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The solar system has one star, eight planets, five dwarf planets, at least 290 moons, more than 1.3 million asteroids, and about 3,900 comets. It is located in an outer spiral arm of the Milky Way galaxy called the Orion Arm, or Orion Spur. Our solar system orbits the center of the galaxy at about 515,000 mph (828,000 kph).
- Outer Planets & Ocean Worlds
The successful Galileo and Cassini missions to Jupiter and...
- Small Bodies of The Solar System
Asteroids, comets, and meteors are chunks of rock, ice, and...
- Outer Solar System
Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second...
- Inner Solar System
Venus has a thick atmosphere that traps heat in a runaway...
- Discovery
The goal of NASA’s Discovery Program is to provide frequent...
- What We Study
Inner Solar System Inner solar system bodies are rocky,...
- Documents
Inner Solar System. Outer Solar System. Small Bodies of the...
- Mars Exploration
From Robots to Humans. Recorded observations of Mars date...
- Outer Planets & Ocean Worlds
Astronomers estimate that the universe could contain up to one septillion stars – that’s a one followed by 24 zeros. Our Milky Way alone contains more than 100 billion, including our most well-studied star, the Sun. Stars are giant balls of hot gas – mostly hydrogen, with some helium and small amounts of other elements.
Our solar system is made up of a star, eight planets, and countless smaller bodies such as dwarf planets, asteroids, and comets. Our solar system orbits the center of the Milky Way galaxy at about 515,000 mph (828,000 kph). We’re in one of the galaxy’s four spiral arms.
The Sun is the Solar System's star and by far its most massive component. Its large mass (332,900 Earth masses), which comprises 99.86% of all the mass in the Solar System, produces temperatures and densities in its core high enough to sustain nuclear fusion of hydrogen into helium.
The Sun is a 4.5 billion-year-old yellow dwarf star – a hot glowing ball of hydrogen and helium – at the center of our solar system. It’s about 93 million miles (150 million kilometers) from Earth and it’s our solar system’s only star. Without the Sun’s energy, life as we know it could not exist on our home planet.
15 de sept. de 2018 · Learn more about the life-giving star at the center of our solar system. By Michael Greshko and National Geographic Staff. September 15, 2018. • 7 min read. Compared with the billions of other...
Our solar system consists of our star, the Sun, and everything bound to it by gravity – the planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune; dwarf planets such as Pluto; dozens of moons; and millions of asteroids, comets, and meteoroids.
