Solar system

Before the solar system existed, a massive concentration of interstellar gas and dust created a molecular cloud that would form the sun's birthplace. Cold temperatures caused the gas to clump together, growing steadily denser. The densest parts of the cloud began to collapse under their own Gravity continued to collapse the material onto the infant solar system, creating a star and a disk of material from which the planets would form. Eventually, the newborn sun encompassed more than 99% of the solar system's mass, Although gas and dust shroud young stars in visible wavelengths, infrared telescopes have probed many clouds in the How did the planets form? The During that time, planets and moons formed out of the disk. Among the planets, Jupiter likely formed first, perhaps as soon as a million years into the solar system's life, Scientists have developed three different models to explain how planets in and out of the solar system may have formed. The first and most widely accepted model, core accretion, works well with the formation of the rocky terrestrial planets but has problems with giant planets. The second, pebble accretion, could allow planets to quickly form from the tiniest materials. The third, the disk instability method, may account for the creation of giant planets. The core accretion model Approximately 4.6 billion years ago, the solar system was a cloud of dust and gas known as a solar nebula. Gravity collapsed the material in on itself as it began to spin, f...

Origin of the solar system As the amount of data on the planets, moons, comets, and asteroids has grown, so too have the problems faced by astronomers in forming theories of the origin of the solar system. In the ancient world, theories of the origin of Early scientific theories The Kant’s central idea was that the solar system began as a cloud of dispersed particles. He assumed that the mutual gravitational attractions of the particles caused them to start moving and colliding, at which point chemical forces kept them bonded together. As some of these A significant step forward was made by Laplace’s model begins with the Sun already formed and rotating and its Astronomy and Space Quiz Laplace’s model led naturally to the observed result of planets revolving around the Sun in the same plane and in the same direction as the Sun rotates. Because the theory of Laplace incorporated Kant’s idea of planets coalescing from dispersed material, their two approaches are often combined in a single model called the Kant-Laplace nebular Twentieth-century developments In the early decades of the 20th century, several scientists decided that the deficiencies of the nebular hypothesis made it no longer tenable. The Americans Forest Ray Moulton and later The next significant development took place in the mid-20th century as scientists acquired a more-mature understanding of the processes by which

Most of the mass of the solar system is concentrated in the Sun, with its 1.99×10 33 grams. Together, all of the planets amount to 2.7×10 30 grams (i.e., about one-thousandth of the Sun’s mass), and Jupiter alone accounts for 71 percent of this amount. The solar system also contains five known objects of intermediate size classified as dwarf planets and a very large number of much smaller objects collectively called asteroids, and that name is widely used, but, now that the rocky nature of these bodies is understood, their more descriptive name is minor planets.

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The solar system model is being updated by spacecraft like New Horizons. ©NASA Solar System Formation The solar system is located in one of the spiral arms of the Milky Way galaxy. It was born about 4.5 billion years ago when a cloud of interstellar gas and dust collapsed. Most of the material was pulled toward a central point: nearly all of the solar system’s mass—99.8%—is in the Sun. The rest of the material formed a spinning disk around accretion. Two Kinds of Planets The biggest planets were formed from gases and icy materials in the cooler, outer part of the dusty disk. There are four of these giant planets or outer planets: In the warmer part of the disk closest to the Sun, smaller planets were formed from rocks and metals. The four terrestrial planets or inner planets are Another way of classifying planets—from the perspective of Earth—is to say that Mercury and Venus are inferior planets, because their orbit is closer to the Sun. The other planets can be termed superior planets. There Are Also Dwarf Planets Some bodies orbiting the Sun have become big enough for gravity to have given them a round shape, but they have not cleared away all the other objects lying close to their orbit. These bodies are known as dwarf planets. The most famous example is Pluto. Most Planets Have Moons There are more than 200 moons in the solar system. The technical term for a moon is a natural satellite. (A satellite is a small body that orbits a larger one; the International Space Stat...

Build Your Own Solar System Build Your Own Solar System! Central Star: Planet 1: Planet 2: Name of Planet: Size of Planet: Eccentricity of Orbit: Semimajor Axis (in AU's): Name of Planet: Size of Planet: Eccentricity of Orbit: Semimajor Axis (in AU's): Planet 3: Planet 4: Name of Planet: Size of Planet: Eccentricity of Orbit: Semimajor Axis (in AU's): Name of Planet: Size of Planet: Eccentricity of Orbit: Semimajor Axis (in AU's): Note: For less than 4 planets, enter "no planet" in the name field. Return to the Astronomy Workshop Build Your Own Solar System written by Mike Asbury and Dr. Doug Hamilton

• Afrikaans • Alemannisch • አማርኛ • Anarâškielâ • अंगिका • Ænglisc • العربية • Aragonés • Արեւմտահայերէն • Armãneashti • Arpetan • অসমীয়া • Asturianu • अवधी • Avañe'ẽ • Azərbaycanca • تۆرکجه • Basa Bali • বাংলা • Banjar • Bân-lâm-gú • Basa Banyumasan • Башҡортса • Беларуская • Беларуская (тарашкевіца) • भोजपुरी • Bikol Central • Български • Boarisch • བོད་ཡིག • Bosanski • Brezhoneg • Буряад • Català • Чӑвашла • Cebuano • Čeština • ChiShona • Cymraeg • Dansk • الدارجة • Davvisámegiella • Deutsch • ދިވެހިބަސް • डोटेली • Eesti • Ελληνικά • Emiliàn e rumagnòl • Эрзянь • Español • Esperanto • Estremeñu • Euskara • فارسی • Fiji Hindi • Føroyskt • Français • Frysk • Fulfulde • Furlan • Gaeilge • Gaelg • Gàidhlig • Galego • ГӀалгӀай • 贛語 • گیلکی • ગુજરાતી • 客家語/Hak-kâ-ngî • 한국어 • Hausa • Hawaiʻi • Հայերեն • हिन्दी • Hrvatski • Bahasa Hulontalo • Ido • Ilokano • বিষ্ণুপ্রিয়া মণিপুরী • Bahasa Indonesia • Interlingua • Interlingue • Ирон • IsiZulu • Íslenska • Italiano • עברית • Jawa • Kabɩyɛ • ಕನ್ನಡ • Kapampangan • Къарачай-малкъар • ქართული • कॉशुर / کٲشُر • Kaszëbsczi • Қазақша • Kernowek • Kiswahili • Коми • Kreyòl ayisyen • Kriyòl gwiyannen • Kurdî • Кыргызча • Ladin • ລາວ • Latina • Latviešu • Lëtzebuergesch • Лезги • Lietuvių • Ligure • Limburgs • Lingála • Lingua Franca Nova • Livvinkarjala • La .lojban. • Lombard • Magyar • मैथिली • Македонски • Malagasy • മലയാളം • Malti • मराठी • მარგალური • مصرى • مازِرونی • Bahasa Melayu • 閩東語 / Mìng-dĕ̤ng-ngṳ̄ • Mirandés • Монгол • မြန်...

Origin of the solar system As the amount of data on the planets, moons, comets, and asteroids has grown, so too have the problems faced by astronomers in forming theories of the origin of the solar system. In the ancient world, theories of the origin of Early scientific theories The Kant’s central idea was that the solar system began as a cloud of dispersed particles. He assumed that the mutual gravitational attractions of the particles caused them to start moving and colliding, at which point chemical forces kept them bonded together. As some of these A significant step forward was made by Laplace’s model begins with the Sun already formed and rotating and its Astronomy and Space Quiz Laplace’s model led naturally to the observed result of planets revolving around the Sun in the same plane and in the same direction as the Sun rotates. Because the theory of Laplace incorporated Kant’s idea of planets coalescing from dispersed material, their two approaches are often combined in a single model called the Kant-Laplace nebular Twentieth-century developments In the early decades of the 20th century, several scientists decided that the deficiencies of the nebular hypothesis made it no longer tenable. The Americans Forest Ray Moulton and later The next significant development took place in the mid-20th century as scientists acquired a more-mature understanding of the processes by which

Build Your Own Solar System Build Your Own Solar System! Central Star: Planet 1: Planet 2: Name of Planet: Size of Planet: Eccentricity of Orbit: Semimajor Axis (in AU's): Name of Planet: Size of Planet: Eccentricity of Orbit: Semimajor Axis (in AU's): Planet 3: Planet 4: Name of Planet: Size of Planet: Eccentricity of Orbit: Semimajor Axis (in AU's): Name of Planet: Size of Planet: Eccentricity of Orbit: Semimajor Axis (in AU's): Note: For less than 4 planets, enter "no planet" in the name field. Return to the Astronomy Workshop Build Your Own Solar System written by Mike Asbury and Dr. Doug Hamilton

The solar system model is being updated by spacecraft like New Horizons. ©NASA Solar System Formation The solar system is located in one of the spiral arms of the Milky Way galaxy. It was born about 4.5 billion years ago when a cloud of interstellar gas and dust collapsed. Most of the material was pulled toward a central point: nearly all of the solar system’s mass—99.8%—is in the Sun. The rest of the material formed a spinning disk around accretion. Two Kinds of Planets The biggest planets were formed from gases and icy materials in the cooler, outer part of the dusty disk. There are four of these giant planets or outer planets: In the warmer part of the disk closest to the Sun, smaller planets were formed from rocks and metals. The four terrestrial planets or inner planets are Another way of classifying planets—from the perspective of Earth—is to say that Mercury and Venus are inferior planets, because their orbit is closer to the Sun. The other planets can be termed superior planets. There Are Also Dwarf Planets Some bodies orbiting the Sun have become big enough for gravity to have given them a round shape, but they have not cleared away all the other objects lying close to their orbit. These bodies are known as dwarf planets. The most famous example is Pluto. Most Planets Have Moons There are more than 200 moons in the solar system. The technical term for a moon is a natural satellite. (A satellite is a small body that orbits a larger one; the International Space Stat...