The Solar System is about 4.568 billion years old.[1] The Sun formed by gravity in a large molecular cloud. It is mainly hydrogen, which it converts into helium through nuclear fusion. The planets are in a flattened orbiting disk. This disk was partly left over from the cloud that formed the Contact online >>
The Solar System is about 4.568 billion years old.[1] The Sun formed by gravity in a large molecular cloud. It is mainly hydrogen, which it converts into helium through nuclear fusion. The planets are in a flattened orbiting disk. This disk was partly left over from the cloud that formed the Sun, plus other material as the Sun moved through space. Eventually, the gas and dust of the disk came together into planets. It is thought that almost all stars and their planets form this way.
The Sun is a star. It makes up 99.9% of the Solar System''s mass.[2] This means that it has strong gravity. The other objects are pulled into orbit around the Sun. The Sun is mostly made out of hydrogen, and some helium and higher elements. All heavier elements, called metals in astronomy, account for less than 2% of the Sun''s mass. Oxygen is about 1% of the Sun''s mass. Iron (0.2%) is the most plentiful of the other elements.[3]
There are eight planets in the Solar System. From closest to farthest from the Sun, they are: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. The first four planets are called terrestrial planets. They are mostly made of rock and metal, and they are mostly solid. The last four planets are called giant planets. This is because they are much larger than other planets and are mostly made either of gas or ices.
Six of the planets, and the six largest dwarf planets, are orbited by moons. There are more than 200 moons in the Solar System. Mercury and Venus have no moons, and Jupiter and Saturn have the largest number of moons. The largest moon is Ganymede which is a moon of Jupiter. Titan is one of Saturn''s moons. It is the only moon in the Solar System to have an atmosphere, which is mainly composed of nitrogen.
The Solar System also contains other things. There are asteroid belts, mostly between Mars and Jupiter. Further out than Neptune, there is the Kuiper belt and the scattered disc. These areas have dwarf planets, including Pluto, Makemake, Haumea, Ceres and Eris. There are thousands of very small objects in these areas. There are also comets, centaurs, and interplanetary dust.
In Ancient Greece, Aristarchus of Samos proposed the heliocentric model of the Solar System, where the Sun, is at the center of the known universe. He is sometimes known as the "Greek Copernicus".[4]
The formation and evolution of the Solar System began 4.6 billion years ago with the gravitational collapse of a small part of a giant molecular cloud.[5]
Most of the collapsing mass collected in the centre, forming the Sun, while the rest flattened into a protoplanetary disk of loose dust, out of which the planets, moons, asteroids, and other Solar System bodies formed.
This model, known as the nebular hypothesis, was developed in the 18th (1700s) century by Emanuel Swedenborg, Immanuel Kant, and Pierre-Simon Laplace. It has been adjusted by scientific disciplines such as astronomy, physics, geology, and planetary science. As our knowledge of space has grown, the models have been changed to account for the new observations.
The Solar System has evolved considerably since its initial formation. Some moons have formed from circling discs of gas and dust around their parent planets, while other moons are believed to have formed and were later captured by their planets. Others, such as the Earth''s Moon, may be the result of giant collisions.
Many collisions between bodies have occurred, and have been important to the evolution of the Solar System. In the early stages, the positions of the planets sometimes shifted, and planets have switched places.[6][7] This planetary migration is thought to have been responsible for much of the Solar System''s early evolution.
Astronomers now think that the order of the planets was not always as it is today. Knowing what we know today, we can see the Solar System is strange. Most other planetary system we are able to study have their largest planet closer to their star. In the Solar System it is not. Also we have noticed other oddities in the Solar System. Mars is smaller than it ought to be, and the asteroid belt has been disturbed.
So, astronomers have put forward the grand tack hypothesis. In it Jupiter was earlier closer to the Sun, and (for some unknown reason) moved out to its present position.
The Earth''s orbit around the Sun is nearly a perfect circle, but in a very slightly oval shaped orbit, an elliptical orbit. The other planets in the Solar System also orbit the Sun in slightly elliptical orbits. Mercury has a more elliptical orbit than the others, and there is obviously some explanation for this. Some of the smaller objects orbit the Sun in very eccentric orbits. The planets all orbit the Sun in the same direction.[8]: 4–5
A full account of the planetary motion needs an account of the n-body problem, which is not treated on this wiki. A page can be found on En wiki.
The planets are the biggest objects that go around the Sun. It took people many years of using telescopes to find the objects that were farthest away. New planets might still be found, and more small objects are found every year. Most of the planets have moons that orbit around them just as the planets orbit the Sun. There are at least 200 of these moons in the Solar System.
This all changed on August 24, 2006, when the International Astronomical Union (IAU) decided on the correct definition for the word "planet" for the first time. By this definition, Pluto was not a planet anymore due to its irregular orbit and size. It became a "dwarf planet" along with Eris and many others.
Eris was 27% more massive than Pluto. After this, Pluto was put on the list of minor planets and was downgraded in 2006.[10] Instead they defined a new category of dwarf planet, into which Pluto did fit, along with some others. These small planets are sometimes called plutinos.
The first four planets closest to the Sun are called the inner planets. They are small and dense terrestrial planets, with solid surfaces. They are made up of mostly rock and metal with a distinct internal structure and a similar size. Three also have an atmosphere. The study of the four planets gives information about geology outside the Earth.
The Oort cloud is separate from the trans-Neptune region, and much farther out. It contains the long-period comets.
The plane of the ecliptic is defined by the Earth''s orbit around the Sun. All of the planets orbit the Sun roughly around this same orbital plane. The farther away from this plane a planet orbits, the more inclined is its orbit to the ecliptic. If you could look at the Solar System "edge on" then all the planets would be orbiting more or less in the plane of the ecliptic.
The solar system itself is only a small part of a huge system of stars and other objects called the Milky Way galaxy. The solar system orbits around the center of the galaxy about once every 225 million years. The Milky Way galaxy is just one of billions of galaxies that in turn make up the universe.
At the center of the solar system is a star called the Sun. It is the largest object in the solar system. Its diameter, or distance through its center, is 865,000 miles (1,392,000 kilometers). In addition, the Sun contains more than 99 percent of all the material in the solar system. The Sun is a very hot ball of hydrogen and helium gases. It has a temperature, at its core, of more than 28,080,000° F (15,600,000° C). It constantly changes the hydrogen in its core into helium. This process gives out huge amounts of radiation, or energy. Living things on Earth depend on this energy, in the form of light and heat.
The gases that surround the Sun shoot out a stream of tiny particles called the solar wind. It flows outward through the whole solar system. The solar wind is what causes auroras, or displays of colored light in the night sky in parts of Earth. In the Northern Hemisphere these auroras are called the northern lights.
InteractiveAfter the Sun, the largest objects in the solar system are the planets. In order from closest to the Sun, these planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Most of them orbit the Sun in paths shaped like circles. Most of the planets have at least one moon. However, they vary widely in size, temperature, and makeup.
Scientists used to call Pluto the ninth planet. But in 2006 scientists decided that several objects in the solar system, including Pluto, should be called dwarf planets.
Millions of small chunks of metal and rock called asteroids also orbit the Sun. Most asteroids are found in a ring between Mars and Jupiter. They are believed to be debris, or bits of material, left over from collisions between other bodies in the solar system. The largest asteroids are hundreds of miles in diameter, but most are much smaller. Small asteroids regularly fall to Earth or burn up in the sky as glowing meteors.
At the outer reaches of the solar system is the Oort Cloud. It is a huge cloud of countless small, icy objects. The Oort Cloud surrounds the rest of the solar system.
The solar system was formed about 4.7 billion years ago. It probably started as a loose cloud of gas and dust. Scientists think that a force called gravity pulled parts of the cloud together into clumps. The largest clump was squeezed together so tightly that it got very hot. This clump eventually became the Sun. Over millions of years the other clumps became the planets. The Sun''s strong gravity eventually pulled the planets into their orbits. Over time some of the leftover clumps became asteroids, comets, and other small, icy objects.
About Solar system easy
As the photovoltaic (PV) industry continues to evolve, advancements in Solar system easy have become critical to optimizing the utilization of renewable energy sources. From innovative battery technologies to intelligent energy management systems, these solutions are transforming the way we store and distribute solar-generated electricity.
When you're looking for the latest and most efficient Solar system easy for your PV project, our website offers a comprehensive selection of cutting-edge products designed to meet your specific requirements. Whether you're a renewable energy developer, utility company, or commercial enterprise looking to reduce your carbon footprint, we have the solutions to help you harness the full potential of solar energy.
By interacting with our online customer service, you'll gain a deep understanding of the various Solar system easy featured in our extensive catalog, such as high-efficiency storage batteries and intelligent energy management systems, and how they work together to provide a stable and reliable power supply for your PV projects.
