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Orbit of the Solar System: 17,200 pc 5.31×10 17: 17.72: The average diameter of the orbit of the Solar System relative to the Galactic Center. The Sun's orbital radius is roughly 8,600 parsecs, or slightly over halfway to the galactic edge. One orbital period of the Solar System lasts between 225 and 250 million years. [34] [35] Milky Way ...
As of 2022, the precise location of the Solar System in the clouds is an open question in astronomy. [258] Within 10 light-years of the Sun there are relatively few stars, the closest being the triple star system Alpha Centauri, which is about 4.4 light-years away and may be in the Local Bubble's G-Cloud. [259]
The Oort cloud ( / ɔːrt, ʊərt / ), [ 1] sometimes called the Öpik–Oort cloud, [ 2] is theorized to be a vast cloud of icy planetesimals surrounding the Sun at distances ranging from 2,000 to 200,000 AU (0.03 to 3.2 light-years ). [ 3][ note 1][ 4] The concept of such a cloud was proposed in 1950 by the Dutch astronomer Jan Oort, in whose ...
The Parker Solar Probe(PSP; previously Solar Probe, Solar Probe Plusor Solar Probe+)[6]is a NASAspace probelaunched in 2018 with the mission of making observations of the outer coronaof the Sun. It will approach to within 9.86 solar radii(6.9 million km or 4.3 million miles)[7][8]from the center of the Sun, and by 2025 will travel, at closest ...
Voyager 1 is a space probe launched by NASA on September 5, 1977, as part of the Voyager program to study the outer Solar System and the interstellar space beyond the Sun's heliosphere. It was launched 16 days after its twin, Voyager 2.
List of active Solar System probes. This is a list of active space probes which have escaped Earth orbit. It includes lunar space probes, but does not include space probes orbiting at the Sun–Earth Lagrangian points (for these, see List of objects at Lagrangian points ). A craft is deemed "active" if it is still able to transmit usable data ...
Discovery and exploration of the Solar System. True-scale Solar System poster made by Emanuel Bowen in 1747. At that time, Uranus, Neptune, nor the asteroid belts have been discovered yet. Discovery and exploration of the Solar System is observation, visitation, and increase in knowledge and understanding of Earth 's "cosmic neighborhood". [ 1]
As of 2022, the precise location of the Solar System in the clouds is an open question in astronomy. [150] Within 10 light-years of the Sun there are relatively few stars, the closest being the triple star system Alpha Centauri, which is about 4.4 light-years away and may be in the Local Bubble's G-Cloud. [151]