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Parts-per-million chart of the relative mass distribution of the Solar System, each cubelet denoting 2 × 10 24 kg. This article includes a list of the most massive known objects of the Solar System and partial lists of smaller objects by observed mean radius.
There is strong consensus among astronomers that five members of the Kuiper belt are dwarf planets. [196] [201] Many dwarf planet candidates are being considered, pending further data for verification. [202] Pluto (29.7–49.3 AU) is the largest known object in the Kuiper belt.
There are eight planets within the Solar System; planets outside of the solar system are also known as exoplanets. Artist's concept of the potentially habitable exoplanet Kepler-186f As of 19 December 2024, there are 5,811 confirmed exoplanets in 4,340 planetary systems , with 973 systems having more than one planet . [ 1 ]
Planet Taphao Thong was discovered in 1996 and was one of the first exoplanets to be discovered. [48] The planet was the first long-period extrasolar planet discovered. The other planets were discovered later. [49] Nu 2 Lupi: Lupus: 15 h 21 m 49.57 s: −48° 19′ 01.1″ 5.65: 47: G2V: 0.906: 5664: 10.36: 3
The sky needs to be darker than about 20.2 magnitude per square arcsecond in order for the Milky Way to be visible. [68] It should be visible if the limiting magnitude is approximately +5.1 or better and shows a great deal of detail at +6.1. [ 69 ]
The Milky Way galaxy is a member of an association named the Local Group, a relatively small group of galaxies that has a diameter of approximately one megaparsec. The Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy are the two brightest galaxies within the group; many of the other member galaxies are dwarf companions of these two. [176]
Over the following three centuries, only a few more moons were discovered. Missions to other planets in the 1970s, most notably the Voyager 1 and 2 missions, saw a surge in the number of moons detected, and observations since the year 2000, using mostly large, ground-based optical telescopes, have discovered many more, all of which are irregular.
Its orbit revealed that it was a new planet, Uranus, the first ever discovered telescopically. [20] Giuseppe Piazzi discovered Ceres in 1801, a small world between Mars and Jupiter. It was considered another planet, but after subsequent discoveries of other small worlds in the same region, it and the others were eventually reclassified as ...