The scale of our Solar System is gigantic. There’s more to our cosmic neighbourhood than eight planets and an asteroid belt.
The size of the solar system may seem like it has a simple answer, yet there is no universally agreed upon definition for where our solar system ends.
Explore the eight (or nine) planets of the solar system in order from nearest to the sun and discover the many wonders of our solar system along the way.
Our solar system is huge. There is a lot of empty space out there between the planets. Voyager 1, the most distant human-made object, has been in space for more than 40 years and it still has not escaped the influence of our Sun. As of Feb. 1, 2020, Voyager 1 is about 13.8 billion miles (22.2 billion kilometers) from the Sun — nearly four times the average distance from the Sun to icy Pluto. Needless to say, our solar system doesn't fit real well on paper — or a Web site for that matter. ...
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Source, Cost per watt, Cost of a 5 kW system ; EnergySage, $2.80, $14,000 ; Wood Mackenzie, $3.30, $16,500 ; FindEnergy, $3.60, $18,000
Turns out our solar system — with its medium sized sun, its four small rocky planets, its four big gassy ones farther out — isn't like the others. We are unusual. Very unusual. Says one prominent a...
Scientists know that when the universe came into being, not everything in it spontaneously appeared. How long has our solar system been around?
Planet Name, Date of Discovery, Distance from Sun (AU), Composition ; Mercury, 1st millennium BC, 0.39, Solid, rocky ; Venus, 2nd millennium BC, 0.72, Solid, rocky ; Earth, N/A, 1.00, Solid, rocky with liquid water
1. Our planetary system is called “the solar system” because we use the word “solar” to describe things related to our star, after the Latin word for Sun, "solis." ; 2. Our solar system orbits the center of the Milky Way galaxy at about 515,000 mph (829,000 kph). ; 3. It takes our solar system about 230 million years to complete one orbit around the galactic center. ; 4. The hottest planet in our solar system is Venus, even though Mercury is closer to the Sun.