Solar System

Cosma / Communication / Knowledge / Realm / Physical / Universe / Solar System, Our Neighborhood
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Introduction¹

Dictionary

Solar System : the sun together with the group of celestial bodies that are held by its attraction and revolve around it; also : a similar system centered on another star — Webster See also OneLook

Encyclopedia

Solar System is the gravitationally bound system comprising the Sun and the objects that orbit it, either directly or indirectly. Of those objects that orbit the Sun directly, the largest eight are the planets, with the remainder being significantly smaller objects, such as dwarf planets and small Solar System bodies. Of the objects that orbit the Sun indirectly, the moons, two are larger than the smallest planet, Mercury.

The Solar System formed 4.6 billion years ago from the gravitational collapse of a giant interstellar molecular cloud. The vast majority of the system’s mass is in the Sun, with most of the remaining mass contained in Jupiter. The four smaller inner planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars, are terrestrial planets, being primarily composed of rock and metal. The four outer planets are giant planets, being substantially more massive than the terrestrials. The two largest, Jupiter and Saturn, are gas giants, being composed mainly of hydrogen and helium; the two outermost planets, Uranus and Neptune, are ice giants, being composed mostly of substances with relatively high melting points compared with hydrogen and helium, called volatiles, such as water, ammonia and methane. All planets have almost circular orbits that lie within a nearly flat disc called the ecliptic. — Wikipedia

Solar System (Encyclopædia Britannica)

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Exploration

Solar Extremes

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Wander through 3D galleries with links to resources on this site and the Web.

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Innovation

Science

NASA’s Eyes is a freely available suite of computer visualization applications created by the Visualization Technology Applications and Development Team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to render scientifically accurate views of the planets studied by JPL missions and the spacecraft used in that study. The Eyes family of products is available for desktop computers running Windows 7+, and Mac OSX 10.8+ with a Linux version being planned. Deep Space Network Now and Experience Curiosity are web-based and available across all platforms. 3D models of spacecraft and other objects are displayed with the option of comparing their size to a human, school bus, or football stadium. — Wikipedia