Solar System


The Solar System is comprised of one star-the Sun, eight known planets, the newly classified "dwarf planets", thousands of asteroids, comets, and meteoroids. There are many web sites that will provide you with very detailed information concerning all of these subjects. Here we provide you with some basic statistics to get you started.

Under the new guidelines of International Astronomical Union pulished in August 2006, Pluto is no longer a planet, instead it falls into the category of being a Dwarf Planet because it lies within the Kuiper Belt of thousands of icy asteroid like objects.

Sun comprises of 99% mass of the total Solar System.

Jupiter is the largest planet of our Solar System.

One hundred and nine Earths would be required to fit across the Sun's disk, and its interior could hold over 1.3 million Earths.

Astronomers believe that the Solar System more than almost 4.5 billion years old.

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