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Our solar system
Ask even a five-year-old which planet we live on, and he’d tell you the answer, “Earth.” We know so much about our ever-shrinking planet. It has a population of six billion. Seventy per cent of the surface area is covered by water while 30 per cent is dry land. But what do we know about the world beyond our skies? Thanks to modern science and astronomy, we now possess sketchy yet useful details of all the planets in our solar system and are learning more and more each day. Broadly speaking, our solar system now contains eight planets which orbit around the Sun.
The Sun
Every solar system has a star at its centre. Ours is the Sun, a star made up of hot, yellow glowing gases. It is the only source of light and heat in our solar system. The Sun is also the hottest star in our midst with a surface temperature of 6000*C. The Sun has a diameter of almost 1.4 million km.
Mercury
It is the first planet in the solar system that faces the sun and is 58 million km away from it. It has a diameter of 4,843 km, making it the smallest planet in the solar system. It takes Mercury 88 days to complete a revolution around the sun. Mercury is a planet of extremes; the side that faces the sun is unbearably hot while the other side is freezing cold.
Venus
It is the second planet from the sun and is 108 million km far from it. It has a diameter of 12,310km. It takes Venus 225 days to complete a revolution around the sun. Venus has an atmosphere that is made up of poisonous greenhouse gases that trap the suns’ rays in it, giving Venus a very hot climate.
Earth
It is the third planet from the sun and is situated 150 million km from it. It has a diameter of 12,746km. It takes Earth a whole year (365 days) to complete a revolution around the Sun. Earth is the only planet with life that we know of in the solar system, with a population of more than six billion. Earth is the only planet in the solar system that has one moon only.
Mars
It is the fourth planet of the solar system and is at a distance of 228 million km from the sun. It has a diameter of 6,790km. It takes Mars one year and nine months to complete a revolution around the Sun. Its surface area is mostly made up of deserts of red sand. Thus, it is nicknamed the ‘the red planet’. Mars like Neptune is the only other planet in the solar system that has two moons.
Jupiter
A diameter of 142,836 km makes Jupiter the fifth and largest planet in the solar system. It is 779 million km away from the sun. It takes Jupiter 11 years and nine months to complete a revolution around the sun. Jupiter is mostly made up of gas. Jupiter has 12 moons, the highest moons of a planet in the solar system.
Saturn
With a diameter of 119,348km Saturn is the sixth planet and is at a distance of 1,427 km from the sun. It takes Saturn 29 years and five months to complete a revolution around the sun. Saturn has ten moons.
Uranus
Being the seventh planet and being situated 2,869 million km away from the sun, it takes Uranus 84 years to complete a revolution around it. It has a diameter of 47,100km. Uranus is cold, bluish-green and is surrounded by eleven faintly visible rings. Uranus is the only planet in the solar system with five moons.
Neptune
Being 4,495 million km away from the sun, Neptune is the furthest planet in the solar system. It has a diameter of 44,700km. It takes Neptune 164 years and eight months to complete just one revolution around the sun. It has the same bluish-green aura as Uranus and a core of rock and ice like Saturn. Neptune, like Mars, is the only other planet in the solar system with two moons.
Pluto
It was the ninth planet from the Sun until August 2006 when the International Astronomical Union deemed it as not meeting the definition of a planet. It is 5,898 million km away from it. Discovered in 1930, Pluto has a diameter of 5,950km making it smaller than Earth but larger than Mercury. It takes Pluto 248 years and four months to complete a revolution around the sun.
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