Our Solar System

A History

Sometime between 12 and 20 billion years ago, a dense superatom known as the cosmic egg exploded. This "cosmic egg" was about the size of an atom, but it contained all of the matter in today's universe. The force generated by the explosion was tremendous. In fact, the thermal radiation it generated was enough that the coldest reaches of the universe hover at temperatures of about 5 Kelvins. That moment was known as the Big Bang. In the first few seconds, known as Inflation, the universe expanded at nearly the speed of light. It quickly began to slow down. Between 100,000 and 1,000,000 years later, the energy released cooled and condensed into hydrogen and helium in huge quantities. These gas clouds, known as protogalaxies, collapsed in places and formed stars. In time, they formed into the galaxies we see today.
About 4.6 billion years ago, a cloud of hydrogen and helium, with relatively small quantities of oxygen and carbon, and even smaller amounts of nitrogen, neon, silicon, and magnesium, collapsed in 10 million years to a disk of hot matter. Enough matter collapsed into the center of the disk to make a sun that burned with a nuclear flame. Twenty million years after that, the dust in the disk collected into lumps of hot solids and gases. In 120 million years, these lumps cooled into the planets we see today. Aside from the fact that Earth harbors life, our solar system is an average one, out on the edge of a rather large galaxy known as the Milky Way.
For millenia, man has looked up in wonder at the sun, the planets, and the innumerable other bodies which make up our solar system.

Structure of Our Solar System

The sun is the dominating force of our solar system. At a mass of about 2.19 million billion trillion tons, it holds uncountable amounts of matter in orbit at miraculous distances.

The inner planets are the four closest planets to the sun. The orbits of these rocky planets extend from 36.2 million miles from the sun to 141.6 million miles away.

The asteroid belt is the region revolving around the sun which contains 3,300 visible objects and, possibly, hundreds of thousands of tiny ones.

The outer planets are, except for the furthest one, Pluto, large balls of gas that command large numbers of satellites. Their orbital radii range from 483.6 million miles to 3.7 billion miles from the sun.

Finally, there is the Oort cloud. At a distance from the sun of over 4 trillion miles, the Oort cloud is far away from the interior of the solar system. This spherical cloud is thought to be the breeding ground of comets.

Top 5


 Albedo Axal Inclination Average Distance to Sun Equatorial Diameter Escape Velocity
1 Venus-65% Uranus-82.1° Pluto-3,663,800,000 mi
(5,896,300,000 km)		 Sun-865,000 mi
(1,392,000 km)		 Sun-385 mi/sec
(620 km/sec)
2 Pluto-54% Pluto-68° Neptune-2,792,400,000 mi
(4,493,900,000 km)		 Jupiter-88,703 mi
(142,754 km)		 Jupiter-36.97 mi/sec
(59.5 km/sec)
3 Jupiter-52% Neptune-28.8° Uranus-1,782,000,000 mi
(2,867,900,000 km) 		Saturn-74,600 mi
(120,057 km) 		Saturn-22.12 mi/sec
(35.6 km/sec)
4 Uranus-51% Saturn-26.7° Saturn-886,200,000 mi
(1,426,200,000 km)		 Uranus-31,800 mi
(51,177 km)		 Neptune-14.66 mi/sec
(23.59 km/sec)
5 Saturn-47% Mars-25.2° Jupiter-483,300,000 mi
(777,800,000 km)		 Neptune-30,770 mi
(49,520 km)		 Uranus-13.18 mi/sec
(21.21 km/sec)

Gravitational Acceleration Mass Mean Density Number of Moons Orbital Eccentricity
1 Sun-895 ft/sec²
(273 m/sec²)		 Sun-4.285• 1030 lbs
(1.989• 1030 kg)		 Earth-5.52• water density Saturn-18 Pluto-.25
2 Jupiter-75.1 ft/sec²
(22.9 m/sec²)		 Jupiter-4.187• 1027 lbs
(1.899• 1027 kg)		 Mercury-5.43• water density Jupiter-17 Mercury-.206
3 Neptune-36.1 ft/sec²
(11 m/sec²)		 Saturn-1.253• 1027 lbs
(5.684• 1026 kg)		 Venus-5.24• water density Uranus-15 Mars-.093
4 Earth-32.1 ft/sec²
(9.8 m/sec²)		 Neptune-2.256• 1026 lbs
(1.023• 1026 kg)		 Mars-3.94• water density Neptune-8 Saturn-.056
5 Saturn-29.7 ft/sec²
(13.5 m/sec²)		 Uranus-1.915• 1026 lbs
(8.673• 1025 kg)		 Pluto-2• water density Mars-2 Jupiter-.048

Orbital Inclination Orbital Period Orbital Velocity Polar Diameter Rotational Period
1 Pluto-17.2° Pluto-247.69 earth years Mercury-107,130 mph
(172,410 kph)		 Sun-865,000 mi
(1,392,000 km)		 Venus-243.02 earth days
2 Mercury-7° Neptune-164.79 earth years Venus-78,360 mph
(126,110 kph)		 Jupiter-83,052 mi
(133,659 km)		 Mercury-58.65 earth days
3 Venus-3.4° Uranus-84.01 earth years Earth-66,640 mph
(107,250 kph)		 Saturn-66,991 mi
(107,812 km)		 Pluto-6.39 earth days
4 Saturn-2.5° Saturn-29.46 earth years Mars-53,980 mph
(86,870 kph)		 Uranus-31,037 mi
(49,949 km)		 Mars-24 hrs 37 min
5 Mars & Neptune-1.8° Jupiter-11.86 earth years Jupiter-29,210 mph
(47,010 kph)		 Neptune-29,952 mi
(48,203 km)		 Earth-23 hrs 56 min

Minimum Temperature (5 lowest) Maximum Temperature


1 Pluto- -390° F
(-234° C)		 Sun-11,000° F
(6,000° C)


2 Neptune- -367° F
(-222° C)		 Venus-900° F
(480° C)


3 Mercury- -350° F
(-212° C)		 Mercury-800° F
(425° C)


4 Uranus- -348° F
(-211° C)		 Earth-136.4° F
(58° C)


5 Saturn- -300° F
(-185° C)		 Mars-80° F
(25° C)