper belt objects have multiple satellites and
most have orbits that take them outside the plane of the ecliptic.

The Kuiper belt can be roughly divided into two regions: the "resonant" belt, consisting of objects whose orbits
are in some way linked to that of Neptune (orbiting, for instance, twice for every three Neptune orbits, or once
for every two), which actually begins within the orbit of Neptune itself, and the "classical" belt, consisting of
objects that don't have any resonance with Neptune, and which extends from roughly 39.4 AU to 47.7 AU.[53]
Members of the classical Kuiper belt are classified as Cubewanos, after the first of their kind to be discovered,
1992 QB1.[54]

[edit] Pluto and Charon

Pluto, and its three known moons

Pluto (39 AU average), is the largest known object in the Kuiper belt and was previously accepted as the
smallest planet in the Solar System. In 2006, it was reclassified as a dwarf planet by the Astronomers Congress
organized by the International Astronomers Union (IAU).[55] Pluto has a relatively eccentric orbit inclined 17
degrees to the ecliptic plane and ranging from 29.7 AU from the Sun at perihelion (within the orbit of Neptune)
to 49.5 AU at aphelion. Prior to the 2006 redefinitions, Charon was considered a moon of Pluto, but in light of
the redefinition it is unclear whether Charon will continue to be classified as a moon of Pluto or as a dwarf
planet itself. Charon does not exactly orbit Pluto in a traditional sense; Charon is about one-tenth the mass of
Pluto and the center of gravity of the pair is not within Pluto. Both bodies orbit a barycenter of gravity above
the surface of Pluto (in empty space), making Pluto-Charon a binary system. Two much smaller moons, Nix
and Hydra, orbit Pluto and Charon. Pluto lies in the resonant belt, having a 3:2 resonance with Neptune (ie, it
orbits twice round the Sun for every three Neptune orbits). Those Kuiper belt objects which share this orbit
with Pluto are called Plutinos. [56]

[edit] Scattered disc

Black: scattered disc; blue: classical Kuiper belt; green: resonant KBOs inc. Pluto.

Overlapping the Kuiper belt but extending much further outwards is the scattered disc. Scattered disc objects
are believed to have been originally native to the Kuiper belt, but were ejected into erratic orbits in the outer
fringes by the gravitational influence of Neptune's outward migration (see Formation and evolution of the Solar
System). Most scattered disc objects have perihelia within the Kuiper belt but aphelia as far as 150 AU from the
Sun. Their orbits are also highly inclined to the ecliptic plane, and are often almost perpendicular to it. Some
astronomers, such as Kuiper belt co-discoverer David Jewitt, consider the scattered disc to be merely another
region of the Kuiper belt, and describe scattered disc objects as "scattered Kuiper belt objects."[57]

[edit] Eris

Eris and its moon Dysnomia

Eris (68 AU average) is the largest known scattered disc object and was the cause of the most recent debate
about what constitutes a planet since it is at least 5% larger than Pluto with an estimated diameter of 2400 km
(1500 mi). It is now the largest of the known dwarf planets.[58] It has one moon, Dysnomia.

The object has many similarities with Pluto: its orbit is highly eccentric, with a perihelion of 38.2 AU (roughly
Pluto's distance from the Sun) and an aphelion of 97.6 AU, and is steeply inclined to the ecliptic plane, at 44
degrees, more so than any known object in the solar system except the newly-discovered object 2004 XR190
(also known as "Buffy"[59]) and is believed to consist largely of rock and ice.[60]

[edit] Centaurs

The centaurs

The Centaurs, which roughly extend from 9 to 30 AU, are icy comet-like bodies that orbit in the region
between Jupiter and Neptune. The largest known Centaur, 10199 Chariklo, has a diameter of between 200 and
250 km.[61] The first centaur to be discovered, 2060 Chiron, has been called a comet since it has been shown to
develop a coma just as comets do when they approach the sun.[62] Some asronomers class Centaurs as scattered
Kuiper belt objects along with the residents of the scattered disc, merely Kuiper belt objects scattered inward,
rather than outward.[63]

[edit] Farthest regions

The point at which the solar system ends and interstellar space begins is not precisely defined, since its outer
boundaries are delineated by two separate forces: the solar wind and the Sun's gravity. The solar wind extends
to a point roughly 130 AU from the Sun, whereupon it surrenders to the surrounding environment of the
interstellar medium. The Sun's gravity however, holds sway to almost halfway to the next star system. The vast
majority of the solar system therefore, is completely unknown; however, recent observations of both the solar
system and other star systems have led to an increased understanding of what is or may be lying at its outer
edge.[64]

[edit] Heliopause

The Voyagers entering the heliosheath

The heliosphere expands outward in a great bubble to about 95 AU, or three times the orbit of Pluto. The edge
of this bubble is known as the termination shock; the point at which the solar wind collides with the opposing
winds of the interstellar medium. Here the wind slows, condenses and becomes more turbulent, forming a
great oval structure known as the heliosheath that looks and behaves very much like a comet's tail; extending
outward for a further 40 AU at its stellar-windward side, but tailing many times that distance in the opposite
direction. The outer boundary of the sheath, the heliopause, is the point at which the solar wind finally
terminates, and one enters the environment of interstellar space.[65] Beyond the heliopause, at around 230 AU,
lies the bow shock, a plasma "wake" left by the Sun as it travels through the Milky Way.[66]

[edit] Sedna
An artist's conception of Sedna

Sedna is a large, reddish Pluto-like object with a gigantic, highly elliptical orbit that takes it from about 76 AU
at perihelion to 928 AU at aphelion and takes 12,050 years to complete. Mike Brown, who discovered the
object in 2003, asserts that it cannot be part of the scattered disc or the Kuiper Belt as it has too distant a
perihelion to have been affected by Neptune's migration. He and other astronomers consider it to be the first in
an entirely new population, one which also may include the object 2000 CR105, which has a perihelion of
45 AU, an aphelion of 415 AU, and an orbital period of 3420 years.[67] Sedna is very likely a dwarf planet,
though its shape has yet to be determined with certainty.

[edit] Oort cloud

Artist's rendering of the Kuiper Belt and hypothetical Oort cloud.

The Oort cloud, currently only hypothetical, is a great mass of up to a trillion icy objects that is believed to be
the source for all long-period comets and to surround the solar system like a shell from 50,000 to 100,000 AU
beyond the Sun. It is believed to be composed of comets which were ejected from the inward Solar System by
gravitational interactions with the outer planets. Because the Sun's gravitational hold on them is so weak, Oort
cloud objects move only very slowly, though they can be perturbed by such rare events as collisions, or the
gravitational effects of a passing star or the galactic tides. [68]

[edit] Galactic context

Presumed location of the solar system within our galaxy

The solar system is located in the Milky Way galaxy, a barred spiral galaxy with a diameter estimated at about
100,000 light years containing approximately 200 billion stars. Our Sun resides in one of the Milky Way's outer
spiral arms, known as the Orion Arm or Local Spur.[69] While the orbital speed and radius of the galaxy are not
accurately known, estimates place the solar system at between 25,000 and 28,000 light years from the galactic
center and its speed at about 220 kilometres per second, completing one revolution every 225-250 million
years. This revolution is known as the Solar System's galactic year. [70]

The solar system appears to have a very remarkable orbit. It is both extremely close to being circular, and at
nearly the exact distance at which the orbital speed matches the speed of the compression waves that form the
spiral arms. Evidence suggests that the Solar System has remained between spiral arms for most of the
existence of life on Earth. The radiation from supernovae in spiral arms could theoretically sterilize planetary
surfaces, preventing the formation of complex life, save perhaps in the deepest oceans. The solar system also
lies well outside the star-crowded environs of the galactic centre. The opposing gravitational tugs from so many
close stars within the galactic centre would have prevented planets from forming.[71]

The Solar apex, the direction of the Sun's path through interstellar space, is near the constellation of Hercules
in the direction of the current location of the bright star Vega.[72] At the galactic location of the solar system, the
escape velocity with regard to the gravity of the Milky Way is at least 500 km/s. [73]

[edit] Neighborhood

Artist's conception of the Local Bubble

The immediate galactic neighborhood of the Solar System is known as the Local Interstellar Cloud or Local
Fluff; an area of dense cloud in an otherwise sparse region known as the Local Bubble, an hourglass-shaped
cavity in the interstellar medium roughly 300 light-years across. The bubble is suffused with high-temperature
plasma that suggests it is the product of several recent supernovae.[74]

There are relatively few stars within ten light years (95 trillion km) of the Sun. The closest is the triple star
system Alpha Centauri, which is located roughly 4.4 light years away (the outlying star of the triple, the red
dwarf Proxima Centauri, is closer, at 4.22 light years). Alpha Centauri A and B are a closely tied pair of Sun-
like stars. The stars next closest to the Sun are the red dwarfs Barnard's Star (at 6 light years), Wolf 359 (7.8
light years) and Lalande 21185 (8.3 light years). The largest star within ten light years is Sirius, a bright blue
dwarf star roughly twice the Sun's mass and orbited by a white dwarf called Sirius B. It lies 8.6 light years
away. The remaining systems within ten light years are the binary red dwarf system UV Ceti (8.7 light years)
and the solitary red dwarf Ross 154 (9.7 light years). [75] Our closest solitary sunlike star is Tau Ceti, which lies
11.9 light years away. It has roughly 80 percent the Sun's mass, but only 60 percent its luminosity.[76]

[edit] Extrasolar systems

Main article: Extrasolar planet

Artist's conception of HD 209458 b, the first extrasolar planet found with the transit method
For many years, the Solar System was the only known example of planets in orbit around a star. The discovery
in recent years of many extrasolar planets has led to the term "solar system" being applied generically to all
the newly discovered systems. Technically, however, it should strictly refer to Earth's system only, as the word
"solar" is derived from the Sun's Latin name, Sol. Other such systems are usually referred to by the names of
their parent star (for example "the Alpha Centauri system" or "the 51 Pegasi system").

Recent studies of extrasolar systems neighboring Earth's have shown that our system's configuration might not
be common, as the vast majority so far discovered have been found to be markedly different. For instance,
many extrasolar planetary systems contain a "hot Jupiter";[77] a planet of comparable size to Jupiter that
nonetheless orbits very close to its star, at, for instance, 0.05 AU. It has been hypothesised that while the giant
planets in these systems formed in the same place as the gas giants in Earth's solar system did, some sort of
migration took place which resulted in the giant planet spiralling in towards the parent star. Any terrestrial
planets which had previously existed would presumably either be destroyed or ejected from the system. On the
other hand, the apparent prevalence of hot Jupiters could result from a sampling error, as planets of similar size
at greater distances from their stars are more difficult to detect.[78]

[edit] Discovery and exploration

Main articles: Geocentric model and Heliocentrism

For many thousands of years, people, with a few notable exceptions, did not believe the Solar System existed.
The Earth was believed not only to be stationary at the centre of the universe, but to be categorically different
from the divine or ethereal objects that moved through the sky. While Nicholas Copernicus and his
predececessors, such as the Indian mathematician-astronomer Aryabhatta and the Greek philosopher
Aristarchus of Samos, had speculated on a heliocentric redordering of the cosmos, it was the conceptual
advances of the 17th century, led by Galileo Galilei, Johannes Kepler, and Isaac Newton, which led gradually
to the acceptance of the idea not only that Earth moved round the Sun, but that the planets were governed by
the same physical laws that governed the Earth, and therefore could be material worlds in their own right, with
such earthly phenomena as craters, weather, geology, seasons and ice caps.

[edit] Telescopic observations

Main article: Timeline of solar system astronomy

Galileo's telescopes

The first exploration of the solar system was conducted by telescope, with astronomers first began to map those
objects too faint to be seen with the naked eye.
Galileo Galilei was the first to discover physical details about the individual bodies of the Solar System. He
discovered that the Moon was cratered, that the Sun was marked with sunspots, and that Jupiter had four
satellites in orbit around it.[79] Christiaan Huygens followed on from Galileo's discoveries by discovering
Saturn's moon Titan and the shape of the rings of Saturn. [80] Giovanni Domenico Cassini later discovered four
more moons of Saturn, the Cassini division in Saturn's rings, and the Great Red Spot of Jupiter.[81]

In 1705, Edmund Halley realised that repeated sightings of a comet were in fact recording the same object,
returning regularly once every 75-6 years. This proved once and for all that comets were not atmospheric
phenomena, as had been previously thought, and was the first evidence that anything other than the planets
orbited the Sun.[82]

In 1781, William Herschel was looking for binary stars in the constellation of Taurus when he observed what
he thought was a new comet. In fact, its orbit revealed that it was a new planet, Uranus, the first ever
discovered.[83]

In 1801, Giuseppe Piazzi discovered Ceres, a small world between Mars and Jupiter that was initially
considered a new planet. However, subsequent discoveries of thousands of other small worlds in the same
region led to their eventual separate reclassification: asteroids.[84]

In 1846, discrepancies in the orbit of Uranus led many to suspect a large planet must be tugging at it from
farther out. Urbain Le Verrier's calculations eventually led to the discovery of Neptune.[85]

Further discrepancies in the orbits of the planets led Percival Lowell to conclude yet another planet, "Planet X"
must still be out there. After his death, his Lowell Observatory conducted a search, which ultimately led to
Clyde Tombaugh's discovery of Pluto in 1930. Pluto was, however, found to be too small to have disrupted the
orbits of the outer planets, and its discovery was therefore coincidental. Like Ceres, it was initially considered
to be a planet, but after the discovery of many other similarly sized objects in its vicinity it was eventually
reclassified as a dwarf planet.[85]

In 1992, astronomers David Jewitt of the University of Hawaii and Jane Luu of the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology discovered 1992 QB1. This object proved to be the first of a new population, which came to be
known as the Kuiper Belt; an icy analogue to the asteroid belt of which such objects as Pluto and Charon were
deemed a part.[86] [87]

In 2005, Mike Brown, Chad Trujillo and David Rabinowitz announced the discovery of Eris, a Scattered disc
object larger than Pluto and the largest object discovered in orbit round the Sun since Neptune.[88]

[edit] Observations by spacecraft

Main article: Space exploration

The Pale Blue Dot photo, a photo of Earth as a tiny dot (taken 4 billion miles from Earth by Voyager 1 at the
edge of the solar system)
Since the start of the space age, a great deal of exploration has been performed by unmanned space missions
that have been organized and executed by various space agencies. The first probe to land on another solar
system body was the Soviet Union's Luna 2 probe, which impacted on the Moon in 1959. Since then,
increasingly distant planets have been reached, with probes landing on Venus in 1965, Mars in 1976, the
asteroid 433 Eros in 2001, and Saturn's moon Titan in 2005. Spacecraft have also made close approaches to
other planets: Mariner 10 passed Mercury in 1973.

The first probe to explore the outer planets was Pioneer 10, which flew by Jupiter in 1973. Pioneer 11 was the
first to visit Saturn, in 1979. The Voyager probes performed a grand tour of the outer planets following their
launch in 1977, with both probes passing Jupiter in 1979 and Saturn in 1980 – 1981. Voyager 2 then went on to
make close approaches to Uranus in 1986 and Neptune in 1989. The Voyager probes are now far beyond
Neptune's orbit, and astronomers anticipate that they will encounter the heliopause which defines the outer edge
of the solar system in the next few years.[65] [89]

All planets in the solar system have now been visited to varying degrees by spacecraft launched from Earth, the
last being Neptune in 1989. Through these unmanned missions, humans have been able to get close-up
photographs of all of the planets and, in the case of landers, perform tests of the soils and atmospheres of some.

No Kuiper belt object has been visited by a spacecraft. Launched in 19 January 2006, the New Horizons is
currently enroute to becoming the first man-made spacecraft to explore this area. This unmanned mission is
scheduled to fly by Pluto in July 2015. Should it prove feasible, the mission will then be extended to observe a
number of other Kuiper belt objects.[90]

[edit] See also

• List of solar system objects: By orbit—By
mass—By radius
• Attributes of the largest solar system bodies
• Titius-Bode law
• Hypothetical planets
• Astronomical symbols
• Geological features of the solar system
• Numerical model of solar system
• Solar nebula
• Table of planetary attributes
• Timeline of discovery of solar system
planets and their natural satellites
• Solar system model
• Space colonization
• Solar System in fiction
• Celestia - Space-simulation on your
computer (OpenGL)
v•d•e
Earth's location in space[hide]

Earth · Solar System · Local Interstellar Cloud · Local Bubble · Orion Arm · Milky Way · Local Group · Virgo Supercluster ·
Observable universe · Universe

The Solar System

v•d• e

Sun Planets Mercury Venus Earth Mars

 • = moon(s) ∅ = rings
Heliosphere
Heliosheath Jupiter ∅ Saturn ∅ Uranus ∅ Neptune ∅
Heliopause
Hydrogen
wall
Ceres Pluto Eris
Dwarf planets

Groups and families: Vulcanoids · Near-Earth asteroids · Asteroid belt

Asteroids Jupiter Trojans · Centaurs · Neptune Trojans · Asteroid moons · Meteoroids
(minor
planets) See also the complete list of asteroids, and the meaning and pronunciation of
asteroid names.

Small
Solar
Kuiper belt – Plutinos: Orcus · Ixion
System
Trans- Cubewanos: 2002 UX25 · Varuna · 1992 QB1 · 2002 TX300 · 2003 EL61 · Quaoar ·
bodies 2005 FY9 · 2002 AW197
Neptunians
Scattered disc: 2002 TC302 · 2004 XR190 · Sedna

Comets Lists of periodic and non-periodic comets · Damocloids · Oort cloud

See also astronomical objects and the solar system's list of objects, sorted by radius or mass.