Solar System
hideThe Solar System[a] consists of the Sun and those celestial objects bound to it by gravity, all of which formed from the collapse of a giant molecular cloud approximately 4.6 billion years ago. The Sun's retinue of objects circle it in a nearly flat disc called the ecliptic plane, most of the mass of which is contained within eight relatively solitary planets whose orbits are almost circular. The four smaller inner planets; Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars, also called the terrestrial planets, are primarily composed of rock and metal. The four outer planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, also called the gas giants, are composed largely of hydrogen and helium and are far more massive than the terrestrials.
The Solar System is also home to two main belts of small bodies. The asteroid belt, which lies between Mars and Jupiter, is similar to the terrestrial planets as it is composed mainly of rock and metal. The Kuiper belt (and its subpopulation, the scattered disc), which lies beyond Neptune's orbit, is composed mostly of ices such as water, ammonia and methane. Within these belts, five individual objects, Ceres, Pluto, Haumea, Makemake and Eris, are recognised to be large enough to have been rounded by their own gravity, and are thus termed dwarf planets. The hypothetical Oort cloud, which acts as the source for long-period comets, may also exist at a distance roughly a thousand times beyond these regions.
Within the Solar System, various populations of small bodies, such as comets, centaurs and interplanetary dust, freely travel between these regions, while the solar wind, a flow of plasma from the Sun, creates a bubble in the interstellar medium known as the heliosphere, which extends out to the edge of the scattered disc.
Six of the planets and three of the dwarf planets are orbited by natural satellites, usually termed "moons" after Earth's Moon. Each of the outer planets is encircled by planetary rings of dust and other particles.
For more information about Solar System, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
News tagged with solar
New Study of Meteorite Provides More Evidence for Ancient Life on Mars
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Dec 17, 2009 |
4.9 / 5 (30) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- In 1996, when scientists examined a meteorite from Mars previously uncovered in Antarctica, they were intrigued by what looked like microscopic fossils of ancient Martian life forms. Now, ...
Elusive 'hot' electrons captured in ultra-thin solar cells
Dec 11, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (12) |
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Boston College researchers have observed the "hot electron" effect in a solar cell for the first time and successfully harvested the elusive charges using ultra-thin solar cells, opening a potential avenue to improved solar ...
Solar power coming to a store near you
Dec 10, 2009 |
4.6 / 5 (31) |
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(AP) -- Solar technology is going where it has never gone before: onto the shelves at retail stores where do-it-yourselfers can now plunk a panel into a shopping cart and bring it home to install.
A Superbright Supernova That’s the First of Its Kind
Dec 02, 2009 |
4.7 / 5 (24) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- An extraordinarily bright, extraordinarily long-lasting supernova named SN 2007bi, snagged in a search by a robotic telescope, turns out to be the first example of the kind of stars that first ...
Innovation puts next-generation solar cells on the horizon
Dec 01, 2009 |
4.3 / 5 (30) |
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In a world first, a Monash University-led international research team has developed an innovative way to boost the output of the next generation of solar cells.
Monster Waves on the Sun are Real (w/ Video)
Nov 25, 2009 |
4.9 / 5 (20) |
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Sometimes you really can believe your eyes. That's what NASA's STEREO (Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory) spacecraft are telling researchers about a controversial phenomenon on the sun known as the "solar ...
First black holes may have incubated in giant, starlike cocoons
Nov 24, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- The first large black holes in the universe likely formed and grew deep inside gigantic, starlike cocoons that smothered their powerful x-ray radiation and prevented surrounding gases from ...
Supervolcano eruption -- in Sumatra -- deforested India 73,000 years ago
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Nov 23, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (17) |
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A new study provides "incontrovertible evidence" that the volcanic super-eruption of Toba on the island of Sumatra about 73,000 years ago deforested much of central India, some 3,000 miles from the epicenter, ...
Mystery of the Solar Tsunami -- Solved (w/ Video)
Nov 19, 2009 |
4.9 / 5 (27) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Sometimes you really can believe your eyes. That's what NASA's Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) is telling researchers about a controversial phenomenon on the sun known as ...
Hot Electrons Could Double Solar Cell Power Efficiency
9 hours ago |
4.6 / 5 (5) |
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Scientists have experimentally verified a theory suggesting that hot electrons could double the output of solar cells. The researchers, from Boston College, have built solar cells that successfully use hot ...
How water forms where Earth-like planets are born
Dec 17, 2009 |
4.9 / 5 (9) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- In a study that helps to explain the origins of water on Earth, University of Michigan astronomers have found that water vapor can form spontaneously in habitable zones of solar systems, and that it develops ...
Spirit Rover: Rear Wheel Trouble Continues
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Dec 10, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (5) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Results of diagnostic tests on Spirit's right-rear wheel on Sol 2109 (Dec. 8, 2009) continue to indicate a troubled wheel, which may leave the rover with only four operable wheels.
Staying Power: Senate Hearing Focuses On Energy Storage
Dec 10, 2009 |
3.5 / 5 (8) |
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Thursday's Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing featured testimony from experts about the power industry's need to develop systems capable of storing large amounts of electricity if the nation's ...
Suzaku catches retreat of a black hole's disk
Dec 10, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (16) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Studies of one of the galaxy's most active black-hole binaries reveal a dramatic change that will help scientists better understand how these systems expel fast-moving particle jets.
Taiwan chip giant TSMC to enter solar energy
Dec 10, 2009 |
5 / 5 (1) |
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Chip giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. is planning its first foray into solar energy with an investment in the island's largest producer of solar cells, a spokesman said Thursday.
