2 solar planet. How I easily learned the names of the planets

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solar system– planets in order, Sun, structure, system model, satellites, space missions, asteroids, comets, dwarf planets, Interesting Facts.

solar system- a place in outer space in which the Sun, planets in order and many other space objects and celestial bodies are located. The solar system is the most precious place we live in, our home.

Our Universe is a huge place where we occupy a tiny corner. But for earthlings, the solar system seems to be the most immense territory, to the far corners of which we are only beginning to approach. And she still hides a lot of mysterious and mysterious formations. So, despite centuries of study, we have only slightly opened the door to the unknown. So what is the solar system? Today we will consider this issue.

Discovery of the solar system

The actual need to look into the sky and you will see our system. But few peoples and cultures understood exactly where we exist and what place we occupy in space. For a long time we thought that our planet is static, located in the center, and the rest of the objects rotate around it.

But still, even in ancient times, supporters of heliocentrism appeared, whose ideas would inspire Nicolaus Copernicus to create a true model, where the Sun was located in the center.

In the 17th century, Galileo, Kepler and Newton were able to prove that the planet Earth revolves around the star Sun. The discovery of gravity helped to understand that other planets follow the same laws of physics.

The revolutionary moment came with the advent of the first telescope from Galileo Galilei. In 1610, he noticed Jupiter and its satellites. This will be followed by the discovery of other planets.

In the 19th century, three important observations were made that helped to calculate the true nature of the system and its position in space. In 1839, Friedrich Bessel successfully identified an apparent shift in stellar position. This showed that there is a huge distance between the Sun and the stars.

In 1859, G. Kirchhoff and R. Bunsen used a telescope to conduct a spectral analysis of the Sun. It turned out that it consists of the same elements as the Earth. The parallax effect is visible in the lower figure.

As a result, Angelo Secchi was able to compare the spectral signature of the Sun with the spectra of other stars. It turned out that they almost converge. Percival Lowell carefully studied the distant corners and orbital paths of the planets. He guessed that there was still an undiscovered object - Planet X. In 1930, Clyde Tombaugh noticed Pluto in his observatory.

In 1992, scientists expand the boundaries of the system by discovering a trans-Neptunian object - 1992 QB1. From this moment begins the interest in the Kuiper belt. The following are the finds of Eris and other objects from the team of Michael Brown. All of this will lead to an IAU meeting and the removal of Pluto from planetary status. Below you can study in detail the composition of the solar system, considering all the solar planets in order, main star The Sun, the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, the Kuiper Belt and the Oort Cloud. The solar system also hides the most big planet(Jupiter) and the smallest (Mercury).

Structure and composition of the solar system

Comets are lumps of snow and mud filled with frozen gas, rocks, and dust. The closer they get to the Sun, the more they heat up and throw out dust and gas, increasing their brightness.

Dwarf planets rotate around the star, but could not remove foreign objects from orbit. They are inferior in size to standard planets. The most famous representative is Pluto.

The Kuiper Belt lurks outside of Neptune's orbit, filled with icy bodies and formed into a disk. The most famous representatives are Pluto and Eris. Hundreds of ice dwarfs live on its territory. Farthest away is the Oort Cloud. Together they act as a source of incoming comets.

The solar system is just a small part Milky Way. Beyond its borders is a large-scale space filled with stars. At light speed, it would take 100,000 years to fly over the entire area. Our galaxy is one of many in the universe.

At the center of the system is the main and only star - the Sun (main sequence G2). 4 come first terrestrial planets(inner), an asteroid belt, 4 gas giants, the Kuiper Belt (30-50 AU) and a spherical Oort Cloud extending to 100,000 AU. to the interstellar medium.

The sun holds 99.86% of the total systemic mass, and gravity outweighs all forces. Most of the planets are located near the ecliptic and rotate in the same direction (counterclockwise).

Approximately 99% of the planetary mass is represented by gas giants, where Jupiter and Saturn cover more than 90%.

Informally, the system is divided into several sections. The inner one includes 4 terrestrial planets and an asteroid belt. Next comes the outer system with 4 giants. Separately, a zone with trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) is distinguished. That is, you can easily find the outer line, as it is marked by the large planets of the solar system.

Many planets are considered mini-systems, as they have a group of satellites. Gas giants also have rings - small bands of small particles rotating around the planet. Usually large moons arrive in the gravity block. On the lower layout, you can see a comparison of the sizes of the Sun and the planets of the system.

The sun is 98% hydrogen and helium. Earth-type planets are endowed with silicate rock, nickel and iron. Giants are composed of gases and ices (water, ammonia, hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide).

The bodies of the solar system distant from the star have low temperature indicators. Ice giants (Neptune and Uranus), as well as small objects beyond their orbits, are isolated from here. Their gases and ices are volatile substances capable of condensing at a distance of 5 AU. from the sun.

The origin and evolutionary process of the solar system

Our system appeared 4.568 billion years ago as a result of the gravitational collapse of a large-scale molecular cloud, represented by hydrogen, helium and a small amount of heavier elements. This mass collapsed, which led to a rapid rotation.

Most of the mass gathered in the center. The temperature mark rose. The nebula contracted, increasing acceleration. This led to flattening into a protoplanetary disk with a red-hot protostar.

because of high level boiling near the star in solid form, only metals and silicates can exist. As a result, 4 terrestrial planets appeared: Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. Metals were scarce, so they were unable to increase their size.

But the giants appeared farther away, where the material was cool and allowed the volatile ice compounds to remain in a solid state. There were much more ice, so the planets dramatically increased their scale, pulling great amount hydrogen and helium into the atmosphere. The remnants failed to become planets and settled in the Kuiper Belt or moved to the Oort Cloud.

For 50 million years of development, the pressure and density of hydrogen in the protostar triggered nuclear fusion. Thus the Sun was born. The wind created the heliosphere and scattered gas and dust into space.

The system is still in its original state. But the Sun develops and after 5 billion years completely transforms hydrogen into helium. The core will collapse, releasing a huge energy reserve. The star will increase 260 times and become a red giant.

This will lead to the death of Mercury and Venus. Our planet will lose life because it will heat up. As a result, the outer stellar layers will break out into space, leaving behind a white dwarf, the size of our planet. A planetary nebula will form.

inner solar system

This is the line with the first 4 planets from the star. All of them have similar parameters. This is a rocky type, represented by silicates and metals. Located closer than the giants. They are inferior in density and size, and are also deprived of huge lunar families and rings.

Silicates form the crust and mantle, while metals are part of the cores. All, except Mercury, have an atmospheric layer that allows you to shape weather conditions. Impact craters and tectonic activity are visible on the surface.

Closest to the star is Mercury. It is also the smallest planet. The magnetic field reaches only 1% of that of the Earth, and the thin atmosphere leads to the fact that the planet is half hot (430°C) and freezes (-187°C).

Venus converges in size with the Earth and has a dense atmospheric layer. But the atmosphere is extremely toxic and works as a greenhouse. 96% consists of carbon dioxide along with nitrogen and other impurities. Dense clouds are made from sulfuric acid. There are many canyons on the surface, the deepest of which reaches 6400 km.

Earth best studied because it is our home. It has a rocky surface covered with mountains and depressions. In the center is a heavy metal core. There is water vapor in the atmosphere, which smooths temperature regime. The moon revolves nearby.

because of appearance Mars was nicknamed the Red Planet. The color is created by the oxidation of iron materials on the top layer. It is endowed with the largest mountain in the system (Olympus), rising to 21229 m, as well as the deepest canyon - the Mariner Valley (4000 km). Much of the surface is ancient. There are ice caps at the poles. A thin atmospheric layer hints at water deposits. The core is solid, and next to the planet there are two satellites: Phobos and Deimos.

outer solar system

Gas giants are located here - large-scale planets with lunar families and rings. Despite their size, only Jupiter and Saturn can be seen without the use of telescopes.

The largest planet in the solar system is Jupiter with a rapid rotational speed (10 hours) and an orbital path of 12 years. The dense atmospheric layer is filled with hydrogen and helium. The core can reach the size of the earth. There are many satellites, faint rings, and the Great Red Spot, a powerful storm that has been unsettled for the 4th century.

Saturn- a planet that is recognized by its chic ring system (7 pieces). There are satellites in the system, and the hydrogen and helium atmosphere rotates rapidly (10.7 hours). It takes 29 years to go around the star.

In 1781 William Herschel found Uranus. A day on the giant lasts 17 hours, and it takes 84 years to orbit. It holds a huge amount of water, methane, ammonia, helium and hydrogen. All this is concentrated around the stone core. There is a lunar family and rings. Voyager 2 flew to it in 1986.

Neptune- a distant planet with water, methane, ammonium, hydrogen and helium. There are 6 rings and dozens of satellites. Voyager 2 also flew by in 1989.

Trans-Neptunian region of the solar system

Thousands of objects have already been found in the Kuiper belt, but it is believed that up to 100,000 with a diameter of more than 100 km live there. They are extremely small and located at large distances, so it is difficult to calculate the composition.

Spectrographs show an ice mixture: hydrocarbons, water ice and ammonia. Initial analysis showed a wide range of colors from neutral to bright red. This hints at the richness of the composition. A comparison of Pluto and KBO 1993 SC showed that they are extremely different in surface elements.

Water ice was found in 1996 TO66, 38628 Huya and 20000 Varuna, and crystalline ice was seen in Quaoar.

The Oort Cloud and Beyond the Solar System

This cloud is believed to extend from 2000-5000 AU. and up to 50,000 a.u. from a star. The outer edge can stretch up to 100,000-200,000 AU. The cloud is divided into two parts: outer spherical (20000-50000 AU) and inner (2000-20000 AU).

The outer one is inhabited by trillions of bodies with a diameter of a kilometer or more, as well as billions with a width of 20 km. There is no exact information about the mass, but it is believed that Halley's comet is a typical representative. The total mass of the cloud is 3 x 10 25 km (5 lands).

If we focus on comets, then most of the cloud bodies are represented by ethane, water, carbon monoxide, methane, ammonia and hydrogen cyanide. The population of 1-2% consists of asteroids.

Bodies from the Kuiper Belt and the Oort Cloud are called Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs) because they are further away from Neptune's orbital path.

Exploring the solar system

The size of the solar system still seems immense, but our knowledge has expanded significantly with the sending of probes into outer space. The boom in the study of outer space began in the middle of the 20th century. Now it can be noted that all solar planets terrestrial vehicles approached at least once. We have photos, videos, as well as analysis of the soil and atmosphere (for some).

The first artificial spacecraft became the Soviet Sputnik-1. He was sent into space in 1957. Spent several months in orbit collecting atmospheric and ionospheric data. In 1959, the United States joined with Explorer 6, which first took pictures of our planet.

These devices provided a huge array of information about planetary features. Luna-1 was the first to go to another object. He raced past our satellite in 1959. Mariner became a successful mission to Venus in 1964, Mariner 4 arrived at Mars in 1965, and the 10th flight in 1974 passed Mercury.

Since the 1970s attack begins on outer planets. Pioneer 10 flew past Jupiter in 1973, and the next mission visited Saturn in 1979. The real breakthrough was the Voyagers, which flew around big giants and their companions in the 1980s.

The Kuiper Belt is being handled by New Horizons. In 2015, the device successfully reached Pluto, sending the first close pictures and a lot of information. Now he rushes to the distant TNO.

But we yearned to land on another planet, so rovers and probes began to be sent in the 1960s. Luna 10 was the first to enter lunar orbit in 1966. In 1971, Mariner 9 settled near Mars, and Verena 9 orbited the second planet in 1975.

Galileo first swirled near Jupiter in 1995, and the famous Cassini appeared near Saturn in 2004. MESSENGER and Dawn visited Mercury and Vesta in 2011. And the latter still managed to fly around the dwarf planet Ceres in 2015.

The first spacecraft to land on the surface was Luna 2 in 1959. This was followed by landings on Venus (1966), Mars (1971), asteroid 433 Eros (2001), Titan and Tempel in 2005.

Now controlled vehicles have visited only Mars and the Moon. But the first robotic was Lunokhod 1 in 1970. Spirit (2004), Opportunity (2004) and Curiosity (2012) landed on Mars.

The 20th century was marked by the space race between America and the USSR. For the Soviets, this was the East program. The first mission came in 1961, when Yuri Gagarin was in orbit. In 1963, the first woman flew - Valentina Tereshkova.

In the United States, the Mercury project was developed, where they also planned to take people into space. The first American to go into orbit was Alan Shepard in 1961. After the end of both programs, countries focused on long-term and short-term flights.

The main goal was to land a man on the moon. The USSR was developing a capsule for 2-3 people, and the Gemini were trying to create a device for a safe lunar landing. In 1969, Apollo 11 ended up successfully landing Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the satellite. In 1972, they completed 5 more landings, and all were Americans.

The next challenge was to create space station and reusable devices. The Soviets formed the Salyut and Almaz stations. First station with a large number crew became NASA Skylab. The first settlement was the Soviet Mir, functioning in 1989-1999. It was replaced by the International Space Station in 2001.

the only reusable ship was Columbia, which performed several orbital passes. 5 shuttles completed 121 missions, and retired in 2011. Due to accidents, two shuttles crashed: Challenger (1986) and Columbia (2003).

In 2004, George W. Bush announced his intention to return to the moon and conquer the Red Planet. This idea was supported by Barack Obama. As a result, now all the forces are spent on the exploration of Mars and plans to create a human colony.

Even in ancient times, pundits began to understand that it is not the Sun that revolves around our planet, but everything happens exactly the opposite. Nicolaus Copernicus put an end to this controversial fact for mankind. The Polish astronomer created his own heliocentric system, in which he convincingly proved that the Earth is not the center of the Universe, and all the planets, in his firm opinion, revolve in orbits around the Sun. The work of the Polish scientist "On the rotation of the celestial spheres" was published in Nuremberg, Germany in 1543.

The ideas about how the planets are located in the sky were the first to express the ancient Greek astronomer Ptolemy in his treatise “The Great Mathematical Construction on Astronomy”. He was the first to suggest that they make their movements in a circle. But Ptolemy mistakenly believed that all the planets, as well as the Moon and the Sun, move around the Earth. Prior to Copernicus's work, his treatise was considered generally accepted in both the Arab and Western worlds.

From Brahe to Kepler

After the death of Copernicus, his work was continued by the Dane Tycho Brahe. The astronomer, who is a very wealthy man, equipped his island with impressive bronze circles, on which he applied the results of observations of celestial bodies. The results obtained by Brahe helped the mathematician Johannes Kepler in his research. It was the German who systematized and deduced his three famous laws about the movement of the planets of the solar system.

From Kepler to Newton

Kepler proved for the first time that all 6 planets known by that time move around the Sun not in a circle, but in ellipses. Englishman Isaac Newton, discovering the law gravity, significantly advanced mankind's ideas about the elliptical orbits of celestial bodies. His explanations that the tides on the Earth occur under the influence of the Moon proved to be convincing for the scientific world.

around the sun

Comparative sizes of the largest satellites of the solar system and the planets of the Earth group.

The period for which the planets make a complete revolution around the Sun is naturally different. Mercury, the closest star to the star, has 88 Earth days. Our Earth goes through a cycle in 365 days and 6 hours. Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system, completes its rotation in 11.9 Earth years. Well, for Pluto, the planet most distant from the Sun, the revolution is 247.7 years at all.

It should also be taken into account that all the planets in our solar system move, not around the star, but around the so-called center of mass. Each at the same time, rotating around its axis, sway slightly (like a top). In addition, the axis itself can move slightly.

It's hard to believe, but once the Cosmos was completely empty. There were no planets, no satellites, no stars. Where did they come from? How was the solar system formed? These questions have troubled mankind for centuries. This article will help to give some idea of ​​what the Cosmos is and will reveal interesting facts about the planets of the solar system.

How it all began

The Universe is the entire visible and invisible Cosmos, together with all existing cosmic bodies. Several theories have been put forward:

3. Divine intervention. Our Universe is so unique, everything in it is thought out to the smallest detail, that it could not arise by itself. Only the Great Creator is capable of creating such a miracle. Absolutely not a scientific theory, but it has the right to exist.

Disputes about the causes of the true origin of outer space continue. In fact, we have an idea of ​​the solar system, which includes a burning star and eight planets with their satellites, galaxies, stars, comets, black holes and much more.

Amazing discoveries or interesting facts about the planets of the solar system

Outer spaces beckon with their mystery. Each celestial body keeps its own mystery. Thanks to astronomical discoveries valuable information about heavenly wanderers appears.

Closest to the sun is Mercury. There is an opinion that it was once a satellite of Venus. But as a result of a cosmic catastrophe, the cosmic body separated from Venus and acquired its own orbit. A year on Mercury is 88 days, and a day is 59 days.

Mercury is the only planet in the solar system on which the movement of the Sun can be observed. reverse side. This phenomenon has a completely logical explanation. The speed of rotation of the planet around its axis is much slower than the movement in its orbit. Because of this difference in speed modes and there is an effect of changing the movement of the Sun.

On Mercury you can observe a fantastic phenomenon: two sunsets and sunrises. And if you move to the meridians 0˚ and 180̊, then you can witness three sunsets and sunrises per day.

Venus goes next to Mercury. Lights up in the sky during sunset on Earth, but you can observe it for only a couple of hours. Because of this feature, she was nicknamed "Evening Star". Interestingly, the orbit of Venus lies inside the orbit of our planet. But it moves in the opposite direction, counterclockwise. A year on the planet lasts 225 days, and 1 day is 243 Earth days. Venus, like the Moon, has a phase change, transforming either into a thin sickle or into a wide circle. There is an assumption that some types of terrestrial bacteria can live in the atmosphere of Venus.

Earth- truly a pearl of the solar system. Only on it there is a huge variety of life forms. People feel so comfortable on this planet and do not even realize that it is rushing along its orbit at a speed of 108,000 km per hour.

The fourth planet from the Sun is Mars. He is accompanied by two companions. A day on this planet is equivalent in duration to the earth - 24 hours. But 1 year lasts 668 days. Just like on Earth, the seasons change here. Seasons cause changes in the appearance of the planet.

Jupiter- the largest space giant. It has many satellites (more than 60 pieces) and 5 rings. It is 318 times the mass of Earth. But, despite its impressive size, it moves quite quickly. It turns around its own axis in just 10 hours, but it overcomes the distance around the Sun in 12 years.

The weather on Jupiter is bad - constant storms and hurricanes, accompanied by lightning. bright representative similar weather conditions is the Great Red Spot - a whirlwind moving at a speed of 435 km / h.

hallmark Saturn, certainly are his rings. These flat formations are made up of dust and ice. The thickness of the circles ranges from 10 - 15 m to 1 km, the width from 3,000 km to 300,000 km. The rings of the planet are not a single whole, but represent formations in the form of thin spokes. Also, the planet is surrounded by more than 62 satellites.

Saturn has incredible high speed rotation, so much so that it contracts at the poles. A day on the planet lasts 10 hours, a year - 30 years.

Uranus, like Venus, it moves around the star counterclockwise. The uniqueness of the planet lies in the fact that it "lies on its side", its axis is tilted at an angle of 98˚. There is a theory that the planet took this position after a collision with another space object.

Like Saturn, Uranus has a complex ring system, consisting of a combination of an inner and outer group of rings. In total, Uranus has 13 of them. It is believed that the rings are the remains of the former satellite of Uranus, which collided with the planet.

Uranus does not have a solid surface, a third of the radius, approximately 8,000 km, is a gaseous shell.

Neptune is the last planet in the solar system. It is surrounded by 6 dark rings. The most beautiful shade of the sea wave to the planet is given by methane, which is present in the atmosphere. Neptune makes one revolution in its orbit in 164 years. But around its axis it moves quite quickly, and the day passes for
16 hours. In some places, the orbit of Neptune intersects with the orbit of Pluto.

Neptune has a large number of satellites. Basically, they all rotate in front of the orbit of Neptune and are called internal. There are only two outer satellites accompanying the planet.

You can see it on Neptune. However, outbreaks are too weak and occur throughout the planet, and not exclusively at the poles, as on Earth.

Once in space, there were 9 planets. This number also included Pluto. But due to its small size, the astronomical community has identified it as a series of dwarf planets (asteroids).

Here are some interesting facts and amazing stories about the planets of the solar system are discovered in the process of exploring the black depths of the Cosmos.

Hello dear readers! This post will focus on the structure of the solar system. I believe that it is simply necessary to know where our planet is in the Universe, and also what else is in our solar system besides the planets ...

The structure of the solar system.

solar system- this is a system of cosmic bodies, which, in addition to the central luminary - the Sun, includes nine large planets, their satellites, many small planets, comets, cosmic dust and small meteoroids that move in the sphere of the predominant gravitational action of the Sun.

In the middle of the 16th century, the general structure of the structure of the solar system was revealed by the Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus. He refuted the idea that the Earth is the center of the universe and substantiated the idea of ​​the movement of the planets around the Sun. This model of the solar system is called heliocentric.

In the 17th century, Kepler discovered the law of planetary motion, and Newton formulated the law of universal attraction. But it was only after Galileo invented the telescope in 1609 that it became possible to study physical characteristics, which are part of the solar system, cosmic bodies.

So Galileo, observing sunspots, first discovered the rotation of the Sun around its axis.

Planet Earth is one of nine celestial bodies (or planets) that move around the Sun in outer space.

Planets make up the bulk of the solar system, which with different speed revolve around the Sun in the same direction and almost in the same plane in elliptical orbits and are located at different distances from it.

The planets are in the following order from the Sun: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto. But Pluto sometimes moves away from the Sun by more than 7 billion km, but due to the enormous mass of the Sun, which is almost 750 times the mass of all other planets, it remains in its sphere of attraction.

The largest of the planets is Jupiter. Its diameter is 11 times the diameter of the Earth and is 142,800 km. The smallest of the planets is Pluto, whose diameter is only 2,284 km.

The planets that are closest to the Sun (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars) are very different from the next four. They are called terrestrial planets, since, like the Earth, they are composed of solid rocks.

Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, are called Jupiter type planets, as well as giant planets, and unlike them, they consist mainly of hydrogen.

There are also other differences between Jupiter and Earth type planets."Jupiterians" together with numerous satellites form their own "solar systems".

Saturn has at least 22 moons. And only three satellites, including the Moon, have terrestrial planets. And above all, Jupiter-type planets are surrounded by rings.

Planet debris.

Between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter there is a large gap where one more planet could be placed. This space, in fact, is filled with many small celestial bodies, which are called asteroids, or minor planets.

Ceres is the name of the largest asteroid, with a diameter of about 1000 km. To date, 2500 asteroids have been discovered, which are much smaller than Ceres in size. These are blocks with diameters that do not exceed several kilometers in size.

Most asteroids revolve around the sun in a wide "asteroid belt" that lies between Mars and Jupiter. The orbits of some asteroids go far beyond this belt, and sometimes come quite close to the Earth.

These asteroids cannot be seen with the naked eye because they are too small and very far away from us. But other debris, such as comets, can be seen in the night sky due to their bright glow.

Comets are celestial bodies that are made up of ice, solid particles, and dust. Most of the time, the comet moves in the far reaches of our solar system and is invisible to the human eye, but when it approaches the Sun, it begins to glow.

It happens under the influence solar heat. The ice partially evaporates and turns into a gas, releasing dust particles. The comet becomes visible because the gas and dust cloud reflects sunlight. The cloud, under the pressure of the solar wind, turns into a fluttering long tail.

There are also such space objects that can be observed almost every evening. They burn up when they enter the Earth's atmosphere, leaving a narrow luminous trail in the sky - a meteor. These bodies are called meteoroids, and their size is no larger than a grain of sand.

Meteorites are large meteoroids that reach earth's surface. Due to the collision of huge meteorites with the Earth, in the distant past, huge craters formed on its surface. Almost a million tons of meteorite dust falls on Earth every year.

Birth of the solar system.

Large gas and dust nebulae, or clouds, are scattered among the stars of our galaxy. In the same cloud, about 4600 million years ago, Our solar system was born.This birth occurred as a result of the collapse (compression) of this cloud under the action of I eat the forces of gravity.

Then this cloud began to rotate. And over time, it turned into a rotating disk, the bulk of the substance of which was concentrated in the center. The gravitational collapse continued, the central compaction was constantly decreasing and warming up.

The thermonuclear reaction began at a temperature of tens of millions of degrees, and then the central density of matter flared up as a new star - the Sun.

The planets formed from dust and gas in the disk. The collision of dust particles, as well as their transformation into large lumps, took place in the internal heated areas. This process is called accretion.

The mutual attraction and collision of all these blocks led to the formation of terrestrial-type planets.

These planets had a weak gravitational field and were too small to attract light gases (such as helium and hydrogen) that make up the accretion disk.

The birth of the solar system was a common occurrence - similar systems are born all the time and everywhere in the universe. And maybe in one of these systems there is a planet similar to Earth, on which there is intelligent life ...

So we examined the structure of the solar system, and now we can arm ourselves with knowledge for their further application in practice 😉

The cosmos is incomprehensible, its scale and magnitude are hard to imagine. The sky hides so many mysteries that, having answered one question, scientists are faced with twenty new ones. Even answering how many planets are in the solar system is quite difficult. Why? It's not easy to explain, but we'll try. Read on: it will be interesting.

How many planets are in the solar system according to the latest data

Until 2006, in all school textbooks and astronomical encyclopedias, they wrote in black and white: there are exactly nine planets in the solar system.

But the American mathematician Michael Brown was one of those who made even people far from science talk about space. The scientist initiated a revision of the concept of "planet". According to the new criteria, Pluto has dropped out of the planetary list.

The poor fellow was enrolled in a new class - "dwarf planetoids." Why did it happen? According to the fourth parameter, a planet is considered to be a cosmic body whose gravity dominates the orbit. Pluto is only 0.07 of the mass concentrated in its orbit. For comparison: the Earth is 1.7 million times heavier than anything that gets in its way.

The same class included Haumea, Makemake, Eris and Ceres, which was previously considered an asteroid. All of them are part of the Kuiper belt - a special cluster of space objects similar to the asteroid belt, but 20 times wider and heavier.

Anything beyond the orbit of Neptune is called a trans-Neptunian object. In the early 2000s, scientists discovered Sedna, a planetoid with an unusually remote and elongated orbit around the Sun. In 2014, another object with similar parameters was discovered.

The researchers wondered: why are the orbits of these cosmic bodies so elongated? It was assumed that they are affected by a hidden massive object. Michael Brown and his Russian colleague Konstantin Batygin mathematically calculated the trajectory of the planets known to us, taking into account the available data.

The results stunned scientists: the theoretical orbits did not match the real ones. This confirmed the assumption of the presence of a massive planet "X". We also managed to find out its approximate trajectory of movement: the orbit is elongated, and the nearest point to us is 200 times the distance from the Earth to the Sun.

Scientists believe that the potential ninth planet is an ice giant, whose mass more earth 10–16 times.

Mankind is already watching the proposed region of space, where an unknown planet will appear. The probability of an error in the calculations is 0.007%. This means virtually guaranteed detection between 2018 and 2020.

For observation, the Japanese Subaru telescope is used. Perhaps the observatory in Chile with the LSST telescope will come to its aid, the construction of which is planned to be completed in three years, in 2020.

Solar system: location of the planets

The planets of the solar system are divided into two groups:

• The first includes relatively small space bodies that have a rocky surface, 1–2 satellites, and a relatively small mass.
• The second is giant planets made of dense gas and ice. They absorbed 99% of the substance in solar orbit. They are characterized by a large number of satellites and rings that can be observed from Earth only near Saturn.

Let's take a closer look at the planets in the order of their location from the Sun:

1. Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun. Presumably at an early stage in history, a strong collision with some object disrupted most surfaces. Therefore, Mercury has a relatively large iron core and a thin crust. The Earth year on Mercury lasts only 88 days.

1. Venus is a planet named after the ancient Greek goddess of love and fertility. Its size is almost comparable to the Earth. She, like Mercury, has no satellites. Venus is the only one in the solar system that rotates counterclockwise. The temperature on the surface reaches 400 degrees Celsius. Perhaps this is related to greenhouse effect, which creates a superdense atmosphere.

1. The earth is our only home so far. The uniqueness of the planet, if you do not take into account the presence of life, lies in the hydro and atmosphere. The amount of water and free oxygen exceeds that of any other known planet.

1. Mars is our red neighbor. The color of the planet is due to the high content of oxidized iron in the soil. Here is Olympus. No kidding, this is the name of the volcano, and its dimensions correspond to the name - 21 km high and 540 km wide! Mars is accompanied by two moons that are believed to be asteroids captured by the planet's gravity.

Between the terrestrial planets and the gas giants is the asteroid belt. This cluster is relatively small from 1 m to 100 km in diameter of celestial bodies. Previously, it was believed that there was a planet in this orbit that collapsed as a result of a catastrophe. However, the theory was not confirmed. It is now believed that the ring of asteroids is nothing more than an accumulation of matter left after the formation of the solar system. Roughly speaking - unnecessary rubbish.

1. Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system. It is 2.5 times heavier than the other planets. because of high pressure storms of hydrogen and helium rage here. The largest eddy reaches 40-50 thousand km in length and 13 thousand km in width. If a person were at the epicenter, if he survived in the atmosphere, the wind would tear him to pieces, because his speed reaches 500 km / h!

1. Saturn is considered by many to be the most beautiful planet. Known for its rings, which are made up primarily of water ice and dust. Their width on a cosmic scale is incredibly small - 10–1000 meters. The planet has 62 moons - 5 less than Jupiter. It is believed that about 4.5 billion years ago there were more of them, but Saturn swallowed them up, which is why the rings formed.

1. Uranus. Due to the nature of the rotation, this ice giant is called a "rolling ball". The axis of the planet relative to the orbit around the Sun is tilted by 98 degrees. After the impeachment, Pluto became the coldest planet (‒224 degrees Celsius). This is due to the relatively low temperature of the core - approximately 5 thousand degrees.

1. Neptune is this planet of blue color, which is explained by a large amount of methane in the atmosphere, which also contains nitrogen, ammonia and water ice. Remember we talked about the winds on Jupiter? Forget it, because here its speed is more than 2000 km / h!

A little about the outsider

Most likely, Pluto was not very offended that he was expelled from the planetary family. By and large, what difference does it make what people think on a distant Earth. But, one way or another, it is necessary to say a few words about the recently ninth planet from the Sun.

Pluto is the coldest place in the system. The temperature here is close to absolute zero and drops to -240 degrees Celsius. It is six times lighter and three times smaller than the moon. The largest moon of the planet Charon is one third of the size of Pluto. The remaining four satellites revolve around them. Therefore, perhaps they will be reclassified as a double planetary system. By the way, the bad news - the New Year on Pluto will have to wait 500 years!

What do we end up with? According to the latest data, there are eight planets in the solar system, but, according to mathematical calculations, there should be a ninth. If you think that calculations are nothing, here's a fact for you: Neptune was discovered by mathematicians in 1846, and they could only see it up close in 1989, when the Voyager 2 spacecraft flew by. With all the scale of our house, we are just grains of sand in the space of space.