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The Solar System A Short History

 

There are few things in this universe as majestic as a star. The way they hang in the sky, seemingly unchanging, while below everything on Earth seems to change so rapidly. It's no wonder that people have been looking up at stars for centuries, trying to make sense of them. In this blog post, we'll be taking a look at our own solar system, and the history of how we came to know about it. Stay tuned!

The sun and its planets

The solar system is made up of the sun, eight planets, asteroids, comets and many other smaller objects. It orbits around the Milky Way galaxy. Our sun is an average sized star and is about halfway through its life. It will eventually expand and become a red giant, before eventually cooling off into a white dwarf. The planets all orbit around the sun. The planets closest to the sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars are the terrestrial planets. They are made up of rock and have a solid surface. The outer planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are the gas giants. They are mostly made of gas and have no solid surface according to g15tools.com

How the solar system formed

The solar system formed about 4.6 billion years ago from a cloud of gas and dust. The sun formed in the center and the planets formed around it. The outer planets are thought to have formed from the left over material that didn't form the sun or inner planets. The asteroid belt is thought to be the remains of a fifth planet that never fully formed.

The first planet to form was Mercury. It is the smallest planet and closest to the sun. It has a very thin atmosphere and no moons. Venus is the second planet from the sun. It is slightly smaller than Earth and has a thick atmosphere made up of carbon dioxide. It also has no moons. Earth is the third planet from the sun. It is the largest of the terrestrial planets and has one moon. Mars is the fourth planet from the sun. It is smaller than Earth and has two small moons. Jupiter is the fifth planet from the sun. It is the largest planet in the solar system and has 67 moons! Saturn is the sixth planet from the sun. It is the second largest planet and has 62 moons. Uranus is the seventh planet from the sun. It is much smaller than Jupiter and Saturn and has 27 moons. Neptune is the eighth and final planet from the sun. It is very similar to Uranus and has 14 moons.

how long is a sol

A sol is the duration of a Martian day, which is 24 hours, 39 minutes, and 35 seconds. This is slightly longer than an Earth day, which is 24 hours. The extra time is due to Mars' elliptical orbit around the sun. The length of a Martian day also varies depending on the planet's position in its orbit. When Mars is closer to the sun, the days are shorter, and when it is further away, the days are longer.

The days also get longer as the planet gets closer to perihelion, its point of closest approach to the sun. In contrast, the days get shorter as Mars approaches aphelion, its farthest point from the sun. The changing length of days on Mars can have a significant impact on seasonal weather patterns. For example, during autumn and winter, when the days are shorter, Martian ice caps grow larger as the atmosphere cools and frozen carbon dioxide condenses out of the air. Similarly, during spring and summer, when the days are longer, the ice caps shrink as the atmosphere warms and more carbon dioxide gas evaporates into the air.


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