The Solar

System
The Sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly
perfect sphere of hot plasma, with
internal convective motion that
generates a magnetic field via
a dynamo process. It is by far the most
important source of energy for life
on Earth. Its diameter is about 1.39
million kilometers (864,000 miles), or
109 times that of Earth, and its mass is
about 330,000 times that of Earth. It
accounts for about 99.86% of the total
mass of the Solar System. Roughly three
quarters of the Sun's mass consists of hydrogen (~73%); the rest is
mostly helium (~25%), with much smaller quantities of heavier
elements, including oxygen, carbon, neon, and iron.

The Moon
The Moon is an astronomical
body orbiting Earth as its only natural
satellite. It is the fifth-largest satellite in
the Solar System, and by far[13] the largest
among planetary satellites relative to the
size of the planet that it orbits (its primary).
The Moon is, after Jupiter's satellite Io, the
second-densest satellite in the Solar System
among those whose densities are known.
The Moon is thought to have formed about 4.51 billion years
ago, not long after Earth. The most widely accepted explanation is
that the Moon formed from the debris left over after a giant
impact between Earth and a hypothetical Mars-sized body
called Theia. New research of Moon rocks, although not rejecting
the Theia hypothesis, suggests that the Moon may be older than
previously thought.

Planets
Our solar system consists of eight planets which all orbit around our
home star, the Sun.
Our planetary system was formed 4.6 billion years ago!
For most of history it was thought that everything in space moved
around the Sun, however around the 17th century the idea, that the
earth is just one of the planets in the system, started gaining
popularity.
In fact, the Sun is only one of more than 200 billion stars moving
about in the Milky Way!
Our solar system consists of eight planets which all orbit around our
home star: the Sun.
These eight planets are:

Mercury
The closest planet to the Sun is only about
as wide as the Atlantic Ocean! 18
Mercuries would fit into the Earth. The
planet does not have an atmosphere, just like it is on all the other
planets. There is no water present on this dangerous planet either!
There temperatures vary between -180°C and 430°C/-290°F and
842°F.
This is also the fastest planet! It speeds through space with 50km
per second/31 miles per second.
The BepiColombo mission was launched in October 2018 and now
travels in space towards Mercury which it will reach by 2025. It will
orbit the planet to solve mysteries about Mercury. It also will
hopefully reveal questions like how planetary systems form.
Venus
Venus - named after the Roman
goddess of beauty - is also known
as the evening or morning star.
Yellow clouds made of sulfur and
sulfuric acid cover the entire
planet causing light to reflect off
the surface.
This makes Venus the second
brightest object in the night sky
after the Moon.
Venus is very similar to Earth in terms of size and material.
However, it is the hottest planet in the Solar system with
temperatures reaching 460°C/480°F. The surface of Venus hosts
thousands of volcanoes, craters and super-high mountain ranges.
Many missions have been conducted about Venus but many
questions remain. The Soviet Union successfully landed eight space
probes on Venus during the 1970s and 1980s.

Earth
Earth is the fifth largest planet of
our solar system and has one
large natural satellite, the Moon.
Did you know that all planets were named after Roman and Greek
gods and goddesses, except the Earth. The name 'Earth'
nevertheless is more than 1,000 years old and means just 'ground'.
Everything one ever knows is here.
This is the only place where life is
known to currently exist. Most of the
Earth's surface (about 70%) is
covered with water.

Mars
Mars, the most likely candidate for a
future human habitat, is affected by
huge dust storms that occur every
now and then and cover the entire
planet!
Mars is very cold and dry but water
exists in form of ice at the North and
South poles. The surface of Mars has
many craters, deep valleys and volcanoes.
The largest peak on the red planet is a volcano called Olympus
Mons, which is three times higher than Mount Everest, the highest
mountain on Earth. 'Mons' is the Latin word for mountain.
Mars has two moons called Phobos and Deimos, both are probably
asteroids which were caught up by Mars’ gravitational field.
There are two rovers on the surface of Mars and six spacecraft
orbiting Mars that are tasked with discovering the presence of water
and searching for evidence of previous ancient life, amongst other
things.

Jupiter
Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar
system. The most famous feature on the
surface of the planet is the 'Great Red Spot' which is actually a
storm that has been blowing for about 350 years, if not longer.
Jupiter has some of the largest moons in the solar system and one
in particular, Europa might be able to sustain life in an ocean below
its icy surface.
There is one spacecraft currently orbiting Jupiter called Juno. Juno is
trying to solve how the planet formed and finding out more about
the winds that occur.
Saturn
Saturn is a gas giant just like Jupiter,
Neptune and Uranus. This means that
it doesn’t really have a proper solid
surface as it is mainly made up of
gases with a small rocky core.
Saturn is the second largest planet
and is known for its rings, although
the other gas giants also have these kinds of rings, only Saturn’s
rings can be seen the clearest.
Saturn’s moon, Titan is the second largest in the solar system.
In 2005, NASA and ESA (European Space Agency) landed a space-
probe called 'Huygens' on Titan revealing the composition and the
landscape of this moon. This spacecraft was part of the Cassini-
Huygens that recently ended when the orbiting spacecraft Cassini
was intentionally crashed into Saturn. Cassini showed us that
another moon of Saturn, Enceladus is also potentially habitable.
Uranus
Uranus is the second furthest planet from the
Sun and therefore also has to travel a pretty
long time to go once around out home star. It
takes Uranus roughly 84 years to orbit once
around the Sun.
Uranus is a blue planet, not because of
water, but because of gases that make it appear blue.
Uranus orbits on its side, which means that its seasons are
completely different to ours. Summer and winter each take 21 years
at the north and south poles!
Neptune
Neptune is closely related to Uranus, the
atmosphere is composed of almost the same
gases and just like Uranus, Neptune also
appears blue. Neptune inherits its name from
the Roman god of the sea as reference to its
deep blue color.
Neptune is the furthest planet from the Sun and it takes 165 years
for Neptune to go once around the Sun.
No space probes have ever visited Neptune or its partner Uranus
but a fly-by was made by the space probe Voyager 2 in 1989.