partner-pub-0546 ISO-8859-1

Search


Custom Search
Home | Site Map | What's New | Image Index | Copyright | Puzzles | Posters |
ScienceViews |

The Solar System
For I dipped into the Future, far as human eye could see;
saw the vision of the world, and all the wonder that
would be. -Alfred Lord Tennyson, 1842
Our solar system consists of an average star we call the Sun, the
planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus,
Neptune, and Pluto. It includes: the satellites of the planets;
numerous comets, asteroids, and meteoroids; and the
interplanetary medium. The Sun is the richest source of
electromagnetic energy (mostly in the form of heat and light) in
the solar system. The Sun's nearest known stellar neighbor is a red
dwarf star called Proxima Centauri, at a distance of 4.3 light years
away. The whole solar system, together with the local stars visible
on a clear night, orbits the center of our home galaxy, a spiral disk
of 200 billion stars we call the Milky Way. The Milky Way has
two small galaxies orbiting it nearby, which are visible from the
southern hemisphere. They are called the Large Magellanic Cloud
and the Small Magellanic Cloud. The nearest large galaxy is the
Andromeda Galaxy. It is a spiral galaxy like the Milky Way but is
4 times as massive and is 2 million light years away. Our galaxy,
one of billions of galaxies known, is traveling through
intergalactic space.
The planets, most of the satellites of the planets and the asteroids revolve around the Sun in the
same direction, in nearly circular orbits. When looking down from above the Sun's north pole,
the planets orbit in a counter-clockwise direction. The planets orbit the Sun in or near the same
plane, called the ecliptic. Pluto is a special case in that its orbit is the most highly inclined (18
degrees) and the most highly elliptical of all the planets. Because of this, for part of its orbit,
Pluto is closer to the Sun than is Neptune. The axis of rotation for most of the planets is nearly
perpendicular to the ecliptic. The exceptions are Uranus and Pluto, which are tipped on their
sides.
Composition Of The Solar System
The Sun contains 99.85% of all the matter in the Solar System. The planets, which condensed
out of the same disk of material that formed the Sun, contain only 0.135% of the mass of the
solar system. Jupiter contains more than twice the matter of all the other planets combined.
Satellites of the planets, comets, asteroids, meteoroids, and the interplanetary medium constitute
Table of Contents
The Solar System
Solar System Composition
Interplanetary Space
The Terrestrial Planets
The Jovian Planets
Solar System Animation
Views of the Solar System
Sun and Planet Summary

Solar System Science
Guide to the Inverse Square
Law
Multiwavelength Milky Way

the remaining 0.015%. The following table is a list of the mass distribution within our Solar
System.

Sun: 99.85%

Planets: 0.135%

Comets: 0.01% ?

Satellites: 0.00005%

Minor Planets: 0.0000002% ?

Meteoroids: 0.0000001% ?

Interplanetary Medium: 0.0000001% ?
Interplanetary Space
Nearly all the solar system by volume appears to be an empty void. Far from being nothingness,
this vacuum of "space" comprises the interplanetary medium. It includes various forms of energy
and at least two material components: interplanetary dust and interplanetary gas. Interplanetary
dust consists of microscopic solid particles. Interplanetary gas is a tenuous flow of gas and
charged particles, mostly protons and electrons -- plasma -- which stream from the Sun, called
the solar wind.

The solar wind can be measured by spacecraft, and it has a large effect on comet tails. It also has
a measurable effect on the motion of spacecraft. The speed of the solar wind is about 400
kilometers (250 miles) per second in the vicinity of Earth's orbit. The point at which the solar
wind meets the interstellar medium, which is the "solar" wind from other stars, is called the
heliopause. It is a boundary theorized to be roughly circular or teardrop-shaped, marking the
edge of the Sun's influence perhaps 100 AU from the Sun. The space within the boundary of the
heliopause, containing the Sun and solar system, is referred to as the heliosphere.
The solar magnetic field extends outward into interplanetary space; it can be measured on Earth
and by spacecraft. The solar magnetic field is the dominating magnetic field throughout the
interplanetary regions of the solar system, except in the immediate environment of planets which
have their own magnetic fields.
The Terrestrial Planets
The terrestrial planets are the four innermost planets in the solar system, Mercury, Venus, Earth
and Mars. They are called terrestrial because they have a compact, rocky surface like the Earth's.
The planets, Venus, Earth, and Mars have significant atmospheres while Mercury has almost
none. The following diagram shows the approximate distance of the terrestrial planets to the Sun.

The Jovian Planets
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are known as the Jovian (Jupiter-like) planets, because they
are all gigantic compared with Earth, and they have a gaseous nature like Jupiter's. The Jovian
planets are also referred to as the gas giants, although some or all of them might have small solid
cores. The following diagram shows the approximate distance of the Jovian planets to the Sun.

Solar System Animation

Formation of the Solar System.
Views of the Solar System
Our Milkyway Galaxy
This image of our galaxy, the Milky Way, was taken with NASA's Cosmic Background
Explorer's (COBE) Diffuse Infrared Background Experiment (DIRBE). This never-before-seen
view shows the Milky Way from an edge-on perspective with the galactic north pole at the top,
the south pole at the bottom and the galactic center at the center. The picture combines images
obtained at several near-infrared wavelengths. Stars within our galaxy are the dominant source of
light at these wavelengths. Even though our solar system is part of the Milky Way, the view
looks distant because most of the light comes from the population of stars that are closer to the
galactic center than our own Sun. (Courtesy NASA)

Our Milky Way Gets a Makeover
Like early explorers mapping the continents of our globe, astronomers are busy charting the
spiral structure of our galaxy, the Milky Way. Using infrared images from NASA's Spitzer Space
Telescope, scientists have discovered that the Milky Way's elegant spiral structure is dominated
by just two arms wrapping off the ends of a central bar of stars. Previously, our galaxy was
thought to possess four major arms.
This artist's concept illustrates the new view of the Milky Way, along with other findings
presented at the 212th American Astronomical Society meeting in St. Louis, Mo. The galaxy's
two major arms (Scutum-Centaurus and Perseus) can be seen attached to the ends of a thick
central bar, while the two now-demoted minor arms (Norma and Sagittarius) are less distinct and
located between the major arms. The major arms consist of the highest densities of both young
and old stars; the minor arms are primarily filled with gas and pockets of star-forming activity.
The artist's concept also includes a new spiral arm, called the "Far-3 kiloparsec arm," discovered
via a radio-telescope survey of gas in the Milky Way. This arm is shorter than the two major
arms and lies along the bar of the galaxy.
Our sun lies near a small, partial arm called the Orion Arm, or Orion Spur, located between the
Sagittarius and Perseus arms. (Courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Spiral Galaxy, NGC 4414
The majestic galaxy, NGC 4414, is located 60 million light-years away. Like the Milky Way,
NGC 4414 is a giant spiral-shaped disk of stars, with a bulbous central hub of older yellow and
red stars. The outer spiral arms are considerably bluer due to ongoing formation of young, blue
stars, the brightest of which can be seen individually at the high resolution provided by the
Hubble camera. The arms are also very rich in clouds of interstellar dust, seen as dark patches
and streaks silhouetted against the starlight. (Courtesy NASA/STSCI)

Obliquity of the Eight Planets
This illustration shows the obliquity of the eight planets. Obliquity is the angle between a
planet's equatorial plane and its orbital plane. By International Astronomical Union (IAU)
convention, a planet's north pole lies above the ecliptic plane. By this convention, Venus,
Uranus, and Pluto have a retrograde rotation, or a rotation that is in the opposite direction from
the other planets. (Copyright 2008 by Calvin J. Hamilton)

The Solar System
During the past three decades a myriad of space explorers have escaped the confines of planet
Earth and have set out to discover our planetary neighbors. This picture shows the Sun and all
nine planets of the solar system as seen by the space explorers. Starting at the top-left corner is
the Sun followed by the planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune,
and Pluto. (Copyright 1998 by Calvin J. Hamilton)

Sun and Planets
This image shows the Sun and nine planets approximately to scale. The order of these bodies are:
Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. (Copyright
Calvin J. Hamilton)

Jovian Planets
This image shows the Jovian planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune approximately to scale.
The Jovian planets are named because of their gigantic Jupiter-like appearance. (Copyright
Calvin J. Hamilton)

The Largest Moons and Smallest Planets
This image shows the relative sizes of the largest moons and the smallest planets in the
solarsystem. The largest satellites pictured in this image are: Ganymede (5262 km), Titan (5150
km), Callisto (4806 km), Io (3642 km), the Moon (3476 km), Europa (3138 km), Triton (2706
km), and Titania (1580 km). Both Ganymede and Titan are larger than planet Mercury followed
by Io, the Moon, Europa, and Triton which are larger than the planet Pluto. (Copyright Calvin J.
Hamilton)

Diagram of Portrait Frames
On February 14, 1990, the cameras of Voyager 1 pointed back toward the Sun and took a series
of pictures of the Sun and the planets, making the first ever "portrait" of our solar system as seen
from the outside. This image is a diagram of how the frames for the solar system portrait were
taken. (Courtesy NASA/JPL)

All Frames from the Family Portrait
This image shows the series of pictures of the Sun and the planets taken on February 14, 1990,
for the solar system family portrait as seen from the outside. In the course of taking this mosaic
consisting of a total of 60 frames, Voyager 1 made several images of the inner solar system from
a distance of approximately 6.4 billion kilometers (4 billion miles) and about 32 above the
ecliptic plane. Thirty-nine wide angle frames link together six of the planets of our solar system
in this mosaic. Outermost Neptune is 30 times further from the Sun than Earth. Our Sun is seen
as the bright object in the center of the circle of frames. The insets show the planets magnified
many times. (Courtesy NASA/JPL)

Portrait of the Solar System
These six narrow-angle color images were made from the first ever "portrait" of the solar system
taken by Voyager 1, which was more than 6.4 billion kilometers (4 billion miles) from Earth and
about 32 above the ecliptic. Mercury is too close to the Sun to be seen. Mars was not detectable
by the Voyager cameras due to scattered sunlight in the optics, and Pluto was not included in the
mosaic because of its small size and distance from the Sun. These blown-up images, left to right
and top to bottom are Venus, Earth, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. (Courtesy NASA/JPL)

Sun and Planet Summary
The following table lists statistical information for the Sun and planets:
Distanc
e
(AU)
Radius
(Earth's
)
Mass
(Earth's
)
Rotatio
n
(Earth's)
#
Moon
s
Orbital
Inclinatio
n
Orbital
Eccentricit
y
Obliquit
y
Densit
y
(g/cm
3
)
Sun 0 109
332,80
0
25-36* 9 --- --- --- 1.410
Mercur
y
0.39 0.38 0.05 58.8 0 7 0.2056 0.1 5.43
Venus 0.72 0.95 0.89 244 0 3.394 0.0068 177.4 5.25
Earth 1.0 1.00 1.00 1.00 1 0.000 0.0167 23.45 5.52
Mars 1.5 0.53 0.11 1.029 2 1.850 0.0934 25.19 3.95
Jupiter 5.2 11 318 0.411 16 1.308 0.0483 3.12 1.33
Saturn 9.5 9 95 0.428 18 2.488 0.0560 26.73 0.69
Uranus 19.2 4 17 0.748 15 0.774 0.0461 97.86 1.29
Neptun
e
30.1 4 17 0.802 8 1.774 0.0097 29.56 1.64
Pluto 39.5 0.18 0.002 0.267 1 17.15 0.2482 119.6 2.03
* The Sun's period of rotation at the surface varies from approximately 25 days at the equator to
36 days at the poles. Deep down, below the convective zone, everything appears to rotate with a
period of 27 days.
Views of the Solar System Copyright 1995-2009 by Calvin J. Hamilton. All rights
reserved. Privacy Statement.
partner-pub-0546 ISO-8859-1
Search


Custom Search
Home | Site Map | What's New | Image Index | Copyright | Puzzles | Posters |
ScienceViews |

The Solar System
For I dipped into the Future, far as human eye could see;
saw the vision of the world, and all the wonder that
would be. -Alfred Lord Tennyson, 1842
Our solar system consists of an average star we call the Sun, the
planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus,
Neptune, and Pluto. It includes: the satellites of the planets;
numerous comets, asteroids, and meteoroids; and the
interplanetary medium. The Sun is the richest source of
electromagnetic energy (mostly in the form of heat and light) in
the solar system. The Sun's nearest known stellar neighbor is a red
dwarf star called Proxima Centauri, at a distance of 4.3 light years
away. The whole solar system, together with the local stars visible
on a clear night, orbits the center of our home galaxy, a spiral disk
of 200 billion stars we call the Milky Way. The Milky Way has
two small galaxies orbiting it nearby, which are visible from the
southern hemisphere. They are called the Large Magellanic Cloud
and the Small Magellanic Cloud. The nearest large galaxy is the
Andromeda Galaxy. It is a spiral galaxy like the Milky Way but is
4 times as massive and is 2 million light years away. Our galaxy,
one of billions of galaxies known, is traveling through
intergalactic space.
The planets, most of the satellites of the planets and the asteroids revolve around the Sun in the
same direction, in nearly circular orbits. When looking down from above the Sun's north pole,
the planets orbit in a counter-clockwise direction. The planets orbit the Sun in or near the same
plane, called the ecliptic. Pluto is a special case in that its orbit is the most highly inclined (18
degrees) and the most highly elliptical of all the planets. Because of this, for part of its orbit,
Pluto is closer to the Sun than is Neptune. The axis of rotation for most of the planets is nearly
perpendicular to the ecliptic. The exceptions are Uranus and Pluto, which are tipped on their
sides.
Composition Of The Solar System
The Sun contains 99.85% of all the matter in the Solar System. The planets, which condensed
out of the same disk of material that formed the Sun, contain only 0.135% of the mass of the
solar system. Jupiter contains more than twice the matter of all the other planets combined.
Satellites of the planets, comets, asteroids, meteoroids, and the interplanetary medium constitute
the remaining 0.015%. The following table is a list of the mass distribution within our Solar
System.

Sun: 99.85%

Planets: 0.135%

Comets: 0.01% ?

Satellites: 0.00005%
Table of Contents
The Solar System
Solar System Composition
Interplanetary Space
The Terrestrial Planets
The Jovian Planets
Solar System Animation
Views of the Solar System
Sun and Planet Summary

Solar System Science
Guide to the Inverse Square
Law
Multiwavelength Milky Way

Minor Planets: 0.0000002% ?

Meteoroids: 0.0000001% ?

Interplanetary Medium: 0.0000001% ?
Interplanetary Space
Nearly all the solar system by volume appears to be an empty void. Far from being nothingness,
this vacuum of "space" comprises the interplanetary medium. It includes various forms of energy
and at least two material components: interplanetary dust and interplanetary gas. Interplanetary
dust consists of microscopic solid particles. Interplanetary gas is a tenuous flow of gas and
charged particles, mostly protons and electrons -- plasma -- which stream from the Sun, called
the solar wind.

The solar wind can be measured by spacecraft, and it has a large effect on comet tails. It also has
a measurable effect on the motion of spacecraft. The speed of the solar wind is about 400
kilometers (250 miles) per second in the vicinity of Earth's orbit. The point at which the solar
wind meets the interstellar medium, which is the "solar" wind from other stars, is called the
heliopause. It is a boundary theorized to be roughly circular or teardrop-shaped, marking the
edge of the Sun's influence perhaps 100 AU from the Sun. The space within the boundary of the
heliopause, containing the Sun and solar system, is referred to as the heliosphere.
The solar magnetic field extends outward into interplanetary space; it can be measured on Earth
and by spacecraft. The solar magnetic field is the dominating magnetic field throughout the
interplanetary regions of the solar system, except in the immediate environment of planets which
have their own magnetic fields.
The Terrestrial Planets
The terrestrial planets are the four innermost planets in the solar system, Mercury, Venus, Earth
and Mars. They are called terrestrial because they have a compact, rocky surface like the Earth's.
The planets, Venus, Earth, and Mars have significant atmospheres while Mercury has almost
none. The following diagram shows the approximate distance of the terrestrial planets to the Sun.

The Jovian Planets
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are known as the Jovian (Jupiter-like) planets, because they
are all gigantic compared with Earth, and they have a gaseous nature like Jupiter's. The Jovian
planets are also referred to as the gas giants, although some or all of them might have small solid
cores. The following diagram shows the approximate distance of the Jovian planets to the Sun.

Solar System Animation

Formation of the Solar System.
Views of the Solar System
Our Milkyway Galaxy
This image of our galaxy, the Milky Way, was taken with NASA's Cosmic Background
Explorer's (COBE) Diffuse Infrared Background Experiment (DIRBE). This never-before-seen
view shows the Milky Way from an edge-on perspective with the galactic north pole at the top,
the south pole at the bottom and the galactic center at the center. The picture combines images
obtained at several near-infrared wavelengths. Stars within our galaxy are the dominant source of
light at these wavelengths. Even though our solar system is part of the Milky Way, the view
looks distant because most of the light comes from the population of stars that are closer to the
galactic center than our own Sun. (Courtesy NASA)

Our Milky Way Gets a Makeover
Like early explorers mapping the continents of our globe, astronomers are busy charting the
spiral structure of our galaxy, the Milky Way. Using infrared images from NASA's Spitzer Space
Telescope, scientists have discovered that the Milky Way's elegant spiral structure is dominated
by just two arms wrapping off the ends of a central bar of stars. Previously, our galaxy was
thought to possess four major arms.
This artist's concept illustrates the new view of the Milky Way, along with other findings
presented at the 212th American Astronomical Society meeting in St. Louis, Mo. The galaxy's
two major arms (Scutum-Centaurus and Perseus) can be seen attached to the ends of a thick
central bar, while the two now-demoted minor arms (Norma and Sagittarius) are less distinct and
located between the major arms. The major arms consist of the highest densities of both young
and old stars; the minor arms are primarily filled with gas and pockets of star-forming activity.
The artist's concept also includes a new spiral arm, called the "Far-3 kiloparsec arm," discovered
via a radio-telescope survey of gas in the Milky Way. This arm is shorter than the two major
arms and lies along the bar of the galaxy.
Our sun lies near a small, partial arm called the Orion Arm, or Orion Spur, located between the
Sagittarius and Perseus arms. (Courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Spiral Galaxy, NGC 4414
The majestic galaxy, NGC 4414, is located 60 million light-years away. Like the Milky Way,
NGC 4414 is a giant spiral-shaped disk of stars, with a bulbous central hub of older yellow and
red stars. The outer spiral arms are considerably bluer due to ongoing formation of young, blue
stars, the brightest of which can be seen individually at the high resolution provided by the
Hubble camera. The arms are also very rich in clouds of interstellar dust, seen as dark patches
and streaks silhouetted against the starlight. (Courtesy NASA/STSCI)

Obliquity of the Eight Planets
This illustration shows the obliquity of the eight planets. Obliquity is the angle between a
planet's equatorial plane and its orbital plane. By International Astronomical Union (IAU)
convention, a planet's north pole lies above the ecliptic plane. By this convention, Venus,
Uranus, and Pluto have a retrograde rotation, or a rotation that is in the opposite direction from
the other planets. (Copyright 2008 by Calvin J. Hamilton)

The Solar System
During the past three decades a myriad of space explorers have escaped the confines of planet
Earth and have set out to discover our planetary neighbors. This picture shows the Sun and all
nine planets of the solar system as seen by the space explorers. Starting at the top-left corner is
the Sun followed by the planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune,
and Pluto. (Copyright 1998 by Calvin J. Hamilton)

Sun and Planets
This image shows the Sun and nine planets approximately to scale. The order of these bodies are:
Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. (Copyright
Calvin J. Hamilton)

Jovian Planets
This image shows the Jovian planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune approximately to scale.
The Jovian planets are named because of their gigantic Jupiter-like appearance. (Copyright
Calvin J. Hamilton)

The Largest Moons and Smallest Planets
This image shows the relative sizes of the largest moons and the smallest planets in the
solarsystem. The largest satellites pictured in this image are: Ganymede (5262 km), Titan (5150
km), Callisto (4806 km), Io (3642 km), the Moon (3476 km), Europa (3138 km), Triton (2706
km), and Titania (1580 km). Both Ganymede and Titan are larger than planet Mercury followed
by Io, the Moon, Europa, and Triton which are larger than the planet Pluto. (Copyright Calvin J.
Hamilton)

Diagram of Portrait Frames
On February 14, 1990, the cameras of Voyager 1 pointed back toward the Sun and took a series
of pictures of the Sun and the planets, making the first ever "portrait" of our solar system as seen
from the outside. This image is a diagram of how the frames for the solar system portrait were
taken. (Courtesy NASA/JPL)

All Frames from the Family Portrait
This image shows the series of pictures of the Sun and the planets taken on February 14, 1990,
for the solar system family portrait as seen from the outside. In the course of taking this mosaic
consisting of a total of 60 frames, Voyager 1 made several images of the inner solar system from
a distance of approximately 6.4 billion kilometers (4 billion miles) and about 32 above the
ecliptic plane. Thirty-nine wide angle frames link together six of the planets of our solar system
in this mosaic. Outermost Neptune is 30 times further from the Sun than Earth. Our Sun is seen
as the bright object in the center of the circle of frames. The insets show the planets magnified
many times. (Courtesy NASA/JPL)

Portrait of the Solar System
These six narrow-angle color images were made from the first ever "portrait" of the solar system
taken by Voyager 1, which was more than 6.4 billion kilometers (4 billion miles) from Earth and
about 32 above the ecliptic. Mercury is too close to the Sun to be seen. Mars was not detectable
by the Voyager cameras due to scattered sunlight in the optics, and Pluto was not included in the
mosaic because of its small size and distance from the Sun. These blown-up images, left to right
and top to bottom are Venus, Earth, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. (Courtesy NASA/JPL)

Sun and Planet Summary
The following table lists statistical information for the Sun and planets:
Distanc
e
(AU)
Radius
(Earth's
)
Mass
(Earth's
)
Rotatio
n
(Earth's)
#
Moon
s
Orbital
Inclinatio
n
Orbital
Eccentricit
y
Obliquit
y
Densit
y
(g/cm
3
)
Sun 0 109
332,80
0
25-36* 9 --- --- --- 1.410
Mercur
y
0.39 0.38 0.05 58.8 0 7 0.2056 0.1 5.43
Venus 0.72 0.95 0.89 244 0 3.394 0.0068 177.4 5.25
Earth 1.0 1.00 1.00 1.00 1 0.000 0.0167 23.45 5.52
Mars 1.5 0.53 0.11 1.029 2 1.850 0.0934 25.19 3.95
Jupiter 5.2 11 318 0.411 16 1.308 0.0483 3.12 1.33
Saturn 9.5 9 95 0.428 18 2.488 0.0560 26.73 0.69
Uranus 19.2 4 17 0.748 15 0.774 0.0461 97.86 1.29
Neptun
e
30.1 4 17 0.802 8 1.774 0.0097 29.56 1.64
Pluto 39.5 0.18 0.002 0.267 1 17.15 0.2482 119.6 2.03
* The Sun's period of rotation at the surface varies from approximately 25 days at the equator to
36 days at the poles. Deep down, below the convective zone, everything appears to rotate with a
period of 27 days.
Views of the Solar System Copyright 1995-2009 by Calvin J. Hamilton. All rights
reserved. Privacy Statement.



+ NASA Homepage
+ NASA en Espaol
+ Contact NASA








SSE Home > Planets > Sun







0
0






About Our Solar System


Sun


Mercury


Venus


Earth


Earth's Moon


Mars


Asteroids











Sun:





Plasma erupts from the Sun in the shape of a massive handle.




Our Sun in Brief
The Sun is a star, a hot ball of glowing gases at the heart of our solar system. Its
influence extends far beyond the orbits of distant Neptune and Pluto. Without the
Sun's intense energy and heat, there would be no life on Earth. And though it is



Meteors & Meteorites


Jupiter


Saturn


Uranus


Neptune


Pluto


Comets


Kuiper Belt


Dwarf Planets


Oort Cloud


Moons of Our Solar System


Beyond Our Solar System









special to us, there are billions of stars like our Sun scattered across the Milky Way
galaxy.
Featured Mission: Solar Dynamics Observatory
SDO will study the Sun's influence by observing the solar atmosphere simultaneously
in several wavelengths. The orbiting observatory will help determine if it is possible to
make reliable space weather forecasts.
Read More About the Sun






Distance from Earth: 149,597,900 km



Equatorial Radius: 695,500 km



Volume: 1,412,200,000,000,000,000 km
3





Mass: 1,989,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000 kg



More Facts






Because the Sun is our
nearest star.

Solar activity affects us on
Earth (electronics and
communications on the
ground and satellites in
orbit can be affected by
solar storms).

Solar activity also affects human and robotic
explorers traveling through our solar system.

The Sun is the source of most of the light and
heat in our solar system.








Missions to the Sun

NASA Heliophysics

Sun-Earth Connection Forum



Solar Data Analysis Center

StarDate: The Sun



More Resources










Explore more of NASA on the Web: NASA Site Network


NASA Enterprises and Field Centers








+ Awards & Recognition
+ Send to a Friend
+ The Vision for Space Exploration
+ NASA Solar System Exploration Roadmap
+ Privacy/Copyright/Image Use Policy



NASA Official: Marilyn Lindstrom
Outreach Manager: Alice Wessen
Editors: Phil Davis and Kirk Munsell
Science Writer: Samantha Harvey
Webmaster: David Martin
Last Updated: 22 Oct 2009
+ Contact Us








+ NASA Homepage
+ NASA en Espaol
+ Contact NASA








SSE Home > Planets > Earth







0
0











About Our Solar System


Sun


Mercury


Venus


Earth


Earth's Moon


Mars


Asteroids


Meteors & Meteorites


Jupiter


Saturn


Uranus


Neptune


Pluto





Earth:





A true-color NASA satellite mosaic of Earth.




Earth in Brief
Earth is an ocean planet. Our home world's abundance of water - and life - makes it
unique in our solar system. Other planets, plus a few moons, have ice, atmospheres,
seasons and even weather, but only on Earth does the whole complicated mix come
together in a way that encourages life - and lots of it.
Featured Mission: Earth Science Missions
Orbiting spacecraft study our home world from above as a whole system and aid in our
understanding how the planet is changing.
Read More About Earth









Comets


Kuiper Belt


Dwarf Planets


Oort Cloud


Moons of Our Solar System


Beyond Our Solar System














Metric | English | Scientific Notation

Distance from the Sun: 149,597,890 km



Equatorial Radius: 6,378.14 km



Volume: 1,083,200,000,000 km
3





Mass: 5,973,700,000,000,000,000,000,
000 kg



More Facts





Missions to Earth

Earth from Space: An Astronaut's View of the
Home Planet

Exploring the Planets - Earth

Missions to Explore Earth

NASA Earth Science Enterprise

Compare Earth to other Planets/Moons



More Resources







Explore more of NASA on the Web: NASA Site Network


NASA Enterprises and Field Centers









+ Awards & Recognition
+ Send to a Friend
+ The Vision for Space Exploration
+ NASA Solar System Exploration Roadmap
+ Privacy/Copyright/Image Use Policy



NASA Official: Marilyn Lindstrom
Outreach Manager: Alice Wessen
Editors: Phil Davis and Kirk Munsell
Science Writer: Samantha Harvey
Webmaster: David Martin
Last Updated: 28 Oct 2009
+ Contact Us