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What is the solar system?

seo-qna
Last updated date: 16th Sep 2024
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Hint: Humanity did not perceive or comprehend the idea of the Solar System for the majority of its existence. Most people thought that Earth was immobile at the centre of the cosmos until the Late Middle Ages–Renaissance, and that it was distinct from the divine or ethereal things that travelled through the sky. Nicolaus Copernicus was the first to construct a mathematically predicted heliocentric theory, despite the fact that Greek philosopher Aristarchus of Samos had theorised on a heliocentric rearrangement of the universe.

Complete step by step answer:
The Solar System is the gravitationally bound system comprising the Sun and the objects that directly or indirectly orbit it. The eight planets are the biggest of the objects that circle the Sun directly, with the dwarf planets and tiny Solar System entities making up the rest. Two of the natural satellites that circle the Sun indirectly are bigger than Mercury, the smallest planet. The Solar System was created by the gravitational collapse of a massive interstellar molecular cloud 4.6 billion years ago. The Sun holds the great bulk of the system's mass, with Jupiter holding the majority of the remaining mass. Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars, the four smaller inner planets, are terrestrial planets made largely of rock and metal. The four outer planets are enormous planets, with masses far greater than the terrestrial planets. The two biggest planets, Jupiter and Saturn, are gas giants, consisting mostly of hydrogen and helium; the two outermost planets, Uranus and Neptune, are ice giants, consisting primarily of volatiles, such as water and ammonia, with comparatively high melting points compared to hydrogen and helium. The orbits of all eight planets are roughly round and sit inside a nearly flat disc known as the ecliptic. Smaller objects can also be found in the Solar System. The asteroid belt, which sits between Mars and Jupiter's orbits, is primarily made up of rock and metal objects, similar to the terrestrial planets. The Kuiper belt and dispersed disc, which are populations of trans-Neptunian objects primarily made of ices, reside beyond Neptune's orbit, as does a newly discovered population of sednoids. Some objects among these populations are massive enough to have rounded under their own gravity, however how many there will be is a matter of contention. Dwarf planets are the name given to such objects. Pluto is the only dwarf planet known to exist, but another trans-Neptunian object, Eris, is suspected to be one, and the asteroid Ceres is at least near to being one. Other small-body populations, like comets, centaurs, and interplanetary dust clouds, freely move between these two areas in addition to these two. Natural satellites circle six of the planets, the six biggest potential dwarf planets, and many of the smaller bodies, which are commonly referred to as "moons" after the Moon. Planetary rings of dust and other tiny particles encircle each of the outer planets.

Note:
The heliosphere is a bubble-like area in the interstellar medium created by the solar wind, a stream of charged particles streaming outwards from the Sun. The heliopause, which stretches out to the edge of the dispersed disc, is the point where the solar wind's pressure equals the opposing pressure of the interstellar medium. The Oort cloud, which is considered to be the source of long-period comets, might be thousands of times farther away than the heliosphere. The Solar System is approximately 26,000 light-years from the Milky Way's core in the Orion Arm.