Solar System Facts

Here are few interesting Solar System facts:

We all know that the Sun is a blazing red ball because of which the air is very hot. The Sun’s surface, on the other hand, is 6,000 degrees Celsius which is interestingly, the temperature recorded of the Earth’s core.

The planet closest to the Sun is Mercury. The atmospheric pressure is very small. This is because the solar winds removed the air from the system. Therefore, Mercury has no air.

	A well-known Solar System fact is that Earth and Venus are of the same size because of which they are known as the sister planets. It was believed for a long time that Venus had life on it as well. However, Venus’s temperature is too hot for living beings to survive. Since Earth is the only planet which has life on it, scientists use its features to draw conclusions about other planets. This is known as Comparative Planetology. Mars has very deep canyons and very high mountains. It has been assumed that the greatest canyon would stretch from Los Angeles to New York City. Mars has the largest volcano of the Solar System as well - the Olympus Mons. Jupiter has 63 moons, 4 of which can be seen at night with a telescope or binoculars. The orbital period of the planet is 4,331.572 days or 11,86 years. The planet is more flat than round.
Even though it may seem that Saturn has about 3-4 rings, the fact of the matter is that there are 200 rings around Saturn. Interestingly, Neptune, Jupiter and Uranus have rings as well. An interesting Solar System fact is that Uranus has a very large water body which can be found under the clouds. Pluto was considered to be the smallest planet of the Solar System. However, in 2006, it was classified under the category of ‘Dwarf Planets’. It is located at the far end of the Solar System which is why detailed characteristics and features are not known exactly. These Solar System facts pertain to eight planets and Pluto. Nowadays five planets are recognized as dwarf ones by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) – Ceres, Pluto, Haumea, Makemake, and Eris.