Portal:Solar System

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The Sun and planets of the Solar System

The Solar System consists of the Sun and the other celestial objects gravitationally bound to it: the eight planets, their moons, five currently identified dwarf planets and their seven known moons, and billions of small bodies. This last category includes asteroids, Kuiper belt objects, comets, meteoroids and interplanetary dust. In broad terms, the charted regions of the Solar System consist of the Sun, four terrestrial inner planets, an asteroid belt composed of small rocky bodies, four gas giant outer planets, and a second belt, called the Kuiper belt, composed of icy objects. Beyond the Kuiper belt lies the scattered disc, the heliopause, and ultimately the hypothetical Oort cloud. In order of their distances from the Sun, the planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Six of the eight planets are in turn orbited by natural satellites, usually termed "moons" after Earth's Moon, and each of the outer planets is encircled by planetary rings of dust and other particles. All the planets except Earth are named after gods and goddesses from Greco-Roman mythology. The five dwarf planets are Pluto, Makemake, and Haumea, the three largest known Kuiper belt objects; Ceres, the largest object in the asteroid belt; and Eris, the largest known object in the scattered disc. Template:/box-footer

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Io, with two plumes erupting from its surface.
Volcanism on Io, a moon of Jupiter, produces lava flows, volcanic pits, and plumes of sulfur and sulfur dioxide hundreds of kilometres high. This volcanic activity was discovered in 1979 by Voyager 1 imaging scientists. Observations of Io by passing spacecraft and Earth-based astronomers have revealed more than 150 active volcanoes. Io's volcanism makes the satellite one of only four known volcanically active worlds in the solar system. First predicted shortly before the Voyager 1 flyby, the heat source for Io's volcanism comes from tidal heating produced by Io's forced orbital eccentricity. Io's volcanism has led to the formation of hundreds of volcanic centres and extensive lava formations, making the moon the most volcanically active body in the solar system. Three different types of volcanic eruptions have been identified, differing in duration, intensity, lava effusion rate, and whether the eruption occurs within a volcanic pit. Lava flows on Io, tens or hundreds of kilometres long, have primarily basaltic composition, similar to lavas seen on Earth at shield volcanoes such as Kīlauea in Hawaii. As a result of the presence of significant quantities of sulfurous materials in Io's crust and on its surface, during some eruptions, sulfur, sulfur dioxide gas, and pyroclastic material are blown up to 500 kilometres (310 mi) into space, producing large, umbrella-shaped volcanic plumes.

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Moon
Credit: Michael K. Fairbanks

The Moon is the only natural satellite of Earth. During the ancient period, it was not uncommon for cultures to believe that the Moon died each night, thus descending into the underworld. As late as the 1920s (or so), it was believed that the Moon might have a breathable atmosphere. In 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to land on the Moon.

Template:/box-header The original scalloped margin dome, known as "The Tick"

  • ...that although NASA originally thought that there was only one scalloped margin dome on the planet Venus (pictured), they have since discovered hundreds of them?

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The Sun Mercury Venus The Moon Earth Mars Phobos and Deimos Ceres The main asteroid belt Jupiter Moons of Jupiter Saturn Moons of Saturn Uranus Moons of Uranus Neptune Moons of Neptune Pluto Moons of Pluto Haumea Moons of Haumea Makemake The Kuiper Belt Eris Dysnomia The Scattered Disc The Hills Cloud The Oort CloudSolar System Template Final.png

Solar System: Planets (Definition ˑ Planetary habitability ˑ Terrestrial planets ˑ Gas giants ˑ Rings) ˑ Dwarf planets (Plutoid) ˑ Moons ˑ Exploration ˑ Colonization ˑ Discovery timeline

Sun: Sunspot ˑ Solar wind ˑ Solar flare ˑ Solar eclipse
Mercury: Geology ˑ Exploration (Mariner 10 ˑ MESSENGER ˑ BepiColombo) ˑ Transit
Venus: Geology ˑ Atmosphere ˑ Exploration (Venera ˑ Mariner program 2/5/10 ˑ Pioneer ˑ Vega 1/2ˑ Magellan ˑ Venus Express) ˑ Transit
Earth: History ˑ Geology ˑ Geography ˑ Atmosphere ˑ Rotation
Moon: Geology ˑ Selenography ˑ Atmosphere ˑ Exploration (Luna ˑ Apollo 8/11) ˑ Orbit ˑ Lunar eclipse
Mars: Moons (Phobos ˑ Deimos) ˑ Geology ˑ Geography ˑ Atmosphere ˑ Exploration (Mariner ˑ Mars ˑ Viking 1/2 ˑ Pathfinder ˑ MER)
Ceres: Exploration (Dawn)
Jupiter: Moons (Amalthea, Io ˑ Europa ˑ Ganymede ˑ Callisto) ˑ Rings ˑ Atmosphere ˑ Magnetosphere ˑ Exploration (Pioneer 10/11 ˑ Voyager 1/2 ˑ Ulysses ˑ Cassini ˑ Galileo ˑ New Horizons)
Saturn: Moons (Mimas ˑ Enceladus ˑ Tethys ˑ Dione ˑ Rhea ˑ Titan ˑ Iapetus) ˑ Rings ˑ Exploration (Pioneer 11 ˑ Voyager 1/2 ˑ CassiniHuygens)
Uranus: Moons (Miranda ˑ Ariel ˑ Umbriel ˑ Titania ˑ Oberon) ˑ Rings ˑ Exploration (Voyager 2)
Neptune: Moons (Triton) ˑ Rings ˑ Exploration (Voyager 2)
Planets beyond Neptune
Pluto: Moons (Charon, Nix, Hydra, Kerberos, Styx) ˑ Exploration (New Horizons)
Haumea: Moons (Hi'iaka, Namaka)
Makemake
Eris: Dysnomia
Small bodies: Meteoroids ˑ Asteroids (Asteroid belt) ˑ Centaurs ˑ TNOs (Kuiper belt ˑ Scattered disc ˑ Oort cloud) ˑ Comets (Hale-Bopp ˑ Halley's ˑ Hyakutake ˑ Shoemaker-Levy 9)
Formation and evolution of the Solar System: History of Solar System formation and evolution hypotheses ˑ Nebular hypothesis
See Also: Featured content ˑ Featured topic ˑ Good articles ˑ List of objects

Bold articles are featured.
Italicized articles are on dwarf planets or major moons. Template:/box-footer

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The planet Saturn, see here eclipsing the sun

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