Solar System Flashcards, test questions and answers

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What is Solar System?

The Solar System is made up of the Sun, eight known planets and their moons, asteroids, comets, Kuiper Belt objects and other celestial bodies. It is located in the Milky Way Galaxy and orbits around the galactic center approximately once every 250 million years. The planets that orbit our Sun are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Each planet has its own unique characteristics such as size and composition which sets it apart from all others. The Sun is at the center of our Solar System. It is a yellow star composed mostly of hydrogen and helium gas surrounded by a swirling atmosphere called the corona. The Sun’s gravity holds all of the planets in their orbits around it due to its immense mass (99% of all matter within our solar system). Its gravitational force also affects other celestial bodies such as comets and asteroids which come close enough for its gravitational pull to capture them into our system’s sphere of influence. Mercury is closest to the sun with an average distance of 57 million km (35 million mi). This small terrestrial world has no atmosphere or water on its surface but still experiences extreme temperatures ranging from -170°C (-275°F) during night time to +430°C (+800°F) during day time because there’s no air or clouds to block out sunlight energy. Mercury’s core contains heavy elements like iron while its outer layer consists mainly of silicate rocks which give rise to streaks on its surface when blasted by micrometeorites coming from deep space collisions elsewhere in our solar system. Venus follows after Mercury with an average distance 106 million km (66 million mi). A unique feature about this planet is its thick sulfuric acid-based atmosphere full of carbon dioxide which traps heat radiating off from nearby stars creating an intense greenhouse effect causing temperatures near 500°C (932 °F), making it one if not THE hottest place in entire solar system. Beneath this hot gaseous blanket lies a barren landscape composed mostly basalt rock covered with impact craters leftover from asteroid collisions billions years ago before life had even evolved here on Earth yet.