The Solar System
4.6 billion years ago, in an area of about 2.4 billion kilometers, gases and dust were compressed by gravity. Of this, 99.8 percent of the matter was spent on the formation of the Sun. The rest gathered in vortices around the Sun and formed into spheres, becoming the planets. After the Sun, 90 percent of the remaining mass in the Solar System is located in Jupiter and Saturn. It took about 200 million years for the Earth to form. 4.4 billion years ago, an object the size of Mars collided with the Earth. The force of the collision caused a piece of the Earth to break away and evolve into another celestial body; that is, the Moon, Earth's satellite.
The Solar System is a system that includes the Sun, eight planets and their 173 known moons, 6 dwarf planets and their 8 moons, comets, meteorites, asteroids, Kuiper Belt objects, dust clouds, and millions of other small and large objects. The planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Jupiter is the largest planet; Mercury is the smallest. After the first four planets, between Mars and Jupiter, lies the asteroid belt. Beyond the next four planets is the Kuiper Belt, which is full of icy objects and dust clouds. Beyond that is the vast Oort Cloud. The planets orbit the Sun in elliptical orbits. Therefore, the distance between the Sun and the planet does not have to be the same at all times during the year.
The Sun and the Moon
The center of the solar system is the Sun. The source of energy for the solar system is the Sun. Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the Sun. In the Sun, the process of nuclear fusion takes place, where hydrogen atoms combine to form helium. It takes the Sun 226 million years to orbit the center of the Milky Way. This is called a cosmic year.
The Moon is the fifth largest satellite. 59 percent of the Moon can be seen from Earth. A 60 kg object on Earth weighs only 6 kg on the Moon. The Moon takes 27 days, 7 hours and 43 minutes to orbit the Earth. Selenology is the branch related to the study of the Moon. The color of the sky on the Moon is black because the Moon has no atmosphere.
Mercury
Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun. The distance from the Sun is 60 million km. Mercury is also the smallest planet in the solar system. Mercury is the planet with the most satellites. It is the planet that orbits the Sun the fastest. That is, Mercury has the shortest year. It takes only 88 Earth days to orbit the Sun. Mercury's orbital period is 58.65 days. Since it has no atmosphere, the days are extremely hot and the nights are extremely cold. The surface is covered with layers of silicates. The first vehicle launched to study Mercury was Mariner 10. It was launched by the United States in 1973. NASA's Messenger probe, launched in 2004, approached Mercury in 2011.
Venus
The hottest planet is Venus. The reason for the increase in temperature on Venus is the greenhouse effect. Apart from Earth, Venus is the only planet with a greenhouse effect. Venus is known as the Morning Star and the Evening Star. It is called the Earth's twin. It is so called because it is similar in size to Earth. Venus is the closest planet to Earth and the sixth largest planet. It is a planet that rotates from east to west, meaning the sun rises in the west and sets in the east. This planet is named after the Roman goddess of love.
The brightest planet is Venus. This is because it reflects sunlight the most. Venus is the planet with a day longer than a year. Venus's rotation period is 243 days. (This is the slowest self-rotation). It takes 244 days to orbit the Sun. Many areas on the surface of Venus are named after female characters from mythology.
Venus is covered with clouds full of sulfuric acid. Therefore, acid rain continuously falls on Venus. The surface of Venus is a combination of volcanoes and plains. Lakshmi planum is a large plateau on Venus. Venera is a series of vehicles launched by the Soviet Union to explore Venus.
Earth
It is the third planet from the Sun. It has an atmosphere full of nitrogen and oxygen. 71 percent is ocean. The solid part in the center rotates very quickly, which creates a strong magnetic field. The elements nickel-iron are the main ones in the center with a radius of 1390 km. The temperature in the center is 5500 - 7500 Kelvin. Iron, oxygen, silicon, magnesium, and nickel are the most abundant elements on Earth. The densest planet. The distance from the Sun is 1 AU (150 million kilometers). It takes 365 days to orbit the Sun once. That is one Earth year. The escape velocity is 11.186 kilometers per second. Earth is the only planet where phenomena such as plate tectonics (plate movements) have been observed to exist. The average temperature of the Earth's atmosphere is 14 degrees Celsius. The Earth's atmosphere is held together by gravity. The ozone layer is in the stratosphere. Above this is the thermosphere, and beyond that is the exosphere. The only planet on which life exists. The Moon is the only satellite. The Earth has no rings. It was once widely believed that the Earth was the center of the universe!
Mars
Known as the 'Red Planet'. This planet got its red color due to the presence of iron oxide in its atmosphere. The average distance from the Sun is 1.5 AU. It takes 687 Earth days to orbit the Sun once. The days and nights are similar to those of Earth. Mars is smaller than Earth or Venus. It has only 0.107 times the mass of Earth. If the Sun is the size of a large front door, the Earth is the size of a small coin, and Mars is the size of an aspirin pill! The atmosphere is mostly carbon dioxide. The largest peak in the solar system, Olympus Mons, and many valleys are on the surface of Mars. This is evidence that the planet was very active physically until recently. The liquid core is mainly iron. The surrounding area is solid. The planet is rusty red in color due to the oxidation of iron. It has a weak magnetic field. The year is twice as long as Earth. A Martian day is 37 minutes longer than an Earth day. After Earth, Mars is the planet that has been studied the most by humans. Mangalyaan is a spacecraft launched by India in 2014 to study Mars.
Jupiter
The largest planet in the solar system. The fifth-largest gas giant planet from the Sun. It is located 5.2 AU (778 million kilometers) from the Sun. It takes 11.86 Earth years to orbit the Sun once. Jupiter rotates once every ten hours. Jupiter's mass is 318 times that of Earth. Jupiter is two and a half times the mass of all the other planets combined! However, even if this gas giant had a solid interior, it would barely be the size of Earth! Eleven Earths could fit on Jupiter's equator! In other words, if Earth were the size of a grape, Jupiter would be the size of a basketball! This gas giant is thought to be composed of hydrogen, helium, carbon, and nitrogen. The core, which contains heavier elements, has a mass 15 times that of Earth. It has about 79 known moons. Ganymede, a moon of Jupiter, is larger than Mercury. Ganymede is the only one with its own magnetic field. The Great Red Spot, a red area in motion, is visible from Earth. It is an elliptical cloud system. Because it is larger than Earth, Jupiter's cloud cover changes every few hours. The dark areas are called belts and the bright areas are called zones.
Jupiter's orbit
Jupiter has the shortest days and nights. It takes less than ten hours for Jupiter to complete one rotation. Jupiter takes about 12 Earth years (11.86 years) to orbit the Sun once. This is known as the 'Jupiter's orbit'. The planets Uranus and Venus rise in the west and set in the east when the Sun is in the sky.
Saturn
A planet with rings. The rings are located on Saturn's equator. They have a diameter of 275,000 km. The rings of Saturn were discovered by Galileo Galilei in the 17th century. The second largest planet in the solar system. The diameter of Saturn is about nine Earths! This is an estimate without including the rings. It orbits the Sun sixth. It is located 9.5 AU away from the Sun. It takes 29.5 years to orbit the Sun once. It is also a gas giant like Jupiter. Sometimes its solid interior can be seen. Saturn has 95 times the mass of Earth. It has a volume that can hold 745 Earths. Saturn is less dense than water. The axis is tilted 27 degrees, which causes variations in sunlight falling on the polar regions. The main elements are hydrogen and helium. Saturn has 62 known moons. Among them, Titan is known to be the opposite of Earth. Titan is the only moon in the solar system with a significant atmosphere. Titan, the second largest moon, is similar to a planet. It was discovered in 1655 by Christiaan Huygens. Saturn appears without rings twice every 29.5 years. This is only an illusion when viewed from Earth.
Uranus Planet
The seventh planet in the solar system is four times the size of Earth and 14 times the mass. During its rotation, the polar region is perpendicular to the Earth and the Sun. Uranus was discovered by William Herschel on March 13, 1781. It has a strong magnetosphere. This planet is full of ice. The location of this planet is 19.6 AU from the Sun. It takes 84 Earth years to orbit the Sun once. 14 times the mass of Earth. 27 moons of Uranus have been discovered so far. The only space probe to have orbited Uranus is Voyager-2. In 1986. The rings are thin. There are 13 rings. The innermost ring is Zeta. The outermost Epsilon ring is very bright. The rings are made of ice. It appears blue and green due to methane gas. Although it is hotter than Neptune, its internal heat does not radiate outward. Like Venus, Uranus rotates from east to west. However, it is only known that Uranus rotates on its side. This is because its axis was tilted greatly in a collision that occurred long ago. Uranus's tilt (97.77 degrees) is much greater than the tilt of the Earth's axis (23.5 degrees). Uranus is the only planet named directly from Greek mythology. All the other planets are named from Roman mythology. It is the coldest planet in the Solar System.
Neptune Planet
Neptune was discovered on September 23, 1846, by mathematician Urbain Le Verrier. It is the third most massive planet and the eighth planet to orbit the Sun. It has similarities with Uranus. Neptune is the fourth largest planet in the Solar System. Neptune is about four times the size of Earth. It has six rings around it. Its distance from the Sun is 30 AU. The distance between Neptune and the Sun is about 30 times the distance between Earth and the Sun! It orbits the Sun once in 165 Earth years. It is slightly smaller than Uranus. It is 17 times the mass of Earth. It is a cold planet. It has oceans of water, methane, and ammonia. It is blue due to methane. It radiates 2705 times the energy it receives from the Sun. The equator is inclined at 296 degrees to its orbit. Like Uranus, Neptune is an icy planet. The temperature on the planet's surface is estimated to be minus 218 degrees. The southern hemisphere receives more sunlight. Therefore, there are more methane clouds there. It is denser than other gas planets. 14 moons have been discovered. The moon Triton rotates in the opposite direction. Triton has an atmosphere full of nitrogen. The wind here can reach speeds of up to 2,000 kilometers per hour! On Earth, the strongest wind speed is about 400 kilometers per hour.
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