Satellite News

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)