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Since the dawn of time, the question which planet is farthest from the sun has been a burning scientific curiosity. With the right knowledge, you could hypothetically find out by taking a trip to Mars and observing whether or not it’s raining there. But what kind of person would want to do that?
Scientists can answer the question which planet is farthest from the sun with relatively high accuracy. In fact, it’s so high of accuracy that they can answer it with only an average error of about 20 miles!
The best way to determine which planet is farthest from the sun is to observe how planets move with respect to one another (and themselves) over an extended period of time. This is called “orbital mechanics” and we’ve got all you need to get started.
You probably know the answer: the one farthest away from the Sun is the planet Pluto. It’s 3.7 billion miles away from our sun, and it’s hard to see because it looks like a dot in the sky. But if you look really close, you’ll see it.
How Many Planets Are In The Solar System?
We’re sure you’ve heard it before, but there are eight planets in the solar system. There used to be nine, but Pluto was demoted to a dwarf planet in 2006 because it’s not big enough (sorry!). There are two other dwarf planets: Ceres and Eris.
Which Planet Is Closest To The Sun?
Apart from asking which planet is farthest from the sun, people also ask which planet is closest to the sun? Most people usually get this answer wrong. This is because, for a long time, it was believed that Mercury was the planet that spent most of its time closest to the sun. However, in 2006, scientists discovered that Venus actually spends more time closer to the sun than Mercury does.
In fact, there are three planets that spend more time closer to the sun than Mercury does: Venus, Mars and Jupiter. However, Mercury does spend more than half of its year closer to the sun than Earth does.
The reason for this discrepancy is that Venus and Earth are tidally locked with respect to each other. This means that one side of Venus always faces towards Earth while the opposite side always faces away from Earth. This means that it spends less time closer to us than Mercury does.
Which Is The Largest Planet?
Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system. The mass of Jupiter is 318 times greater than that of Earth. It has a volume of 1321 times that of Earth. Its mean radius is 1/10th that of the Sun and 11 times that of Earth. Jupiter has 63 known moons.
While Saturn has a larger diameter than Jupiter, Jupiter is more massive, with a total volume 317 times as great as Saturn’s and a mass 318 times as great as Saturn’s.
Jupiter’s diameter (138,000 km) is 11 times greater than Earth’s diameter (12,756 km), but its mass is only 1⁄1000th that of the Sun. Jupiter cannot support life as we know it; its atmosphere consists primarily of hydrogen and helium. However, scientists believe it may have a solid inner core made up of metallic hydrogen.
How Many Earths Make Up The Sun?
The Sun is one of the most awe-inspiring sights in the entire universe. It has been worshipped by cultures throughout history and is glorious to behold. But how much does it weigh? How much would it weigh if it were made up of Earths, specifically?
The answer is that the Sun weighs 2×10^30 kilograms or 2 quadrillion trillion kilograms. To put that in perspective, that’s over a billion times larger than our very own planet Earth!
And if you wanted to stack up all those Earths into a ball of dirt, it would be nearly 1.3 million kilometers wide; that’s almost three times the radius of our planet and over eight times larger than the moon!
If you took all of those Earths and stacked them together, they would make for a pretty large ball of dirt. But if you stacked them on top of each other instead? They would stretch over 8 million kilometers into the air; which is more than two times taller than what we know as “space” right now.
Do All Planets Have Moons?
It is a question that has been asked by curious children and intrepid scientists alike. In fact, many would argue that one of the defining characteristics of a planet is the presence of moons, while other scientists might disagree. The truth is that there are no hard and fast rules when it comes to categorizing the planets in our solar system.
The International Astronomical Union (IAU) defines a planet as a round body orbiting the sun, but does not mention moons. This means that technically, any round object could be defined as a planet, including asteroids and comets. However, most people would not consider these celestial bodies to be planets because they do not orbit the sun.
Are there any planets without moons? There are currently only two known planets in our solar system that do not have any natural satellites: Mercury and Venus. However, there are many more objects in space that may meet the IAU’s definition of a planet but do not have any moons around them. These include Pluto (which was demoted from planetary status in 2006), and Ceres (which is classified as an asteroid).
Which Planet Has Life Apart From Earth?
There are numerous planets, moons and stars in the boundless universe. But only one planet – Earth – is known to have life. However, there are several candidates that we believe could also house life forms.
Mars
One of the closest planets to Earth is Mars. The red planet has been a source of interest for scientists for centuries and more recently it has become a major topic for debate as it has been suggested that Mars could be home to microbial life. Many scientists have gone a step further and suggested that Mars may once have housed more complex life forms and that these creatures may have evolved further if their habitat hadn’t changed so dramatically.
Venus
Venus was once considered the most hospitable planet in our solar system because of its similar size to Earth and its proximity to our planet. However, research over time revealed that Venus is a very different place than first thought with surface temperatures hotter than Mercury (450 degrees Celsius). However, some believe that Venus could still be home to life forms despite its extreme conditions. They suggest that Venus’ clouds could provide a safe haven for microbes in spite of the intense heat at ground level.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we see that Venus is the closest planet to the sun. It’s in fact, at the very inner-edge of our solar system. Mercury comes next, then our Earth, followed by Mars and Jupiter. Saturn rounds out our solar system list. And Uranus and Neptune are considered “ice giants” and are located outside our solar system.
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