9 Facts About the Solar System You May Not Know

facts solar system

I am sure that we all know a lot of interesting facts about the Solar System, but this does’t mean we should stop getting information for some more. Here I put 9 facts  that I find really fascinating and hope some of them you will hear for first time! Enjoy reading!

1. The hottest Planet is not the closest to the Sun.

Mercury is the closest Planet to the Sun and it’s logical to be the hottest, right? There is a small detail, however – an atmosphere, that you can’t find in Mercury. The atmosphere of Venus is 100 times more dense than Earth’s, and it is almost entirely composed of carbon dioxide that keeps the warmth of the Planet. So, the temperature of Venus is about 470 degrees Celsius, while Mercury’s “only” 426 degrees.

9 Facts About the Solar System You May Not Know2. Pluto is smaller than the United States.

The distance from North California to Maine is 2900 miles, while Pluto is just over 1400 miles in diameter. Maybe that’s why a few years ago, Pluto was downgraded from a planet to a dwarf planet.

3. The asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter is not as thick as you think.

In science fiction films, spacecraft often have to avoid collisions with asteroids. Although there are tens of thousands of asteroids (maybe more), they are far apart. Even space probes have to “seek” to make their photos. If you decided to travel through space, you already have one problem less

9 Facts About the Solar System You May Not Know4. The “Edge” of the Solar System is 1000 times farther than Pluto.

No, with Pluto the Solar System does not end. In fact, in recent years, new cosmic bodies have been found under the gravitational influence of the Sun. And they are much farther from Pluto.

5. Almost everything on Earth is a rare element.

The earth is mainly made of iron, oxygen, silicon, magnesium, sulfur, nickel, calcium, sodium and aluminum. Yes, you can find those elements everywhere throughout the Universe, but their quantities are negligible compared to carbon and helium. In other words, this is another indication that the Earth is very very special.



6. There are Martian rocks on Earth (and we have not brought them).

The chemical analysis of some meteorites found in Antarctica and Sahara desert shows cavities filled with gas chemically identical to that of the Martian atmosphere. These meteorites may have been “scrambled” by Mars in a collision of a large meteorite or asteroid with the Planet, or they were the result of a large volcanic eruption and then collided with the Earth.

9 Facts About the Solar System You May Not Know7. The largest ocean is on Jupiter.

Not a big surprise, is it? The giant-planet’s pressure is so big, that the carbon is in liquid form, and computer models show that it forms a large ocean – about 40,000 kilometers deep, which make it the largest ocean in the Solar System. How deep was Mariana Trench?

8. Even the smallest cosmic bodies can have natural satellites.

In the near past was thought that only large enough bodies could have satellites. In 1993, however, the Galileo probe passed the 20-kilometer asteroid Ida and photographed the moon – Dactilus, only 1km in diameter. Since then, nearly 200 other mini-planets have been discovered with natural satellites.

9. We are living in the Sun.

Generally, the Sun is this big ball 93 million miles away from us. However, the Solar outer atmosphere extends far beyond the visible surface. Proof that the Earth is part of this atmosphere are the Northern and Southern Lights. Similar natural phenomenon are also seen on Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and even Neptune. The solar “atmosphere” extends to 10 billion miles.

9 Facts About the Solar System You May Not Know

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