Matthew E.

Balatero Grade- IV

FACTS ABOUT SOLAR SYSTEM

The solar system is a group of objects that interact with one another, the
fundamental interaction for each object being the one it has with the sun.

 1 star (The Sun)

 8 planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus,
and Neptune)
 5 dwarf planets (Pluto, Ceres, Haumea, Makemake, and Eris)
 181 moons
 566,000 asteroids
 3,100 comets
 All objects in the Solar System orbit the Sun; that is, they move around
the Sun in elliptical paths. Moreover, the orbits of these objects lie
roughly in the same plane, called the ecliptic plane.
 Approximately 4.6 billion years ago a large cloud of gas and dust
was disturbed by some force. (Scientists have theorized that this
force was a nearby supernova.)
 99.86% of the system’s mass is found in the Sun and the majority of
the remaining 0.14% is contained within the solar system’s eight
planets
 The four smaller inner planets, also known as the “terrestrial planets”
(Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars), are the primarily composed of
rock and metal.
 The four planets, also known as the “gas giants” (Jupiter, Saturn,
Uranus and Neptune), are substantially larger and more massive
than the inner planets.
 The two innermost gas giants, Jupiter and Saturn, are larger of the
four and are composed mainly of hydrogen and helium.
 The two outermost gas giants, Uranus and Neptune, are composed
largely of ices, (water, ammonia and methane) and are sometimes
also referred to as the “ice giants”.
 Other objects of note in the Solar System are the dwarf planets
(Ceres, Pluto, Haumea, Makemake & Eris), moons, asteroids, the
asteroid belt, comets and the Kuiper belt.