The direction of rotation of the planets around the sun. How I easily learned the names of the planets

This is a system of planets, in the center of which there is a bright star, a source of energy, heat and light - the Sun.
According to one theory, the Sun was formed along with the Solar System about 4.5 billion years ago as a result of the explosion of one or more supernovae. Initially, the solar system was a cloud of gas and dust particles, which, in motion and under the influence of their mass, formed a disk in which new star The sun and our entire solar system.

To the center solar system There is the Sun, around which nine large planets revolve in orbits. Since the Sun is displaced from the center of planetary orbits, during the cycle of revolution around the Sun the planets either approach or move away in their orbits.

There are two groups of planets:

Terrestrial planets: And . These planets are small in size with a rocky surface, they are located closer friend them to the Sun.

Giant planets: And . These are large planets, consisting mainly of gas and characterized by the presence of rings consisting of icy dust and many rocky pieces.

But does not fall into any group, because, despite its location in the Solar System, it is located too far from the Sun and has a very small diameter, only 2320 km, which is half the diameter of Mercury.

Planets of the Solar System

Let's begin a fascinating acquaintance with the planets of the Solar System in order of their location from the Sun, and also consider their main satellites and some other space objects (comets, asteroids, meteorites) in the gigantic expanses of our planetary system.

Rings and moons of Jupiter: Europa, Io, Ganymede, Callisto and others...
The planet Jupiter is surrounded by a whole family of 16 satellites, and each of them has its own unique features...

Rings and moons of Saturn: Titan, Enceladus and others...
Not only the planet Saturn has characteristic rings, but also other giant planets. Around Saturn, the rings are especially clearly visible, because they consist of billions of small particles that revolve around the planet, in addition to several rings, Saturn has 18 satellites, one of which is Titan, its diameter is 5000 km, which makes it the largest satellite in the solar system...

Rings and moons of Uranus: Titania, Oberon and others...
The planet Uranus has 17 satellites and, like other giant planets, there are thin rings surrounding the planet that have practically no ability to reflect light, so they were discovered not so long ago in 1977, completely by accident...

Rings and moons of Neptune: Triton, Nereid and others...
Initially, before the exploration of Neptune by the Voyager 2 spacecraft, two satellites of the planet were known - Triton and Nerida. An interesting fact is that the Triton satellite has a reverse direction of orbital motion; strange volcanoes were also discovered on the satellite that erupted nitrogen gas like geysers, spreading a dark-colored mass (from liquid to vapor) many kilometers into the atmosphere. During its mission, Voyager 2 discovered six more moons of the planet Neptune...

The solar system is our cosmic region, and the planets in it are our homes. Agree, each house should have its own number.

In this article you will learn about the correct location of the planets, as well as why they are called this way and not otherwise.

Let's start with the Sun.

Literally, the star of today's article is the Sun. They named him that, according to some sources, in honor of the Roman god Sol, he was the god of the heavenly body. The root “sol” is present in almost all languages ​​of the world and in one way or another gives an association with the modern concept of the Sun.

From this luminary it begins correct order objects, each of which is unique in its own way.

Mercury

The very first object of our attention is Mercury, named after the divine messenger Mercury, distinguished by his phenomenal speed. And Mercury itself is by no means slow - due to its location, it rotates around the Sun faster than all the planets in our system, being, moreover, the smallest “house” revolving around our luminary.

Interesting facts:

• Mercury revolves around the Sun in an ellipsoidal orbit, not a round one like other planets, and this orbit is constantly shifting.
• Mercury has an iron core, making up 40% of its total mass and 83% of its volume.
• Mercury can be seen in the sky with the naked eye.

Venus

“House” number two in our system. Venus was named after the goddess- the beautiful patroness of love. In size, Venus is only slightly inferior to our Earth. Its atmosphere consists almost entirely of carbon dioxide. There is oxygen in its atmosphere, but in very small quantities.

Interesting facts:

Earth

The only space object on which life has been discovered is the third planet in our system. For living organisms to live comfortably on Earth, there is everything: suitable temperature, oxygen and water. The name of our planet comes from the Proto-Slavic root “-zem”, meaning “low”. Probably, it was called that way in ancient times because it was considered flat, in other words “low”.

Interesting facts:

• Earth's satellite The Moon is the largest satellite among the satellites of the terrestrial planets - the dwarf planets.
• It is the densest planet among the terrestrial group.
• Earth and Venus are sometimes called sisters because they both have atmospheres.

Mars

The fourth planet from the Sun. Mars is named after ancient roman god wars for their blood-red color, which is not bloody at all, but, in fact, iron. It is the high iron content that gives the surface of Mars its red color. Mars is smaller than Earth, but has two satellites: Phobos and Deimos.

Interesting facts:

Asteroid belt

The asteroid belt is located between Mars and Jupiter. It acts as a boundary between the terrestrial planets and the giant planets. Some scientists believe that the asteroid belt is nothing more than a planet that has shattered into fragments. But for now the whole world is more inclined to the theory that the asteroid belt is a consequence Big Bang, which gave birth to the galaxy.

Jupiter

Jupiter is the fifth “house”, counting from the Sun. It is two and a half times heavier than all the planets in the galaxy combined. Jupiter is named after the ancient Roman king of the gods, most likely due to its impressive size.

Interesting facts:

Saturn

Saturn is named after the Roman god of agriculture. The symbol of Saturn is the sickle. The sixth planet is widely known for its rings. Saturn has the lowest density of all natural satellites, orbiting the Sun. Its density is even lower than that of water.

Interesting facts:

• Saturn has 62 satellites. The most famous of them: Titan, Enceladus, Iapetus, Dione, Tethys, Rhea and Mimas.
• Saturn's moon Titan has the most significant atmosphere of all the system's moons, and Rhea has rings, like Saturn itself.
• Compound chemical elements The Sun and Saturn are more similar than the Sun and other objects in the solar system.

Uranus

The seventh “house” in the solar system. Sometimes Uranus is called the “lazy planet”, because during rotation it lies on its side - the tilt of its axis is 98 degrees. Also Uranus is the most light planet Our system and its moons are named after characters from William Shakespeare and Alexander Pope. Uranus itself is named after the Greek god of the sky.

Interesting facts:

• Uranus has 27 moons, the most famous of which are Titania, Ariel, Umbriel and Miranda.
• The temperature on Uranus is -224 degrees Celsius.
• One year on Uranus is equal to 84 years on Earth.

Neptune

Eighth, last planet The solar system is located quite close to its neighbor Uranus. Neptune got its name in honor of the god of the seas and oceans. Obviously, it was given to this space object after researchers saw a deep blue Neptune.

Interesting facts:

About Pluto

Pluto has officially ceased to be considered a planet since August 2006. It was considered too small and declared an asteroid. The name of the former planet of the galaxy is not at all the name of some god. The discoverer of this now asteroid named this space object after his daughter’s favorite cartoon character, Pluto the dog.

In this article, we briefly looked at the positions of the planets. We hope you found this article useful and informative.

Planets of the Solar System

According to the official position of the International Astronomical Union (IAU), the organization that assigns names to astronomical objects, there are only 8 planets.

Pluto was removed from the planet category in 2006. because There are objects in the Kuiper belt that are larger/equal in size to Pluto. Therefore, even if it is taken as a full-fledged celestial body, then it is necessary to add Eris to this category, which has almost the same size as Pluto.

By MAC definition, there are 8 known planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

All planets are divided into two categories depending on their physical characteristics: terrestrial group and gas giants.

Schematic representation of the location of the planets

Terrestrial planets

Mercury

The smallest planet in the solar system has a radius of only 2440 km. The period of revolution around the Sun, equated to an earthly year for ease of understanding, is 88 days, while Mercury manages to rotate around its own axis only one and a half times. Thus, his day lasts approximately 59 Earth days. For a long time it was believed that this planet always turned the same side to the Sun, since periods of its visibility from Earth were repeated with a frequency approximately equal to four Mercury days. This misconception was dispelled with the advent of the ability to use radar research and conduct continuous observations using space stations. The orbit of Mercury is one of the most unstable; not only the speed of movement and its distance from the Sun change, but also the position itself. Anyone interested can observe this effect.

Mercury in color, image from the MESSENGER spacecraft

Its proximity to the Sun is the reason why Mercury is subject to the largest temperature changes among the planets in our system. The average daytime temperature is about 350 degrees Celsius, and the nighttime temperature is -170 °C. Sodium, oxygen, helium, potassium, hydrogen and argon were detected in the atmosphere. There is a theory that it was previously a satellite of Venus, but so far this remains unproven. It does not have its own satellites.

Venus

The second planet from the Sun, the atmosphere is almost entirely composed of carbon dioxide. She is often called Morning star and the Evening Star, because it is the first of the stars to become visible after sunset, just as before dawn it continues to be visible even when all the other stars have disappeared from view. The percentage of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is 96%, there is relatively little nitrogen in it - almost 4%, and water vapor and oxygen are present in very small quantities.

Venus in the UV spectrum

Such an atmosphere creates a greenhouse effect; the temperature on the surface is even higher than that of Mercury and reaches 475 °C. Considered the slowest, a Venusian day lasts 243 Earth days, which is almost equal to a year on Venus - 225 Earth days. Many call it Earth's sister because of its mass and radius, the values ​​of which are very close to those of Earth. The radius of Venus is 6052 km (0.85% of Earth's). Like Mercury, there are no satellites.

The third planet from the Sun and the only one in our system where there is liquid water on the surface, without which life on the planet could not have developed. At least life as we know it. The radius of the Earth is 6371 km and, unlike other celestial bodies in our system, more than 70% of its surface is covered with water. The rest of the space is occupied by continents. Another feature of the Earth is the tectonic plates hidden under the planet's mantle. At the same time, they are able to move, albeit at a very low speed, which over time causes changes in the landscape. The speed of the planet moving along it is 29-30 km/sec.

Our planet from space

One revolution around its axis takes almost 24 hours, and complete walkthrough in orbit lasts 365 days, which is much longer in comparison with its closest neighboring planets. The Earth's day and year are also accepted as a standard, but this is done only for the convenience of perceiving time periods on other planets. The Earth has one natural satellite - the Moon.

Mars

The fourth planet from the Sun, known for its thin atmosphere. Since 1960, Mars has been actively explored by scientists from several countries, including the USSR and the USA. Not all exploration programs have been successful, but water found at some sites suggests that primitive life exists on Mars, or existed in the past.

The brightness of this planet allows it to be seen from Earth without any instruments. Moreover, once every 15-17 years, during the Confrontation, it becomes the brightest object in the sky, eclipsing even Jupiter and Venus.

The radius is almost half that of Earth and is 3390 km, but the year is much longer - 687 days. He has 2 satellites - Phobos and Deimos .

Visual model of the solar system

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• Sun

  The Sun is a star that is a hot ball of hot gases at the center of our Solar System. Its influence extends far beyond the orbits of Neptune and Pluto. Without the Sun and its intense energy and heat, there would be no life on Earth. There are billions of stars like our Sun scattered throughout the Milky Way galaxy.

• Mercury

  Sun-scorched Mercury is only slightly larger than Earth's satellite the Moon. Like the Moon, Mercury is practically devoid of an atmosphere and cannot smooth out the traces of impact from falling meteorites, so it, like the Moon, is covered with craters. The day side of Mercury gets very hot from the Sun, while on the night side the temperature drops hundreds of degrees below zero. There is ice in the craters of Mercury, which are located at the poles. Mercury completes one revolution around the Sun every 88 days.

• Venus

  Venus is a world of monstrous heat (even more than on Mercury) and volcanic activity. Similar in structure and size to Earth, Venus is covered in a thick and toxic atmosphere that creates a strong greenhouse effect. This scorched world is hot enough to melt lead. Radar images through the powerful atmosphere revealed volcanoes and deformed mountains. Venus rotates in opposite direction, from the rotation of most planets.

• Earth is an ocean planet. Our home, with its abundance of water and life, makes it unique in our solar system. Other planets, including several moons, also have ice deposits, atmospheres, seasons and even weather, but only on Earth did all these components come together in a way that made life possible.

• Mars

  Although details of the surface of Mars are difficult to see from Earth, observations through a telescope indicate that Mars has seasons and white spots at the poles. For decades, people believed that the bright and dark areas on Mars were patches of vegetation, that Mars might be a suitable place for life, and that water existed in the polar ice caps. When the Mariner 4 spacecraft arrived at Mars in 1965, many scientists were shocked to see photographs of the murky, cratered planet. Mars turned out to be dead planet. More recent missions, however, have revealed that Mars holds many mysteries that remain to be solved.

• Jupiter

  Jupiter is the most massive planet in our solar system, with four large moons and many small moons. Jupiter forms a kind of miniature solar system. To become a full-fledged star, Jupiter needed to become 80 times more massive.

• Saturn

  Saturn is the farthest of the five planets known before the invention of the telescope. Like Jupiter, Saturn is composed primarily of hydrogen and helium. Its volume is 755 times greater than that of the Earth. Winds in its atmosphere reach speeds of 500 meters per second. These fast winds, combined with heat rising from the planet's interior, cause the yellow and golden streaks we see in the atmosphere.

• Uranus

  The first planet found using a telescope, Uranus was discovered in 1781 by astronomer William Herschel. The seventh planet is so far from the Sun that one revolution around the Sun takes 84 years.

• Neptune

  Distant Neptune rotates almost 4.5 billion kilometers from the Sun. It takes him 165 years to complete one revolution around the Sun. It is invisible to the naked eye due to its vast distance from Earth. Interestingly, its unusual elliptical orbit intersects with the orbit of the dwarf planet Pluto, which is why Pluto is inside the orbit of Neptune for about 20 years out of 248 during which it makes one revolution around the Sun.

• Pluto

  Tiny, cold and incredibly distant, Pluto was discovered in 1930 and was long considered the ninth planet. But after discoveries of Pluto-like worlds that were even further away, Pluto was reclassified as a dwarf planet in 2006.

Planets are giants

There are four gas giants located beyond the orbit of Mars: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune. They are located in the outer solar system. They are distinguished by their massiveness and gas composition.

Planets of the solar system, not to scale

Jupiter

Fifth in a row from the Sun and largest planet our system. Its radius is 69912 km, it is 19 times larger than the Earth and only 10 times smaller than the Sun. The year on Jupiter is not the longest in the solar system, lasting 4333 Earth days (less than 12 years). His own day has a duration of about 10 Earth hours. The exact composition of the planet's surface has not yet been determined, but it is known that krypton, argon and xenon are present on Jupiter in much larger quantities than on the Sun.

There is an opinion that one of the four gas giants is actually a failed star. This theory is also supported by the largest number of satellites, of which Jupiter has many - as many as 67. To imagine their behavior in the planet’s orbit, you need a fairly accurate and clear model of the solar system. The largest of them are Callisto, Ganymede, Io and Europa. Moreover, Ganymede is the largest satellite of the planets in the entire solar system, its radius is 2634 km, which is 8% greater than the size of Mercury, the smallest planet in our system. Io has the distinction of being one of only three moons with an atmosphere.

Saturn

The second largest planet and the sixth in the solar system. In comparison with other planets, it is most similar to the Sun in the composition of chemical elements. The radius of the surface is 57,350 km, the year is 10,759 days (almost 30 Earth years). A day here lasts a little longer than on Jupiter - 10.5 Earth hours. In terms of the number of satellites, it is not much behind its neighbor - 62 versus 67. The most large satellite Saturn's planet is Titan, as is Io, which is distinguished by the presence of an atmosphere. Slightly smaller in size, but no less famous are Enceladus, Rhea, Dione, Tethys, Iapetus and Mimas. It is these satellites that are the objects for the most frequent observation, and therefore we can say that they are the most studied in comparison with the others.

For a long time, the rings on Saturn were considered a unique phenomenon unique to it. Only recently it was established that all gas giants have rings, but in others they are not so clearly visible. Their origin has not yet been established, although there are several hypotheses about how they appeared. In addition, it was recently discovered that Rhea, one of the satellites of the sixth planet, also has some kind of rings.

It's hard to believe, but once upon a time Space was completely empty. There were no planets, no satellites, no stars. Where did they come from? How was the Solar System formed? These questions have troubled humanity for many centuries. This article will help give some idea of ​​what the Cosmos is and will open interesting facts about the planets of the solar system.

How it all began

The Universe is the entire visible and invisible Cosmos, along with all existing cosmic bodies. Several theories have been put forward for its appearance:

3. Divine intervention. Our Universe is so unique, everything in it is thought out to the smallest detail, that it could not arise by itself. Only the Great Creator can create such a miracle. It is absolutely not a scientific theory, but it has a right to exist.

Disputes about the reasons for the true emergence of outer space continue. In fact, we have an idea of ​​the solar system, which includes a burning star and eight planets with their satellites, galaxies, stars, comets, black holes and much more.

Amazing discoveries or interesting facts about the planets of the solar system

Outer space beckons with its mystery. Each celestial body keeps its own mystery. Thanks to astronomical discoveries, valuable information about celestial wanderers appears.

Closest to the sun is Mercury. There is an opinion that he was once a satellite of Venus. But as a result of a cosmic catastrophe, the cosmic body separated from Venus and acquired its own orbit. A year on Mercury lasts 88 days, and a day lasts 59 days.

Mercury is the only planet in the solar system on which it is possible to observe the movement of the Sun in reverse side. This phenomenon has quite logical explanation. The speed of the planet's rotation around its axis is much slower than the movement in its orbit. Because of this difference in speed conditions, the effect of changing the movement of the Sun occurs.

On Mercury you can observe a fantastic phenomenon: two sunsets and sunrises. And if you move to the 0˚ and 180̊ meridians, you can witness three sunsets and sunrises per day.

Venus comes next after Mercury. It lights up in the sky during sunset on Earth, but can only be observed for a couple of hours. Because of this feature, she was nicknamed " Evening star" It is interesting that the orbit of Venus lies inside the orbit of our planet. But it moves along it in the opposite direction, counterclockwise. A year on the planet lasts 225 days, and 1 day lasts 243 Earth days. Venus, like the Moon, has a change of phases, transforming either into a thin sickle or into a wide circle. There is an assumption that some types of terrestrial bacteria can live in the atmosphere of Venus.

Earth- truly the pearl of the solar system. Only on it there is a huge variety life forms. People feel so comfortable on this planet and don’t even realize that it is rushing along its orbit at a speed of 108,000 km per hour.

The fourth planet from the Sun is Mars. He is accompanied by two companions. A day on this planet is equal in length to that of Earth – 24 hours. But 1 year lasts 668 days. Just like on Earth, the seasons change here. Seasons cause changes in appearance planets.

Jupiter- the largest space giant. It has many satellites (more than 60 pieces) and 5 rings. Its mass exceeds the Earth by 318 times. But, despite its impressive size, it moves quite quickly. It turns around its own axis in just 10 hours, but covers the distance around the Sun in 12 years.

The weather on Jupiter is bad - constant storms and hurricanes, accompanied by lightning. A bright representative of such weather conditions is the Great Red Spot - a vortex moving at a speed of 435 km/h.

Distinctive feature Saturn, definitely are his rings. These flat formations are made of dust and ice. The thickness of the circles ranges from 10 - 15 m to 1 km, width from 3,000 km to 300,000 km. The rings of the planet are not a single whole, but are formed in the form of thin spokes. The planet is also surrounded by more than 62 satellites.

Saturn has incredible high speed rotation, so much so that it contracts at the poles. A day on the planet lasts 10 hours, a year lasts 30 years.

Uranus, like Venus, it moves around the star counterclockwise. The uniqueness of the planet lies in the fact that it “lies on its side”, its axis tilted at an angle of 98˚. There is a theory that the planet took this position after a collision with another space object.

Like Saturn, Uranus has a complex ring system consisting of a collection of inner and outer rings. Uranus has 13 of them in total. It is believed that the rings are the remains of a former satellite of Uranus that collided with the planet.

Uranus does not have a solid surface; a third of its radius, approximately 8,000 km, is a gas shell.

Neptune- the last planet of the solar system. It is surrounded by 6 dark rings. The most beautiful shade of sea green gives the planet methane, which is present in the atmosphere. Neptune completes one orbit in 164 years. But it moves quickly enough around its axis, and a day passes in
16 hours. In some places, Neptune's orbit intersects with Pluto's orbit.

Neptune has a large number of satellites. Basically, they all orbit in front of Neptune's orbit and are called internal. There are only two external satellites accompanying the planet.

You can observe it on Neptune. However, the flares are too weak and occur throughout the planet, and not exclusively at the poles, as on Earth.

Once upon a time there were 9 planets in outer space. This number included Pluto. But due to its small size, the astronomical community has classified it as a dwarf planet (asteroid).

Here are some interesting facts and amazing stories about the planets of the solar system are discovered in the process of exploring the black depths of space.