10 Mindblowing Facts About The Solar System That Will Change How You View The Universe

We tend to think of the Solar System as stable, unchanging, and predictable – but the truth is that it’s actually far more complicated than we can imagine! Here are 10 mindblowing facts about the solar system that will change how you view the universe

Size

The solar system is home to nine planets and an asteroid belt. Our sun, a huge ball of burning gas, sits at the center. Our solar system is just one of billions in the universe. There are more stars in the universe than grains of sand on every beach on Earth. Mercury has no moons or rings.

Mystery

1. It takes sunlight over two hours to reach Earth.

2. There are more stars in the Milky Way than there are grains of sand on every beach on Earth.

3. The total mass of the Sun is 333,000 times greater than the total mass of Earth, which makes sense considering that the Sun is 333,000 times larger than Earth.

The sun (and solar flares)

The sun is a medium-sized star that is about 400 times bigger than the Earth. It has a surface temperature of about 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit and rotates on its axis every 25 days. Sunspots are cooler areas on the surface of the sun that have strong magnetic fields and can produce solar flares, which are bursts of light and radiation that release energy into space.

Gravity

Gravity is the force of attraction that exists between two masses. Every day, Earth attracts objects on its surface downward with a force of gravity. Gravity also helps keep the Earth and the other planets in orbit around the sun.

The strength of gravity on Earth is one g (one meter per second squared). This is the same for all objects on Earth’s surface and at sea level.

Mercury

The surface looks like it has been ravaged by billions of years of wind and radiation. It’s a completely dead planet with an extremely thin atmosphere made up mostly of hydrogen and helium gases, as well as traces of other elements such as oxygen and sodium. Mercury is the closest planet to the sun, so its daytime temperatures reach 430 degrees Fahrenheit while night time temperatures plummet to -280 degrees Fahrenheit (-170 degrees Celsius).

Venus

1 – Venus is the hottest planet in the solar system, with a temperature of about 850 degrees Fahrenheit.

2 – Venus is also the only planet that rotates clockwise.

3- Earth and Mars are too small to be seen from Venus, but you can see their moons.

4- It takes 243 days for it to complete an orbit around the sun.

5- Venus has a day/night cycle similar to ours, lasting 108 Earth days.

6- In some parts of the surface on Venus temperatures reach 900°C during the day and 300°C at night! 7- Unlike other planets, Venus doesn’t have any natural satellites (aka moons).

8- Due to its dense atmosphere which traps heat, some scientists theorize that there may be oceans or lakes on the surface which would make it possible for life to exist there.

Mars

-Mars is the second planet from the sun.

-Mars has a low density, which means it’s mostly made of ice and dust. The atmosphere is mostly carbon dioxide, with some oxygen and nitrogen.

-Winds on Mars can reach up to 150 miles per hour.

-Mars has polar ice caps made up of frozen water and carbon dioxide.

Jupiter

– Jupiter has a mass 2.5 times greater than all the other planets in our solar system combined.

– Jupiter is composed of 99% hydrogen and helium with an interior that resembles a giant star.

– Jupiter is the fifth planet from the sun and completes one orbit every 11.86 Earth years.

– Temperatures on Jupiter range from -150 to -200 degrees Celsius, cold enough for ammonia to be a liquid instead of gas.

Saturn

The largest planet in our solar system is also the sixth-largest planet in the entire universe. It is so big that all of Earth’s other planets could fit inside it with room to spare. This gas giant has a beautiful ring system that encircles the planet, and it holds more than 1,000 moons. Some of these moons are larger than the planet Mercury.

One final piece of trivia about Saturn: its famous rings were not discovered until 1659 by Galileo Galilei.

Uranus and Neptune

• Uranus rotates on its side, which is a pretty strange position for any planet to be in.

• Neptune has an extreme atmosphere that is mostly composed of hydrogen and helium gas, which at points is as thick as Earth’s atmosphere. #3. Pluto does not have a global magnetic field or a planetary core, so it isn’t technically classified as a planet anymore.