The solar system is one of the most complex and incredibly interesting structures to study, both by specialists in this field and simply by space enthusiasts. It is only a small part of the entire galaxy. Not only the history of the appearance of space objects is striking, but also their dimensions. What is the name of the most big planet solar system- not the Sun, it is 300 times larger than the Earth, and its diameter is 11 times larger than the Earth’s.
What is a planet
Before talking about which planet is the largest, it is worth understanding the concept of this object. A planet is a massive celestial body orbiting a star. The heart of the solar system is the Sun, formed about 4.57 billion years ago by the gravitational compression of a cloud of gas and dust. This bright star is the main source of light and heat, both on Earth and other planets.
How many planets are there in the solar system
The system is divided into internal and external groups. The closest to the Sun are the inner planets and small, compared to the stars, asteroids. The closest location is Mercury. It is the fastest moving celestial body in the system. Mars is famous for its red surface. The temperature of Venus reaches 400 degrees, making it one of the hottest. And the planet with the confirmed presence of life is the Earth, which has a natural satellite – the Moon.
Major planets of the solar system
The outer zone consists of larger planets. Among its heavy giants are Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Jupiter. They are located at a greater distance from the Sun than the inner group, due to which they have a colder climate and are characterized by icy winds. Astronomers classify the planets Uranus and Neptune into the “Ice Giants” category. All stars in the outer region have their own ring system.
Saturn
Saturn has the most extensive system of rings and belts. Their main component is ice particles, heavy elements and dust. The planet itself consists of hydrogen with helium, water, methane, ammonia and other elements. Wind speeds on Saturn reach 1,800 kilometers per hour, which can cause whirlwinds. Studying the planet research station, whose task is to analyze the structure of the rings. Saturn has 62 moons, the most famous of which is Titan.
Uranus
The coldest giant is Uranus. Its low temperature is due to its distant location from the Sun. The surface of Uranus is mainly covered with ice and rocks, and the structure of the atmosphere includes hydrogen and helium. Clouds of solid ammonia, hydrogen and ice were also detected. This planet is distinguished by its axis of rotation, with a characteristic position “on its side.” It turns to the Sun either by the north or south pole, by the equator and by the middle latitudes. This object shows signs of seasonal changes in the form of increased weather activity. Uranus has 27 satellites.
Neptune
Neptune is larger and is the fourth largest planet in diameter. The strongest winds rage in its atmosphere, which can reach 2100 kilometers per hour, and the temperature is close to 220 degrees minus. In addition, traces of methane are observed in its atmosphere, giving it a blue tint. In 1989, the Voyager 2 expedition discovered a large dark spot in the southern hemisphere of the planet. Neptune has 13 satellites, including Triton. It was opened in the 20th century. The remaining celestial bodies were discovered later.
Jupiter
When asked which planet has the largest mass, we can safely say Jupiter. The largest planet in the solar system has an upper layer consisting of hydrogen, methane, ammonia and water. A number of phenomena have been recorded in Jupiter's atmosphere, including storms, lightning and auroras. The vortices on the planet rush at incredible speeds - up to 640 kilometers per hour. As a result of a major storm, a large red spot formed on the surface of Jupiter, which became one of the main features of the giant. And due to the huge size of the planet, its parts rotate at different speeds.
What is the largest planet
Since 1970, 8 spacecraft have been studying the largest and heaviest planet, Jupiter: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Voyagers, Pioneers, Galileo and others. This giant has a heavy mass that is 300 times greater than that of the Earth. The largest planet in the solar system has greatest number satellites - 69. Among them are the large Galilean satellites - Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. They were discovered by the famous Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei in 1610.
Statistical data
Below are the main characteristics of the largest planet in the solar system:
- weight: 1.8981 x 1027 kilograms;
- volume - 1.43128 × 1015 cubic kilometers;
- surface area - 6.1419 x 1010 square kilometers;
- average circumference - 4.39264 x 105 kilometers;
- density 1.326 grams per cubic centimeter;
- conventional orbital speed – 13.07 kilometers per second;
- inclination relative to the ecliptic plane – 1.03 degrees;
- apparent magnitude – 2.94 meters;
- surface pressure - 1 bar.
Is life possible on Jupiter?
Jupiter is a gas giant with virtually no water necessary for the formation of life processes. In addition, it does not have a solid surface, which allows organisms to develop other than microscopic masses. And due to the low temperature, reaching 175 degrees minus, organisms can freeze. The only space on the planet suitable for the development of life is the cloud tops, which are resistant to solar radiation. This may refer to free-floating organisms.
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> The largest planet in the solar system
The largest planet in solar system- Jupiter. Read the description, interesting facts and Scientific research for the most massive planet around the Sun with photo.
Most big planet solar system is of course Jupiter. It is not only the largest, but also the most massive planet orbiting the Sun.
Jupiter fascinated observers 400 years ago, when it was visible in the first telescopes. It's a beautiful gas giant with swirling clouds, a mysterious sunspot, a family of moons, and lots of features.
What's most impressive is the scale. In terms of mass, volume and area, the planet is the largest planet in the solar system. The ancients knew about its existence, so Jupiter was noted in many cultures. Below is a comparison of the sizes of Jupiter, Earth and Moon.
Size, mass and volume of the largest planet in the solar system
Mass – 1.8981 x 10 27 kg, volume – 1.43128 x 10 15 km 3, surface area – 6.1419 x 10 10 km 2, and the average circumference reaches 4.39264 x 10 5 km. To give you an idea, the diameter of the planet is 11 times larger than the Earth and 2.5 times more massive than all solar planets.
Jupiter is a gas giant, so its density is 1.326 g/cm 3 (less than ¼ of Earth's). The low density is a clue to researchers that the object is composed of gases, but debate still continues about the composition of the core of the largest planet.
Composition of the largest planet in the solar system
It is the largest of the gas giants, divided into an outer atmospheric layer and inner space. The atmosphere is filled with hydrogen (88-92%) and helium (8-12%). Chemical composition Jupiter's atmosphere is shown in the figure.
Traces of methane, water vapor, silicon, ammonia and benzene are also noticeable. Hydrogen sulfide, carbon, neon, ethane, oxygen, sulfur and phosphine can be found in small quantities.
The interior of Jupiter contains dense materials, so it consists of hydrogen (71%), helium (24%) and other elements (5%). The core is a dense mixture of metallic hydrogen in a liquid state with helium and an outer layer of molecular hydrogen. It is believed that the core may be rocky, but there is no exact data.
The question of the presence of a core was raised in 1997, when gravity was figured out. Information hinted that it could reach 12-45 Earth masses and cover 4-14% of Jupiter's mass. The presence of a core is also supported by planetary models, which say planets required a rocky or icy core. But convection currents, as well as hot liquid hydrogen, could reduce the parameters of the core.
The closer to the core, the higher the temperature and pressure. It is believed that at the surface we will note 67°C and 10 bar, in the phase transition - 9700°C and 200 GPa, and near the core - 35700°C and 3000-4500 GPa.
Moons of the largest planet in the solar system
We now know that there is a family of 67 moons near the planet Jupiter. Four of them are the largest and are called Galilean because they were discovered by Galileo Galilei: Io (continuous active volcanoes), Europa (massive subsurface ocean), Ganymede (the largest moon in the system) and Callisto (subsurface ocean and old surface materials).
There is also the Amalthea group, where there are 4 satellites with a diameter of less than 200 km. They are 200,000 km distant and have an orbital inclination of 0.5 degrees. These are Metis, Adrastea, Amalthea and Thebe.
There also remain a whole bunch of irregular moons that are smaller in size and have more eccentric orbital routes. They are divided into families that converge in size, composition and orbit.
Interesting facts about the largest planet in the solar system
Let's find out more interesting facts about Jupiter. Auroras are observed near the north and south poles of the largest planet in the solar system. But here they are much more intense and practically do not stop. This is influenced by a powerful magnetic field and incoming material from Io's volcanoes.
There is a dense atmosphere where the wind accelerates to 620 km/h. In just a few hours, powerful storms form. The most popular is the Great Red Spot, observed since the 1600s.
With the discovery of exoplanets, we realized that planets are capable of larger sizes than our gas giant. Kepler has already found more than 300 super-Jupiters. Among the examples, it is worth recalling PSR B1620-26 b, considered oldest planet(12.7 billion years). In addition, there is HD 80606 b with the most eccentric orbit.
The interesting thing is that in theory there are planets that are 15 times larger than Jupiter. When deuterium is fused, they become brown dwarfs. Jupiter received the name from the Romans in honor of the supreme deity.
My sister was lucky - she was given a real telescope for her birthday. Of course, it doesn’t increase it too much, but is that really that important? I myself looked at the starry sky for about forty minutes without stopping. And I even recognized one of the small round spots, which, in fact, is the largest planet in the Solar System.
Which planet is the largest in the Solar System?
The largest planet is Jupiter. It is more than 11 times larger than our Earth.
Jupiter also has many more satellites than our planet. You and I can only boast of having one and only one Moon.
At Jupiter at the moment we have counted as much 69 satellites- more than any other planet in the solar system. Of course, I won’t list them all. But I’ll still name the most famous:
- Callisto.
- Ganymede.
- Europe.
This magnificent quartet of Jupiterian moons discovered by Galileo, and did it whole 407 years ago.
Why is it difficult to fly to Jupiter?
The first reason is that it is located quite far from earth. Distance varies from 588.5 to 968.6 million km. Why such a large spread? The fact is that the planets, revolving around the Sun, cyclically approach and then move away from each other. So in order to fly faster, you need to guess the moment when the planets will be well located relative to each other.
The second problem is landing. The space probes that are sent to explore this cosmic behemoth can not Fine sit on its gas surface. All they have to do is immerse themselves in the atmosphere - and enormous pressure planets flatten the probe into a cake.
Yes and radiation near Jupiter also greatly interferes with the operation of spacecraft, often leading to severe malfunctions or even large losses of collected data.
However, despite such enormous difficulties, Jupiter and its moons are being carefully studied. Some of moon gas giant attracted Special attention- there, presumably, there is an ocean, which means she could life arises. It is unlikely that it will be intelligent, but even the very fact of its discovery will make humanity understand that we are not alone in space.
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When I was little, I stubbornly believed that the largest planet in the solar system was the large red and yellow ball at its center. Only later, when I entered school, did the teachers explain to me that this “planet” is the main star of our system - the Sun. This news made me continue to search for the largest planet in the solar system.
The planet is a giant
If you put planets in order of increasing mass, then the list will look like this:
- Mercury - 3.3·10^20 kilograms;
- Mars - 6.4·10^20 kilograms;
- Venus - 4.9·10^21 kilograms;
- Earth-6.0·10^21 kilograms;
- Uranium - 8.7·10^22 kilograms;
- Neptune - 1.0·10^23 kilograms;
- Saturn - 5.7·10^23 kilograms;
- Jupiter - 1.9·10^24 kilograms.
As seen , The largest planet in the solar system is Jupiter.Diameter of this planet at the thickest part, at the equator, 11 thousand times larger than the diameter of the Earth. Of course, this size is much smaller than the diameter of the Sun, approximately 10 diameters of Jupiter will be equal to the diameter of the Sun. Proportional to its size, the mass of Jupiter is very large. If you put all the planets of the Solar System and their satellites on a scale (of course, “cosmically” huge) and compare their weight with the weight of Jupiter, then Jupiter will easily outweigh it all. If only increase the weight of the planets and their satellites by 2.5 times, the scales will balance.
The reason for Jupiter's huge size
This planet formed in the early period of the solar system's development, like Saturn, during this period more materials(gases) were free to create planets, therefore the size of the planets of that period is simply huge. Heat+ a large amount of gas made the planet Jupiter so large. The remaining planets have much less gas left, so they look inconspicuous. Also about gases, Jupiter's atmosphere is very dense, so it is difficult to give an accurate estimate of its size. All that humanity can observe now are the clouds of Jupiter and nothing more.
Someone bigger
In our solar system, Jupiter is definitely a giant, but there are other systems where the gas giants are closer to the star than Jupiter is to the Sun, so the temperature of these giants is higher, and therefore their size exceeds the size of Jupiter. WITHthe largest planet in known to mankind- TRES-4.
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A couple of years ago, my son returned from school with the question: “How many planets are there in the solar system?” Recently it turned out that Pluto is no longer considered a planet. Like, it's too small. It must be said that the debate on this issue continues to this day. Fortunately, there is no doubt about the most major planet in the solar system.
The largest planet in the solar system
Jupiter is often called a gas giant. It is the fifth planet from the Sun. Its diameter is about 143 thousand kilometers. Thus Jupiter almost 11 times more than Earth . Jupiter is so large that its mass is two and a half times greater than the combined mass of all the other planets in our galaxy. It is one of the few planets that can be seen without a telescope. That is why people in ancient times knew about the existence of this giant cosmic object, just like about the Sun, Moon and Venus. Pointing a small telescope towards Jupiter, we will see an impenetrable layer of clouds 4 thousand kilometers thick and among them characteristic feature- large red spot. First time I saw him in 1665 French astronomer Giovanni Cassini. Its size is comparable to the diameter of planet Earth. The active movement of gases in the atmosphere of Jupiter occurs under the influence of winds whose speed reaches 600 kilometers per hour.
Diamond in the center of Jupiter
Scientists believe that under a thick layer of rapidly moving clouds, at a depth of about 40 thousand kilometers, the planet's core is stationary. Nothing is known about its chemical and physical parameters. There is a hypothesis that, under enormous pressure and temperature, the core could have formed either in the form of fossilized hydrogen with the properties of a metal, or in the form of coal with all the properties of diamond. Can anyone imagine diamond is three times larger than Earth?
Rings and moons of Jupiter
Jupiter also has rings, similar to Saturn. Despite the fact that the total width of the rings is about 6 thousand kilometers, few people know about them. In addition to all of the above, the fact that Jupiter has 67 moons. The largest of them are:
- Europe;
- Ganymede;
- Callisto.
Solar System Vacuum Cleaner
Availability large quantity satellites is caused by Jupiter creating very strong gravitational field. Therefore, this planetary ball can be called a vacuum cleaner of the Solar system. Numerous asteroids and comets are sucked into Jupiter's atmosphere. Thus, these space objects no longer pose a threat to planet Earth and humanity.
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Giant of the Solar System
Everyone knows that largest planet - Jupiter. Due to the fact that it can be observed almost all night, the planet has been known since ancient times. "Mulu Babbar"- that’s what representatives of the ancient culture of Mesopotamia called it, which translated means "star-sun". A significant breakthrough in the study of this planet occurred only mid-17th century century. He became the first celestial body to have satellites discovered, and this discovery was made by the great Galileo. This is truly a giant among planets, but is it a planet??
Planet or star
Some scientists at the beginning of the last century believed that the giant radiates own light, and some of its characteristics like the sun:
- consists of hydrogen;
- emits x-rays;
- emits radio waves;
- has a gigantic magnetic field.
Observant astronomers immediately noticed that all of the above characterizes the stars, and not planets. That’s why the question arose: maybe it’s not a planet, but a star? Jupiter has a slight emitter nuclear energy , however, science says the opposite: the planet should not have anything like this. Indeed, the planets are only reflect rays and energy, while the stars themselves generate both. And what’s most interesting is that the outgoing energy significantly exceeds that transmitted to the planet Sun.
Another important point- huge energy generation rate, which indicates that the planet is essentially "warming up". Observations made it possible to establish that, due to its gigantic mass, the planet absorbs particles "Solar Wind". As the number of captured particles increases, the mass of the planet itself increases, which is one of the main conditions for transformation into a star.
Scientists have calculated that in about 2 billion years Jupiter will catch up with the mass of the Sun, which will cause the emergence double solar system.
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In April of this year I observed one very bright object, lighting in my city is practically absent at night, so I was able to get a good look largest object in the solar system after the luminary itself - Jupiter. And it is not at all surprising that it was so clearly visible to the naked eye, because this planet superior our mass Earth a little more than 300 once. Accordingly, when she is at the point of opposition, the light reflected by her eclipses even Sirius.
The largest planet in the solar system - Jupiter and its origin
Jupiter located at a sufficient distance from the Sun to make it difficult for humanity to study it, and the atmosphere there is unfriendly, after all gas giant, after all. Showers of ammonia are hardly conducive to a comfortable immersion in the environment of any terrestrial device, especially since there is also no solid surface. No, it is quite possible that somewhere very deep there is core, but there is no hydrocarbon life there. The planet was formed due to large-scale phenomena, a series of chemical reactions and, probably, gravitational collapse, which marked the beginning of our system. Structurally Jupiter comprises:
- Multilayer atmosphere.
- Metallic hydrogen.
- The core, presumably stone.
Of course, it is not possible to obtain accurate data due to the characteristics of the celestial body, but cosmic devices, sent to direct closeness, allowed us to record more or less specific information at least about outer layer of the atmosphere.
Jupiter rotates around your axes just for 10 earth hours, which makes it in this regard not only the most massive, but also fast planet of the solar system. However, the orbit is so large that one a revolution around the Sun lasts 12 years. Due to its size, Jupiter has extremely powerful gravity, yes, approaching comet over a distance of 15 thousand kilometers was torn into many pieces. Plus, the planet has record number of satellites- about 70 objects.
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Who is the largest in the solar system?
Largest planet in the solar system is gas giant -Jupiter. Jupiter known to ancient people as supreme deity Ancient Rome . What’s interesting is that she was God’s wife Juno. Namely, this is the name of the spacecraft that was sent to explore the planet. What amazes us about this gas giant:
- To fill all volume of Jupiter, need to 1300 planets Earth.
- If there were stocks hydrogen And helium was in 80 times more,Jupiter would become a star.
- Jupiter has a small copy of the solar system- 4 months and 67 small satellites.
And also, as it turned out, Jupiter shrinks by 2 cm every year. Scientists have discovered that after its “birth” the giant was much larger and hotter. And it was formed much earlier than Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. These four were formed from substances that gas planets were thrown into space.
The mystery of the planet - the big red spot
Jupiter It has amazing coloring. And all thanks to the winds that blow up 650 kilometers per hour. And here from the sky in the form of rain fall diamonds. Besides this wealth, on Jupiter constantly raging Hurricane, the diameter of which is 3 times the size of the Earth. From space it looks like giant red spot. It either increases or decreases, and its color still remains a mystery for scientists.
The giant's powerful magnetic field
A magnetic field this "god of the planets" exceeds the earth's by 20 thousand times. Electrically charged particles of this field are constantly at war with other planets, constantly attacking them. A Jupiter radiation may cause damage even good protected spacecraft. Jupiter also has three rings, although they are not as bright as Saturn's.
And also Jupiter like a real one supreme god, protects planets from comets and asteroids. Its gravitational field affects asteroids and changes their orbits. Thanks to this, we are still alive.
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In the unexplored expanses of space, there are many mysterious astronomical objects - including planets so large that in comparison with them, the largest planets in the solar system seem like grains of sand in endless space. In our own galaxy Milky Way the largest planet is Jupiter.
Planet Jupiter as seen from space (computer simulation based on real photographs of Jupiter taken by the Cassini spacecraft (NASA))
In ancient Roman mythology, Jupiter was the god of the sky, the father of all gods. The planet named after ancient god, in the same way can be considered the “father” of all other planets: the radius of Jupiter is more than 11 times greater than the radius of the Earth and is equal to 71.4 thousand kilometers.
The mass of Jupiter is 1.8986 * 10 27 kg, the planet is almost 318 times heavier than the Earth. The size of the planet is so large that it changes the orbit and direction of movement of small space objects - Jupiter can, for example, send comets or a stream of asteroids into the inner solar system.
The Great Red Spot, a giant anticyclone hurricane, has been observed on the surface of Jupiter for more than 350 years. The size of a hurricane is larger than the size of the entire Earth! The photograph of the hurricane was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.
But Jupiter cannot be called the largest planet in space - at a distance of about a thousand light years from Earth, in the distant Scorpius Galaxy, there is the exoplanet WASP-17b, the radius of which is almost twice that of Jupiter. Information about which are the largest planets in space is constantly updated - not so long ago, in 2009, WASP-12b, with a radius of 1.83 Jupiter radii, was considered the largest planet.
In the photo: on the left is Jupiter, on the right is WASP-17b, the largest planet known to date
In second place in the list of the largest planets in the solar system is Saturn, whose size is 945% of the size of planet Earth, and its radius is 58,232 km.
In this rare photograph taken on July 19, 2013, NASA's Cassini spacecraft simultaneously captured the rings of Saturn, our planet Earth, and the Moon.
The length of a day on Saturn is 10.7 hours, and one year according to the planet’s time is 29 Earth years (it is during this period that Saturn makes a full revolution around the Sun).
One of the first live photographs of Saturn and its moon, Titan, taken on September 1, 1979 by the Pioneer 11 spacecraft.
The planet Saturn is a gas giant, it has no solid surface, and the atmosphere consists mainly of hydrogen and helium. Naturally, life cannot exist on this planet.
Storm at Saturn's north pole (photo from NASA's Cassini spacecraft)
Saturn is known not so much for being one of the largest planets in the solar system, but for having a unique system of seven rings. These rings were first noted by Galileo Galilei, observing the planet through a telescope in the 17th century.
The rings of Saturn (photo taken by the Cassini spacecraft on March 4, 2013). The bright white dot in the photo is the planet Venus.
The third largest planet in the solar system is completed by the planet Uranus, whose radius is 25,362 kilometers and its dimensions are 400% of the size of the Earth.
The clearest and most detailed “live” photo of Uranus, taken by the Keck II telescope in Hawaii.
The only spacecraft to ever orbit Uranus is Voyager 2, launched into space in August 1977. NASA's network of satellites is still receiving information from the spacecraft, which has been in space for 37 years and several months.
Photo of Uranus taken by Voyager 2, which reached the planet in January 1986
A day on Uranus lasts approximately 17 hours, and the planet completes a full revolution around the Sun in 84 Earth years—that’s how long one year lasts in Uranus time. Uranus is an ice giant with an atmosphere of hydrogen and helium (with a small admixture of methane).
The “layered” atmosphere of Uranus, formed by a mixture of gases. The photo was taken by the Hubble telescope with infrared filters.
There are 27 moons in the Uranus system, which are named after the heroes of the works of William Shakespeare and Alexander Pope.
Uranus and its largest moons (photo by Voyager 2 spacecraft)
The photo below shows the planets of the solar system compared by size. From left to right, top to bottom, the planets are arranged from largest to smallest: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Earth, Venus, Mars, Mercury.
The photo below shows eight planets and a dwarf planet in the solar system on an approximate scale. Pluto is the dwarf planet on the far right. At the left at the end is the Sun. From left to right are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
A planet is a cosmic object that revolves around the Sun and forms the Solar System with the other planets. The term "planet" comes from Greek word"wanderer". Before the creation of telescopes, planets, like stars, were viewed as objects moving across the sky. Technological advances have helped scientists greatly increase their knowledge of the planets, thanks to spacecraft as well as improved observations from Earth. Our solar system contains eight known planets, although there were originally nine after Pluto was discovered in the 1930s. However, in 2006, astronomers adopted an official definition of the term “planet” that Pluto did not meet and was downgraded to dwarf planet status.
Largest planets in the solar system:
Jupiter
Jupiter is the largest among all the eight planets orbiting the Sun. Its radius is 69,911 km. Jupiter is so gigantic that the other seven planets could fit inside it. This is the fifth planet from the Sun, named after the king of the Roman gods. The planet's atmosphere consists of gases, mainly hydrogen and helium. The surface of Jupiter is an ocean of liquid hydrogen.
Jupiter has white, yellow, thick red and brown clouds. These clouds move at high speeds in the opposite direction as the planet rotates on its axis. The famous vortex - the Great Red Spot, moves parallel to the plane of the planet's equator with high speed, and is larger than the Earth.
Jupiter has the strongest magnetosphere of any planet, almost 20,000 times stronger than Earth's. The planet rotates around its axis in just 10 hours. Jupiter has three faint rings made up of dust particles that are the remains of comets and asteroids. The planet completely completes its orbit around the Sun once every 11.86 Earth years.
Saturn
The planet Saturn has a radius of 58,282 (excluding rings) km and is the second largest among the planets of the Solar System. It is the sixth planet and is easily visible to the naked eye from Earth. The discovery of Saturn is not credited to any one person. It was named after the ancient Roman god Saturn. The planet rotates around its axis in 10 hours and 34 minutes, and around the Sun in 29.4 Earth years. Saturn's atmosphere has three layers: the first layer consists mainly of ammonia ice, the second includes water ice, and a mixture of hydrogen and sulfur makes up most of the third layer.
Saturn is predominantly composed of hydrogen. It has thin and wide rings formed from ice particles and small particles of carbonaceous dust. These particles are believed to be remnants of asteroids, moons and comets destroyed near Saturn. The planet is located 1,424,600,000 km from the Sun. Saturn has 62 known moons and is the most oblate planet in the solar system, mainly due to its low density and fast speed rotation.
Uranus
The discovery of the existence of the planet Uranus is attributed to the British astronomer William Herschel. This was an unprecedented discovery made on March 13, 1781. Uranus is in seventh position relative to distance from the Sun, preceding Neptune, and is also third in size with an average radius of 25,362 km. The name of the planet comes from the name of the ancient Greek deity of the sky - Ouranos. It takes Uranus 17 hours and 14 minutes to completely rotate around its axis, and about 84 Earth years to complete its orbit around the Sun. Uranus and Venus are the only planets of the eight known to move clockwise as they orbit the Sun. 80% of the planet consists of ice. Uranus has a pale blue color due to the presence of water, ammonia and methane ice in its outer atmosphere. Under upper atmosphere There is a layer of hydrogen and helium. The planet contains a core of iron and magnesium silicate.
Neptune
Of all the known planets, Neptune is the most distant from the Sun. It was discovered on September 23, 1846 by Johann Gall. The discovery was facilitated by preliminary information from the French astronomer Urban Le Verrier and another independent British astronomer, John Cooch Adams. Neptune makes a complete revolution around the Sun once every 164.79 Earth years, has 14 satellites and five faint rings.
Neptune is a gas planet composed primarily of hydrogen, helium and methane. Methane in the atmosphere absorbs red light in significant quantities, so Neptune has Blue colour. The name of the planet comes from Roman mythology, where Neptune was the god of the seas. The core is mainly composed of rock. The planet is experiencing a massive storm called the Great Dark Spot. The climate on Neptune is very active with strong storms and winds swirling around the planet at high speeds. Only one spaceship Called Voyager 2, it approached Neptune in 1989.
Other planets and Pluto
The others in size are in the following order: Earth with a radius of 6,371 km, Venus with a radius of 6,052 km, Mars with a radius of 3,390 km and Mercury with a radius of 2,440 km. It is noteworthy that the list does not include Pluto, which recently ceased to be considered the ninth planet. A new definition of the term "planet" adopted by astronomers in 2006 led to the reclassification of Pluto into the group of dwarf planets.
Table ranking the sizes of planets in the solar system in decreasing order
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