The Solar System Funding support for outreach programs provided by the Utah State Legislature and the Utah State Board of Education

Commonly Confused Terms Solar System –Our star (Sun) and everything that orbits around it (planets, asteroids, comets, etc.) Galaxy –Huge collection of stars bound together by gravity (the Sun is 1 star among billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy) Universe –Everything ( ~ 100 billion galaxies)

What objects make up the Solar System? The following tour shows objects in the solar system ordered by mass.

Sun Has about 99.86% of the MASS in the solar system Courtesy of SOHO/EIT consortium. SOHO is a project of international cooperation between ESA and NASA.

Sunspots Credit: Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

Jupiter has about 0.1% of the MASS in the solar system Everything else together has only about 0.04% of the MASS in the solar system NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Jupiter Jupiter has many objects in orbit around it (current count = 63) Composition: 86% Hydrogen 13% Helium NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Jupiter Most satellites orbit far away from Jupiter and are probably captured asteroids Credit: University of Hawaii, Institute for Astronomy

Saturn Composition: 90% Hydrogen 9% Helium Credit: NASA, ESA and E. Karkoschka (Univesity of Arizona)

Neptune Neptune has 8 known moons Largest moon Triton is in a retrograde orbit Courtesy: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Uranus Uranus has an axial tilt of 98˚ Composition: 83% Hydrogen 15% Helium Courtesy: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Earth Temperature and pressure allow water to exist as a liquid at the surface Courtesy: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Venus Venus has 82% of the mass of Earth and is covered with white clouds of sulfuric acid Courtesy: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Venus Surface Temperature: 864˚ F Credit: NASA/NSSDC

Mars

Courtesy: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Mercury Although it is smaller in size than Ganymede and Titan, Mercury has more mass of both of these moons combined. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/ Carnegie Institution of Washington

Moons Seven moons have more mass than Pluto Ganymede (Jupiter) Titan (Saturn) Callisto (Jupiter) Io (Jupiter) Moon (Earth) Europa (Jupiter) Triton (Neptune) Courtesy: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Eris Eris is the largest dwarf planet in the Solar System. Eris has 1.27 times the mass of Pluto. Credit: NASA,ESA, and M. Brown (California Institute of Technology)

Pluto Pluto, the second largest dwarf planet, is one of the largest objects in a belt of objects that orbit the Sun beyond Neptune. Credit: Allen Stern (Southwest Research Institute), Mark Buie (Lowell Observatory), NASA and ESA

The Kuiper Belt Thousands of icy objects orbit the Sun beyond Neptune in a region commonly called the Kuiper Belt. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory ______ ________ Pluto Orbit Neptune Orbit

Credit: NASA, ESA, and A. Field (STScI) Eris Dysnomia Haumea Makemake

Comets Courtesy: NASA/JPL-Caltech NASA/NSSDC/W. Liller Astronomers think that many comets originate in the Kuiper Belt

Asteroids Eros Courtesy: NASA/JPL-Caltech