The Solar System -Important Facts about Solar System Family Members
THE SOLAR SYSTEM-
The solar system consists of the sun, the eight planets and their satellites and thousands of other smaller heavenly bodies such as asteroids comets and meteors. The sun is at the center of the solar system and all these bodies are revolving around it.
The gravitational pull of the sun keeps all the planets and other objects revolving round it. Thus, the motion of all the members of the solar system is governed mainly by the gravitational force of the sun.
In the solar system the planet nearest to the sun is Mercury and the planet farthest from the sun is Neptune.
The size of solar system has been estimated to be about 105 A.U. The solar system is dominated by the sun and the sun accounts for almost 99.9% of the matter in the whole solar system.
The sun is also the source of all the energy in the solar system.Important Facts about Solar System Family Members The sun, Planets,Asteroids, Comets,Constellations.
Important Facts about Solar System Family Members
1.The Sun – The sun is at the center of the solar system. It has a surface temperature of about 6000 0 C.The temperature at the center is around 15,000,000 0C. It is nearest star to the earth. Hydrogen and Helium are the main gases present in the sun.
2. The Planets- these are opaque bodies which continuously revolve around and are lighted by the sun. There are eight planets in the Solar system. The sequence of Planets-
- Mercury
- Venus
- Earth
- Mars
- Jupiter
- Saturn
- Uranus
- Neptune.
3.Asteroids – Asteroids are also known as minor planets. They are objects that revolve around the sun. The mass of all the asteroids is the mass of all the asteroids is less than that of Earth’s moon. Most asteroids lie in a vast ring between the orbits of Most asteroids lie in a vast ring between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
4.Meteorites and Meteors – Meteorites and Meteors are also called shooting stars. Meteors are fragments of rocks, coming towards the earth, formed due to the collision of asteroids with one another. Most meteoroids come from asteroids that are broken apart by impacts with other asteroids. When meteors are large and do not burn up completely , they land on the Earth surface and are known as Meteorites.
5.Comets – Comets are among the most spectacular and unpredictable bodies in the Solar system. Visitors of the Solar system. Comets move around the sun in regular orbits, but their orbits are elongated ellipses that it takes those hundreds and sometimes even thousands of years to complete one revolution around the sun. Comets are made up of frozen gases which hold together rocky and metallic materials.
6.Stars – Stars are heavenly bodies made up of burning gases, thus shining by their own light. Stars seem to be fixed with respect to each other. In fact they are in rapid motion but they are at such great distance that relative change in position become noticeable over the centuries.
7.Constellations –To enable astronomers to roughly identify the position of the stars, the sky has been divided into units. These units are known as Constellations. These constellations were named in honor of mythological characters.
