The size and scale of the universe

Our solar system is made up of our local star, the sun and many large objects
that orbit* around it

*Orbit: The path that objects take in space under the influence of the gravity of
other objects that are relatively nearby. Closed orbits (predictable ones, like
those of the planets going around the sun) are elliptical (like squashed circles/
ovals) and not completely circular because of gravity from other large things.

Just the part of the Solar system containing planetary orbits is around 9 billion
kilometres across. Earth orbits within a relatively small area compared to this
massive region.

Planet: A celestial body that orbits around a star, is huge enough to have
cleared all debris out of its way and is roughly spherical.

Solar system from centre outwards:

The sun:

Sun: A star* that is the centre of a solar system (which literally means sun
system), being the source of heat and light.

*Star: A huge ball of plasma that generates energy by nuclear fusion reactions
in its centre (it converts mass to energy with Einstein’s equation: E=MC²).
Our has a mean distance from Earth of about 150 million kilometres, a
diameter of approximately 1,390,000 kilometres (864,000 miles) and a mass
about 330,000 times that of Earth. Its gravity is 28 times stronger than
Earth’s. The sun spins in space and takes 28 Earth days to rotate once.

Mercury

Mercury is 4,900 km across-it is smaller than Earth and has a little over 1/3 of
the gravity we have here. It has no moons and the length of a day here is 58 ½
Earth days. The length of a year on Mercury is 88 days. Because of its low
gravity, there is barely any atmosphere. Its lack of atmosphere and proximity to
the sun means that the temperature varies enormously. When facing the sun
it’s 427C, but when facing away from it (night-time), it’s -183C.

Venus

Venus is 12,100km across, and the gravity is slightly weaker than Earth’s. It
has no moons and a day there is 225 Earth days long. The year is longer; 243
Earth days because the planet spins so slowly. It also spins backwards
compared to other planets

Earth

Our planet is 12,700km across and has a 365 day orbit (a year). The
atmosphere is 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, The remaining 1% of gases are
found in much smaller amounts; carbon dioxide, water vapour and noble gases
like argon

Mars

Mars is 6,800km across, has 2 moons, and due to its low gravity, has barely
any atmosphere- just a few wisps of carbon dioxide. The years here are 687
earth days long, and the days are 24 hours and 37 earth minutes.

Asteroid Belt

The main asteroid belt is a donut shaped region between Mars and Jupiter.
This area has a high concentration of Asteroids. Asteroids are small
bodies of rock and metal that have independent orbits round the sun. Some
asteroids, like Ceres, can be very large, while others are as small as a grain of
sand. Because of their smaller size, asteroids don’t have enough gravity to pull
themselves into an exact sphere. Ceres is the largest; it was discovered in 1801
and in 2006 was reclassified as a dwarf planet.

Comets are different from asteroids:

A comet is a small body made of ice and dust that revolves around the sun:
usually in a very stretched orbit.. When the comet enters the inner solar
system, heat makes gas and dust evaporate, making a glowing cloud called a
coma and one or more tails.

Jupiter

This is the biggest of all the planets: it is one of the gas giants and is
140,000km across. It has 4 major moons and many little ones: probably
asteroids trapped by Jupiter’s high gravity. A day on Jupiter lasts 9 earth
hours and 51 earth minutes, whereas a year lasts 11.8 earth years.

Saturn

Saturn is another of the gas giants, at 120,500km across. Despite its size
Saturn is very light- it is made up of hydrogen and helium like Jupiter- and the
whole planet would be able to float on water. The enght of a day is 10 earth
hours and 38 minutes, and the length of a Saturn year is 29.5 Earth years.
Saturn has thousands of rings – each one is made up bits of ice and rock from
crashed comets and the gravity of the planet and moons keeps them in rings.

Uranus

This planet is 52,000km across and again, is very light because it is made up
of gas- it is blue in colour because of the methane that surrounds it. A year on
Uranus is 84 earth years (the planets that are further away have a larger circle
to make around the sun than those closer) and a day lasts 17 hour and 12
earth minutes.

Neptune

Neptune is 48,000km across, a day here lasts 16 hours and 6 Earth minutes
and a year lasts 165 Earth years. Neptune looks a lot like Uranus, but the
methane clouds are more visible. Neptune has 4 rings, almost identical to
Saturn’s, except they are dark and hard to see.

(No longer a planet) Pluto

In August 2006, Pluto was registered as a dwarf planet instead of a planet. The
reason was that it has a very irregular orbit and there are objects that we don’t
define as planets that are much larger than Pluto, which is