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

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.

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

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.

1. 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.
2. Venus and Mars do not have magnetic fields, and the Solar wind causes their atmosphere to gradually bleed away into space
3. 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.

1. 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
2. The Earth’s sky is blue, what about Mars? The sky of Mars is pinkish-orange due to the concentration of dust particles in the atmosphere

1. In some ways, Mars seem remarkably like the Earth, the Martian day is only slightly longer than an earth day (24 hours and 37 minutes)
2. Rocks and rubble ranging in size from a few millimeters to a few kilometers are found amongst the planets. Those that form a belt between Mars and Jupiter are called asteroids.

Jupiter’s diameter is 11 times that of Earth and a mass more than twice that of the other 7 planets combined

1. The most outstanding feature of Jupiter’s atmosphere is the Great Red Spot, a vast oval object in its southern hemisphere
2. Four of the smaller satellites revolve around Jupiter in a direction opposite to that of the rest
3. Ganymede is the largest moon of Jupiter. It is the largest satellite in the Solar System and is larger than the planet mercury.

Io, one of the satellites of Jupiter was discovered that it has several active volcanoes and much more violent than those on Earth

Uranus was the first planet to be discovered with a telescope. Uranus has a greenish appearance because its atmosphere contains methane.

1. Unlike Neptune and the other planets, Uranus has an axis of rotation that is extremely tilted – it is almost level with the plane of the planet’s orbit
2. Neptune, slightly smaller than Uranus, is equivalent to 17 Earths

Triton is the largest satellite of Neptune and is larger than the Earth’s moon and unlike most other natural satellites it revolves in a direction opposite to the direction in which its planet rotates

The Milky Way rotates at a speed of about 155 miles per second (250 km/sec). The Solar System completes one revolution around the center of the galaxy in about 225 – 250 million years. This revolution is known as the Solar System’s galactic year.

1. The Milky Way from which our solar system belongs is shaped like a flat spiral. At the speed of light, it would take 100,000 years to traverse across the spiral.
2. The Milky Way contains about 100,000,000,000 stars
3. During one year a star could travel ten million million kilometers. But this is only a fraction of the distance between Earth and the nearest star. Their positions in the sky change very slowly and so to us appear motionless relative to each other.

Some meteorites are rich in iron and probably came from the core of exploded planet. The largest meteorite ever found is to be found in the grounds of the “Hoba” farm close to Grootfontein. It weighs more than 50 tons, has a volume of 9 cubic meters and hit the ground about 80,000 years ago. The estimated age of meteorite is between 200 and 400 million years. Visitors (vandals) break off bits as souvenirs, so it’s gradually shrinking.

Impact craters are created by meteorite when they land. The impact may be so intense that the meteorite shatters or even evaporates. This meteor crater in Arizona is 3,936 ft. (1,200 m) across and 557 ft. (170m) deep.

These are just some of the many amazing facts about our Solar System, just a tip of an iceberg when compared. With the continuing researches and studies being conducted by experts, more extraordinary things will surely be discovered in the future.

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