Edge Rewrite
Jump to content

Portal:Solar System

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Solar System Portal

The Sun and planets of the Solar System (distances not to scale)

The Solar System is the gravitationally bound system of the Sun and the masses that orbit it, most prominently its eight planets, of which Earth is one. The Solar System is an isolated single-star planetary system (not part of a larger star system) within the Milky Way Galaxy. The system formed about 4.6 billion years ago when a dense region of a molecular cloud collapsed, creating the Sun and a protoplanetary disc from which the orbiting bodies assembled.

The Sun accounts for 99.86% of the Solar System's total mass. Inside the Sun's core, hydrogen is fused into helium, releasing energy that is emitted through the Sun's photosphere. This creates the heliosphere and a decreasing temperature gradient across the Solar System.

The next most massive objects of the system are the eight planets, which by definition dominate the orbits they occupy. Closest to the Sun in order of increasing distance are the terrestrial planets – Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. These four planets are part of the inner Solar System. Earth and Mars are the only planets that orbit within the Sun's habitable zone, in which sunlight can keep surface water liquid under atmospheric pressure. Beyond the frost line at about five astronomical units (AU), are the planets of the outer Solar System: two gas giants (Jupiter and Saturn) and two ice giants (Uranus and Neptune). Jupiter and Saturn possess nearly 90% of the non-stellar mass of the Solar System.

Objects of planetary mass that do not dominate their orbit but directly orbit the Sun are called dwarf planets. The International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center lists Ceres, Pluto, Eris, Makemake, and Haumea as dwarf planets. Four other Solar System objects are generally identified as such: Orcus, Quaoar, Gonggong, and Sedna. Less massive than the dwarf planets are the vast number of small Solar System bodies, such as asteroids, comets, centaurs, meteoroids, and interplanetary dust clouds. The dwarf planet Ceres and many of these smaller bodies are located in the asteroid belt (between Mars's and Jupiter's orbit), while all other dwarf planets are members of populations of trans-Neptunian objects, which may be found in the Kuiper belt just outside Neptune or in the further scattered disc. (Full article...)

Selected article – show another

The dwarf planet Ceres from the Dawn spacecraft
The dwarf planet Ceres from the Dawn spacecraft
A dwarf planet is a celestial body orbiting the Sun that is massive enough to be spherical as a result of its own gravity but has not cleared its neighbouring region of planetesimals and is not a satellite. They are smaller than planets, but more massive than small solar system bodies. The term was adopted in 2006 by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) as a result of the increase in discoveries of trans-Neptunian objects that rivaled Pluto in size, and finally precipitated by the discovery of an even more massive object, Eris. The IAU currently recognizes five dwarf planets—Ceres (pictured), Pluto, Haumea, Makemake, and Eris. It is suspected that at least another 40 known objects in the Solar System are dwarf planets, but the number might be as high as 2,000. The 2006 definition has been both praised and criticized, and has been disputed by some scientists. (Full article...)

Selected picture

Did you know – show different entries

Panther Mountain from Highmount

Categories

Major categories
Solar System
Celestial mechanics Comets ...in fiction
Minor planets Moons Planetary missions
Planets... Sun Surface feature nomenclature...


Full category tree
Category puzzle
Category puzzle
Select [►] to view subcategories

Solar System news

1 October 2026 – SpaceX Crew-13
The SpaceX Crew-13 mission to the International Space Station launches, carrying two NASA astronauts, one Roscosmos cosmonaut, and one Canadian Space Agency astronaut, from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, United States. (AFP via France 24)
16 September 2026 – Discoveries of exoplanets
Astronomers confirm the existence of Elias 2-24 b, the youngest known exoplanet, which is less than one million years old and located approximately 450 light-years from Earth. The discovery was observed through the W.M. Keck Observatory in Mauna Kea, Hawaii, U.S., using a coronagraph. (Space.com)
16 September 2026 –
NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter discovers a recently formed crater on the moon larger than the Colosseum in Rome, Italy. (Phys.org)
3 September 2026 –
The BepiColombo begins its final mission to Mercury, eight years after its launch by the European Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. (Space.com)
NASA discovers a 10–sided pattern on the south pole of Saturn using its Hubble Space Telescope from the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, United States. (The Peninsula) (ScienceDaily)

Major topics

The SunMercuryVenusThe MoonEarthMarsPhobos and DeimosCeresThe main asteroid beltJupiterMoons of JupiterSaturnMoons of SaturnUranusMoons of UranusNeptuneMoons of NeptunePlutoMoons of PlutoHaumeaMoons of HaumeaMakemakeThe Kuiper BeltErisDysnomiaThe Scattered DiscThe Hills CloudThe Oort Cloud

Solar System: Planets (Definition · Planetary habitability · Terrestrial planets · Gas giants · Rings) · Dwarf planets (Plutoid) · Colonization · Discovery timelineˑ Exploration · Moons · Planetariums

Sun: Sunspot · Solar wind · Solar flare · Solar eclipse
Mercury: Geology · Exploration (Mariner 10 · MESSENGER · BepiColombo) · Transit
Venus: Geology · Atmosphere · Exploration (Venera · Mariner program 2/5/10 · Pioneer · Vega 1/2ˑ Magellan · Venus Express) · Transit
Earth: History · Geology · Geography · Atmosphere · Rotation
Moon: Geology · Selenography · Atmosphere · Exploration (Luna · Apollo 8/11) · Orbit · Lunar eclipse
Mars: Moons (Phobos · Deimos) · Geology · Geography · Atmosphere · Exploration (Mariner · Mars · Viking 1/2 · Pathfinder · MER)
Ceres: Exploration (Dawn)
Jupiter: Moons (Amalthea, Io · Europa · Ganymede · Callisto) · Rings · Atmosphere · Magnetosphere · Exploration (Pioneer 10/11 · Voyager 1/2 · Ulysses · Cassini · Galileo · New Horizons)
Saturn: Moons (Mimas · Enceladus · Tethys · Dione · Rhea · Titan · Iapetus) · Rings · Exploration (Pioneer 11 · Voyager 1/2 · Cassini–Huygens)
Uranus: Moons (Miranda · Ariel · Umbriel · Titania · Oberon) · Rings · Exploration (Voyager 2)
Neptune: Moons (Triton) · Rings · Exploration (Voyager 2)
Planets beyond Neptune
Pluto: Moons (Charon, Nix, Hydra, Kerberos, Styx) · Geology · Atmosphere · Exploration (New Horizons)
Haumea: Moons (Hi'iaka, Namaka) · Ring
Quaoar: Weywot · Rings
Makemake: S/2015 (136472) 1
Gonggong: Xiangliu
Eris: Dysnomia
Sedna
Small bodies: Meteoroids · Asteroids (Asteroid belt) · Centaurs · TNOs (Kuiper belt · Scattered disc · Oort cloud) · Comets (Hale–Bopp · Halley's · Hyakutake · Shoemaker–Levy 9)
Formation and evolution of the Solar System: History of Solar System formation and evolution hypotheses · Nebular hypothesis
See also: Featured content · Featured topic · Good articles · List of objects

Bold articles are featured.
Italicized articles are on dwarf planets or major moons.

Things you can do

The planet Saturn, see here eclipsing the sun
The planet Saturn, see here eclipsing the sun

Associated Wikimedia

The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:

Discover Wikipedia using portals