SOLAR SYSTEM

What is solar system?

The system which is gravitationally bounded system of SUN and objects that revolve about it. In this system, SUN is the major star and planets rotate around it. The solar system was formed after the BIG BANG. There are eight planets that rotate around sun. The age of solar system is 4.568 BILLION YEARS. Planets are named as:

1. Mercury
2. Venus
3. Earth
4. Mars
5. Jupiter
6. Saturn
7. Uranus
8. Neptune

STRUCTURE:

The solar system consists of the SUN, four smaller inner planets surrounded by a belt of asteroids(rocky) and four giant planets and that are surrounded by Kuiper belt. The fundamental component of solar system is SUN that is a low mass star. 

Now we will discuss about sun.

 These are the planets before the asteroid belt.

There are outer planets after the asteroid belt.

SUN:    

Sun is the part of solar system and is one of the most massive components. It covers about 99.86% of the solar system mass. It is at the center of the solar system. Sun is stationary. The sun is not a solid mass. It is made up of Hydrogen, Helium, many heavy elements known as metals and carbon, neon, oxygen and iron. The hottest part of the sun is its core where fusion process occurs. Sun is yellow in colour and has ability to give light. Sun is about four and half billion years old. Sun is a non-living luminous object. 

HOW WAS SUN BORN? 

When a dust cloud and nebula(gas) collapsed under its own gravity then as a result cloud was spread into pieces and as result sun was formed. 

HOW IS ENERGY GENERATED FROM SUN?

In the core of sun, there occurs a process called fusion which converts the hydrogen into helium which generates the energy.

Now we will discuss about planets that revolve around the sun in their fix orbits.

PLANETS:

A large rounded astronomical body that is not a star. These were formed when nebula was collapsed into thin disks. 

Here is the information about each planet.

• Mercury:

It is one of smallest planet that is very close to sun. Its mass is about 3.3011*10^23 kg. It has rocky body. It consists of about 70% metallic and 30% silicate material. Its surface is same as moon, having plains and cratering. The largest known crater is Caloris Planitia. There are two geologically plains on mercury. It is the one of the fastest planet and takes about 88 days to complete its orbit around sun. 

• Venus:

It is second planet from the sun. It is hotter than mercury. It is so bright planet. It is so dry planet and there is no existence of life.  It has yellow white colour. It has molten rocky material. Its mass is about 4.876*10^24 kg. It is made up of iron core and rocky material. Its atmosphere is  mainly nitrogen which is 3%, carbon dioxide which is 96% and some other gases. It is also known as Earth's twin planet.

 

• Earth:

It is third planet from the sun. It is the fifth largest planet in solar system with respect to mass and size. It is the only planet where life is possible. This planet takes about 365 days to complete its rotation around sun. The Earth has only one moon which completes its rotation around earth in 28 or 29 days. About 70% of earth is covered with water. The planet Earth has water, temperature, gravity and atmospheric pressure.  It has oxygen, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, iron and many other gases. Earth is round in shape but not perfectly round. Earth is about 4.543 billion years old. The earth is made up of three layers i.e., crust, mantle and core. The Earth has rocks, oceans, forests, mountains etc. 

• Mars:

It is fourth planet from the sun. It is second smallest planet after mercury. It takes about 687 days for rotation around sun. It contains about 95% carbon dioxide and 1% oxygen. It is also known as RED PLANET. It has two moons. This planet also has Earth like structure. This planet has minerals like silicon, oxygen, metals etc. It has life existing qualities.  

• Jupiter:

This planet is after the asteroid belt and on the fifth number and one of the larger planets. It is gas giant planet, and its mass is more than all other planets. It takes about 12 years to complete rotation. Its atmosphere is composed of mixture of hydrogen, helium, methane and ammonia. It has about 80 moons.  This planet has red spots and stripes. 

Saturn:

This is the number sixth planet. It is second largest planet. It is also gas giant. Its time period for completing orbit is 29years. This planet is not having the solid surface. This planet can float on water as this made up of gases. It is unique among planets as it has thousands of ringlets around it. This is massive ball made up of helium and hydrogen. It has 83 moons.

• Uranus:

This is the number seventh planet. It takes about 84 years to complete the orbit around the sun. It is fourth largest planet in solar system. It is the coldest planet. It has 27 moons. This planet is father of electricity. This planet has set of 13 rings. This consist of rocky material at the core, icy mantle and gaseous crust. This planet was discovered on March 13,1971.

• Neptune: 

This is the last planet from the sun in the solar system. It takes about 165 years to complete the orbit. Its core is made up of iron, nickel and silicates. It is ice giant. Its atmosphere is made up of hydrogen, methane and helium. It has 14 known moons. This planet is life less. It is dark, cold and very windy.