The Solar system is the Sun together with eight planets and the other group of celestial bodies. These planets and bodies revolve around the Sun and are held by its attraction.
Our planetary system is named the "solar system" because our Sun is named "Sol", after the Latin word for Sun, "solis", and anything related to the Sun we call "solar".
Everything relating to the solar system is simply amazing, and there are many more discoveries that are still yet to be made.
Here are a few incredible facts about our planetary system that will just blow your mind.
1. You can't stand on Uranus
Uranus' clouds are made up of hydrogen sulphide, meaning they have a very similar smell to rotten eggs.
If we ever manage to travel to the gas planets, you might be in for a bit of a shock when you step off the spaceship. That’s because Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune don’t have solid surfaces - they have a rocky core, but are mainly big balls of hydrogen and helium.
2. Saturn's rings are 90% water
Saturn is home to the Solar System’s most epic ice rink. Being so far from the Sun, the water in its rings is frozen into ice. It is one of four planets that have rings around them - the other gas planets do too. However, the rest were undiscovered until the 1970s when probes went to explore them. Saturn’s were the first rings seen through telescopes from Earth.
3. Jupiter’s largest moon has a salty ocean that contains more water than on Earth
Forget holidays in the Mediterranean. If you want vast ocean views, Jupiter's biggest moon "Ganymede" is the place to be. The moon is larger than Mercury and would be classed as a planet if it were orbiting the Sun rather than Jupiter.
4. Mercury takes roughly three Earth months to orbit the Sun
In three months you could write a book, pass your driving test or learn basic guitar. It’s also the amount of time it takes Mercury to travel around the Sun. It’s the shortest orbit in the Solar System, because Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun. So, next time someone asks you when you’ll get around to mowing the lawn, tell them it’ll be in roughly one Mercurian year.
5. It would take 100 times longer to travel around the Sun than the Earth
Long haul flights to the other side of the world can be gruelling, but it’s nothing compared to how long it would take to fly round the Sun. To go on this trip of a lifetime, you’d have to prepare yourself for a journey of 206 days. Let’s hope there are places to stop to refuel along the way.
6. A day is longer than a year on Venus
This one might sound completely out there, but bear with us. A day is how long it takes a planet to rotate fully, and a year is how long it takes a planet to orbit the Sun. Venus is one of only two planets that rotates clockwise, and it spins much slower than others in the solar system. Some think this is due to it being knocked into a different direction by another planet, or it just gradually slowed to a halt then started turning the other way. It takes 243 Earth days for Venus to do one complete rotation, and 225 Earth days to orbit the Sun. Therefore, a day is longer than a year on Venus.
7. The Solar System is roughly 4.5 billion years old
The Solar System is ancient. To put it into perspective, if the age of the Solar System were a year, humans would appear on Earth just before the countdown on New Year’s Eve.
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Content created and supplied by: AllieAdu-Agyei (via Opera News )
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