Amazing Things About Our Solar System

The Solar System consists of 8 major planets, thousands of minor planets called asteroids or dwarf planets, satellites such as the moon, comets, meteoroids, dust, and gases. Here are some amazing things about the Solar System.

1.) The Solar System is located in one of the arms of Milky Way Galaxy, known as Orion Arm, is about 30,000 light-years from the center of Milky Way

2.)The solar system is moving toward the constellation Hercules at a speed of about 12 miles per second (19.3 km/sec).

3.) Of the 8 planets in the Solar System, only Mercury and Venus have no moon. Earth has one satellite, Mars has 2, Jupiter has 63, Saturn has 60 plus 3 unconfirmed, Uranus has 27, and Neptune has 13.

4.)Pluto, Eris, Ceres, Sedna, Orcus and Quaoars are objects in the solar system called dwarf planets

5.) Titan is the largest satellite of Saturn and is larger than Mercury. It is the only satellite in the Solar System with a substantial atmosphere.

6.) Although Mercury is the nearest planet to the sun, Venus is the hottest planet with surface temperature over 400 degrees C, most likely due to the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere

7.) Except for the sun and the moon, Venus is generally the brightest object in the sky. It is called the Morning Star or the Evening star.

8.) Venus rotates very slowly about its axis. The direction is east to west, opposite that of all the planets. All of the planets are orbiting in a counter-clockwise direction; but while most planets also rotate counter-clockwise, Venus rotates clockwise in “retrograde” rotation.

9.) Venus and Mars do not have magnetic fields, and the Solar wind causes their atmosphere to gradually bleed away into space

10.) Olympus Mons (Mount Olympus) in Mars, at 26 km is the highest known mountain in the Solar System. It is an extinct volcano in the vast upland region Tharsis, which contains several other large volcanoes. It is over three times the height of Mount Everest which in comparison stands at only 8.848 km.

11.) Mars is often called the red planet because it appears in the night sky as a bright star-like object with a distinct reddish color