Facts about Solar System 1. The Sun contains around 98% of all the material in the Solar System. 2. The planets in the solar system was named by ancient Greeks after the names of their Gods. 3. Asteroids are minor planets, most of which circle the sun in a region known as the asteroid belt, between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. 4. Scientists estimate that there are more than 750,000 asteroids in the belt with diameters larger than three-fifths of a mile (1 kilometer), and there are millions of smaller asteroids. 5. There are 140 known natural satellites, also called moons, in orbit around the various planets in our solar system, ranging from bodies larger than our own moon to small pieces of debris. 6. From 1610 to 1977, Saturn was thought to be the only planet with rings. We now know that Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune also have ring systems, although Saturns is by far the largest. 7. Most of the planets also have magnetic fields, which extend into space and form a magnetosphere around each planet 8. Since the invention of the telescope, three more planets have been discovered in our solar system: Uranus (1781), Neptune (1846), and, now downgraded to a dwarf planet, Pluto (1930) 9. Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars are called the terrestrial planets because they have solid rocky surfaces 10. The four large planets beyond the orbit of Mars,Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are called gas giants. Tiny, distant, Pluto has a solid but icier surface than the terrestrial planets.
Posted on: Fri, 07 Mar 2014 14:52:33 +0000