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Besides solar energy, the primary characteristic of the Solar System enabling the presence of life is the heliosphere and planetary magnetic fields (for those planets that have them). These magnetic fields partially shield the Solar System from high-energy interstellar particles called cosmic rays .
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System.It is a gas giant with a mass more than 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined and slightly less than one-thousandth the mass of the Sun. Jupiter orbits the Sun at a distance of 5.20 AU (778.5 Gm), with an orbital period of 11.86 years.
NASA: Flyby Successful [4] Humanity's first object to attain Solar system's escape velocity. First probe to traverse the asteroid belt, to reach Jovanian system, to use a gravity assist and to leave the proximity of Solar systems' planets. Held the record for fastest human-made object at the time and the most distant one until Voyager 1 ...
Discovery and exploration of the Solar System is observation, visitation, and increase in knowledge and understanding of Earth 's "cosmic neighborhood". [ 1] This includes the Sun, Earth and the Moon, the major planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, their satellites, as well as smaller bodies including comets ...
Venus to scale among the Inner Solar System planetary-mass objects beside the Sun, arranged by the order of their orbits outward from the Sun (from left: Mercury, Venus, Earth, the Moon, Mars and Ceres) Venus is one of the four terrestrial planets in the Solar System, meaning that it is a
The timeline of discovery of Solar System planets and their natural satellites charts the progress of the discovery of new bodies over history. Each object is listed in chronological order of its discovery (multiple dates occur when the moments of imaging, observation, and publication differ), identified through its various designations (including temporary and permanent schemes), and the ...
The Pluto–Charon system is one of the few in the Solar System whose barycenter lies outside the primary body; the Patroclus–Menoetius system is a smaller example, and the Sun–Jupiter system is the only larger one. [151] The similarity in size of Charon and Pluto has prompted some astronomers to call it a double dwarf planet. [152]
Mercury is one of four terrestrial planets in the Solar System, which means it is a rocky body like Earth. It is the smallest planet in the Solar System, with an equatorial radius of 2,439.7 kilometres (1,516.0 mi). [4] Mercury is also smaller—albeit more massive—than the largest natural satellites in the Solar System, Ganymede and Titan.