Solar System Facts
- The solar system is around 4.6 billion years old.
- There are eight major planets and over 100 moons in the solar system.
- Other objects in the solar system include dwarf planets, asteroids and comets.
- Many bodies in the solar system are visible to the naked eye.
- Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars are the small rocky planets. Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are the gas giants.
- The sun is by far the largest object in the solar system.
- All the planets orbit the sun in an eliptical, oval shaped path.
- The solar system is in the galaxy known as “The Milky Way”.
- Astronomers have found many other stars in our galaxy which have planets orbiting around them. There are around 200 billion stars in the milky way.
- The Voyager 1 spacecraft is the furthest man-made object in the solar system, it is around 10.5 billion miles (17 billion km) from the sun and is still sending data back to Earth.
Solar System Statistics
- Diameter of the Solar System: Unknown (possibly 2 to 3 light years)
- Distance from center of Galaxy: 25,000 light years
- Orbital Period: 250 million years
- Age: 4.6 billion years
- Number of Planets: 8
- Number of Dwarf Planets: 5
- Number of Moons: 173
- Rocky Planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars
- Gas Giants: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune
- Dwarf Planets: Ceres, Pluto, Haumea, MakeMake and Eris
- Nearest Planet to Sun: Mercury (58 million km)
- Farthest Planet from Sun: Neptune (4.5 billion km)
- Farthest Man Made Object from Sun: Voyager 1 (17 billion km)
- Largest Planet: Jupiter (Diameter 142,984 km)
- Smallest Planet: Mercury (Diameter 4,879 km)
- Largest Moon: Ganymede (Diameter 5,262 km)
- Smallest Moon: S/2003 J 9 and S/2003 J 12 (Diameter 1 km)
- Greatest Planetary Gravity: Jupiter (20.87 m/s2)
- Greatest Planetary Density: Earth (5.515 g/cm3)
- Greatest Planetary Mass: Jupiter (1.8987 x 1027 kg)
- Greatest Planetary Volume: Jupiter (1.4255 x 1015 km3)
- Lowest Planetary Gravity: Mars (3.693 m/s2)
- Lowest Planetary Density: Saturn (0.7 g/cm3)
- Lowest Planetary Mass: Mercury (3.3022 x 1023 kg)
- Lowest Planetary Volume: Mercury (6.08272 x 1010 km3)
