SPACE - THE SOLAR SYSTEM

THE SOLAR SYSTEM

The Solar System has formed about 4,560 million years ago. It is made up of the eight planets - Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune - as well as their moons, comets, and other bodies. These all orbit our sun, to which they are attracted by gravity.

Mercury

Mercury was named after the speedy messenger of the gods because it seemed to move more quickly than the other known planets. In 2004 NASA launched its MESSENGER probe, which reached Mercury in 2011.

Diameter: 4,880 km

Mass: 3,302,000,000,000 tonnes

Average distance from Sun:57,909,175 km

Rotation: 58.6462 days

Orbit: 87.969 days

Average Temperature: +166.86℃

Moons: 0

Venus

In size, mass, density, and volume Venus is the planet most similar to Earth. Venus rotates backward, from east to west, so the Sun would appear to rise in the east and set in the west. In April 2006 the European Space Agency's Venus Express Spacecraft reached Venus. Japan's Venus Climate Orbiter PLANET - C was launched in 2010.

Diameter: 12,103.6 km

Mass: 48,690,000,000,000 tonnes

Average distance from Sun: 108,208,930 km

Rotation: 243.0187 days

Orbit: 224.701 days

Average temperature: +456.85℃

Moons: 0

Earth

Earth is a watery planet - 70 percent of its surface appears blue - and the only one that can support life. From space, astronauts have observed, cities, forest fires, roads,  dams, airports and other large structures, such as the Great Wall of China and the Great Pyramid.

Diameter: 12,756.3 km

Mass: 59,720,000,000,000 tonnes

Average distance from the Sun: 149,600,000 km

Rotation: 0.99727 days

Orbit: 365.256 days

Average temperature: +15℃

Moons: 1

Mars

Several Space probes have flown past or landed on Mars, providing information on its atmosphere and features, such as the volcano Olympus Mons. This stands 27 km high - more than three times the height of Mount Everest. The latest craft to visit the Red Planet is Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which began a four- year orbit in 2006. NASA's Phoenix Mars landed in May 2008.

Diameter: 6,794 km

Mass:6,421,900,000,000 tonnes

Average distance from the Sun: 227,940,000 km

Rotation: 1.025957 days

Orbit: 686,98 days

Average temperature: -63℃

Moons: 2

Jupiter

Jupiter is the largest planet in the Solar System and is big enough to contain more than a thousand Earths. Four of its many moons were among the first ever astronomical discoveries made with a telescope, by Galileo in 1610. More were identified by later astronomers and in 1979 by the space probe Voyager 2. The NASA Juno mission to Jupiter was planned to launch in 2011 and accomplished.

Diameter: 142,984  km

Mass: 18,986,000,000,000,000 tonnes

Average distance from the Sun: 778,412,010 km

Rotation: 9hours 50 minutes

Orbit: 11 years 314 days

Average temperature: -150℃

Moons: 63

Saturn

Saturn and its rings are being examined by NASA/European Space Agency's Cassini probe, which reached it in 2004. In 2005 it released the Huygens probe to land on the surface of Titan and has continued to send back data from its flybys of Titan and other moons of Saturn.

Diameter: 125,536  km

Mass: 5,684,0000,0000,0000 tonnes

Average distance from the Sun: 71.426,725,400 km

Rotation: 10 hours 53minutes

Orbit: 29 years 168 days

Average temperature: -139.5℃

Moons: 56

Uranus

All the satellites of Uranus are called after characters from either William Shakespeare's plays or Alexander Pope's poem The Rape of the Lock. Uranus has rings like those of Saturn, but they are powerful only with a powerful microscope.

Diameter: 151,118 km

Mass: 868,320,000,000,000 tonnes

Average distance from the Sun: 2,870,972,000 km

Rotation: 17 hours 17minutes

Orbit: 84 years 4 days

Average temperature: -197.15℃

Moons: 27

Neptune

Neptune is the furthest body from the Sun. Surface winds are the strongest of any planet at up to 2.000km/h. Neptune's year is so long that it just had completed an orbit around the sun at 2011 since its discovery.

Diameter: 49,522 km

Mass: 1.024,700,000,000,000 tonnes

Average distance from the Sun: 4,498,252,900  km

Rotation: 16 hours 7minutes

Orbit: 164 years 298 days

Average temperature: -200.15℃

Moons: 13

Ex Planet Pluto

 On 24 August 2006, the International Astronomical Union downgraded Pluto from planetary status. It is now regarded as belonging to a new "dwarf planet" category, along with Eris, discovered in 2005, and Ceres, which used to be regarded as the largest asteroid. The spacecraft New Horizons reached Pluto in 2015.