Solar System
GEOGRAPHY (GA)
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Solar System
The study of the universe is known as Cosmology.
The universe is commonly defined as the totality of everything that exists including all physical matter
and energy, the planets, stars, galaxies and the contents of intergalactic space.
A galaxy is a vast system of billions of stars, dust and gasses bound by their own gravity. There are 100
billion galaxies in the universe and each galaxy has, on average, 100 billion stars.
Our galaxy is the Milky Way Galaxy (or the Akash Ganga) formed after the Big Bang.
Andromeda is the nearest galaxy to the Milky Way.
Stars are the heavenly bodies made up of hot burning gasses and they shine by emitting their own light.
The sky is divided into units to enable the astronomers to identify the position of the stars. These units
are called Constellations. There are 88 known constellations.
Comets are made up of Frozen gasses. They move around the Sun in elongated elliptical orbit with the
tail always pointing away from the Sun.
Satellites are the heavenly bodies that revolve around the planets. Moon is the natural satellite of the
Earth.
The Solar system consists of the Sun, the eight planets and their satellites (or moons) and thousands of
other smaller heavenly bodies such as asteroids, comets and meteors.
The Sun is at the center of the solar system and all these bodies revolve around it. It is the nearest star to
the earth.
Eight planets according to their distance from the Sun are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn,
Uranus and Neptune.
The ninth planet ‘Pluto’ has just been removed from the family of the solar system.
Of the eight planets, the nearest four to the sun, namely Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars are called the
terrestrial planets because their structure is similar to that of the Earth.
The planets outside the orbit of Mars are called [Link] because their structure is similar to that of
Jupiter.
These are all gaseous bodies. They have a ring system around them and have a large number of Moons.
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Some Important Facts about Solar System
Biggest Planet Jupiter
Smallest Planet Mercury
Farthest Planet to Sun Neptune
Nearest Planet to Sun Mercury
Hottest Planet Venus
Coldest Planet Neptune
Fastest Rotating Jupiter
Slowest Rotating Venus
Fastest Revolution Mercury
Slowest revolution Neptune
Blue Planet Earth
Green Planet Uranus
Red Planet Mars
Morning and Evening Star Venus
Earth’s Twin Venus
Planet with maximum number of satellites Saturn
Inner Planets Outer Planets
Jupiter
Mercury
Saturn
Venus
Uranus
Earth
Neptune
Mars
Pluto
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Members of the Solar System
The Sun
The Sun is 109 times bigger than the Earth and weighs 2 × 1027 tons.
The core of the Sun has a temperature of about 15 million degrees C. Sunlight takes 8 min 16.6 sec to
reach Earth.
The density of the Sun is ¼ of that of the Earth.
In its composition, 71% hydrogen and 26.5% of helium are found.
The Sun is about 150 million km away from the Earth.
Light travels with a tremendous speed of about 3, 00,000 kilometers per second. Even at this speed the
Sun rays take about eight minutes to reach the Earth.
Interior of Sun
The central part of the Sun is known as the core. The Photosphere is the “light sphere”. The dark patches
on it are known as sunspots.
The Chromosphere (color sphere) is the next layer.
It contains most of the “elements” found on Earth, but they are in a state of vapor.
The Solar Prominences (red flames) rise high above the Chromosphere.
The Sun seems to generate its energy in its core from a process called nuclear fusion.
Nuclear Fusion – hydrogen (H) particles are under so much pressure that they join together to make
helium (He).
This process releases enormous amounts of energy in the core.
Corona - The Sun’s atmosphere is made of gasses and plasma that extends millions of kilometers into
space.
The Planet
The 2006 redefinition of “Planet” by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) states that, in the Solar
System, a planet is a celestial body that:
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Is in an orbit around the Sun.
Has sufficient mass so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium shape.
Has “cleared the neighborhood” around its orbit.
A "dwarf planet" is a celestial body that
Is in orbit around the Sun,
Has sufficient mass for itself-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a
hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape
Has not cleared the neighborhood around its orbit, and
Is not a satellite
Trivia about Planets
According to distance from Sun in ascending order:
Mercury < Venus < Earth < Mars < Jupiter < Saturn < Uranus < Neptune
According to size in descending order:
Jupiter > Saturn > Uranus > Neptune > Earth > Venus > Mars > Mercury
Revolves around the Sun in the minimum period:
Venus: 225 days
Mercury: 88 days
Revolves around the Sun in the maximum period:
Pluto: 248 years
Neptune: 164 years
It takes 8 minutes for light to reach us from the Sun.
A light-year is the distance traveled by light in 1 year.
The Sun is our nearest star.
Our next nearest star, Alpha Centauri, is 4 light-years away.
The Milky Way is 100 000 light-years across.
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Mercury
The nearest planet to the Sun, it is situated 5.7 million kilometers away from the Sun.
It is the smallest planet of our Solar System whose diameter is only 4849.6 kilometers.
There is no atmosphere; hence there is no possibility of life.
It has no satellite.
It revolves around the Sun in 88 days.
It rotates in 58.65 days.
It has the shortest year.
Venus
It is the brightest of all planets because it reflects more of the Sun’s light which falls upon it than other
planets do.
Clouds of sulphuric acid are found here.
It is the nearest planet to the Earth.
It is similar to the Earth in volume, weight and density; therefore, it is called sister of the Earth and twin
star.
It is also known as Evening Star and Morning Star.
The cloud sphere of Venus is of orange color, therefore it is known as the orange planet. It rotates from
east to west while the Earth rotates from west to east.
It has no satellite or moon.
Hottest planet in the Solar system because of 97% CO2. Slowest rotation period (257 days). Almost equal
rotation and revolution (224.7 days).
Mars
It rotates along its own axis in 24.6 hours (almost equal to the time taken by the Earth).
Due to the presence of iron oxide, it appears red and is called the Red Planet.
On Mars, Nix Olympica Mountain is situated, which is three times loftier than Mount Everest.
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Mars has two satellites Phobos and Deimos.
It is the only planet after Earth which has signs of water and there is possibility of life.
Various space missions so far have been sent to Mars, e.g. Vikings, Pathfinder, Mars Odyssey and
Curiosity.
It has a thin atmosphere comprising nitrogen and argon.
The Revolution period is 687 days.
Rotation period is 24.6 hrs.
Jupiter
It is the largest planet of the Solar System.
Its diameter is 11 times and area 120 times that of the Earth.
It is called the Lord of Heavens.
It has more gravity as compared to the Earth.
It is the fastest rotating planet.
It rotates along its own axis only in 10 hours.
It revolves around the Sun in 11 years and 10 months.
Its surface is not solid and its atmosphere, made of hydrogen, helium, ammonia and methane, is very
dense.
One special feature of this planet is the ‘Great Red Spot’.
Ganymede, the largest of these, is larger than the planet Mercury.
It has 79 satellites.
Saturn
It is the second-largest planet of the Solar System.
It is 141.7 crore km away from the Sun. It revolves around the Sun in 29 years and 6 months.
Its main feature is the presence of a circular ring around it which does not touch the surface of the
Saturn.
It has 82 moons.
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Revolution period: 29 years
Rotation period: 10.3 hours
It has a system of rings (3 well defined).
Uranus
It was discovered in 1781 by Sir William Hershel.
It rotates along its axis from east to west, unlike the other planets.
Its atmosphere is dense and in it, methane gas is found.
Its satellites revolve in the opposite direction.
The axis of Uranus has a large inclination so that it appears to be lying down; hence it bears the name “a
planet on its side”.
It has 27 satellites.
Neptune
It is situated 447 crore km away from the Sun.
It rotates along its axis in 15 hours and 40 minutes and revolves around the Sun in 165 years.
Due to the presence of methane, it appears greenish and is called a green planet.
It is an extremely cold planet where the maximum temperature is -200°C.
It was discovered by J Galle in 1846.
It has 14 satellites.
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