Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
For the small outer irregular moons of Uranus, such as Sycorax, which were not discovered by the Voyager 2 flyby, even different NASA web pages, such as the National Space Science Data Center [6] and JPL Solar System Dynamics, [5] give somewhat contradictory size and albedo estimates depending on which research paper is being cited.
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun.The surface of Mars is orange-red because it is covered in iron(III) oxide dust, giving it the nickname "the Red Planet". [22] [23] Mars is among the brightest objects in Earth's sky, and its high-contrast albedo features have made it a common subject for telescope viewing.
Most of the larger moons orbit their planets in prograde direction, matching the direction of planetary rotation; Neptune's moon Triton is the largest to orbit in the opposite, retrograde manner. [50] Most larger objects rotate around their own axes in the prograde direction relative to their orbit, though the rotation of Venus is retrograde. [51]
A terrestrial planet, tellurian planet, telluric planet, or rocky planet, is a planet that is composed primarily of silicate, rocks or metals.Within the Solar System, the terrestrial planets accepted by the IAU are the inner planets closest to the Sun: Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars.
The Sun, planets, moons and dwarf planets (true color, size to scale, distances not to scale). The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the Solar System:
The magnetosphere can be much larger than the planet itself. In contrast, non-magnetized planets have only small magnetospheres induced by interaction of the ionosphere with the solar wind, which cannot effectively protect the planet. [137] Of the eight planets in the Solar System, only Venus and Mars lack such a magnetic field. [137]
Venus to scale among the Inner Solar System planetary-mass objects, arranged by the order of their orbits outward from the Sun (from left: Mercury, Venus, Earth, the Moon, Mars and Ceres) Venus is one of the four terrestrial planets in the Solar System, meaning that it is a rocky body like
The term "Solar System" entered the English language by 1704, when John Locke used it to refer to the Sun, planets, and comets as a whole. [82] By then it had been established beyond doubt that planets are other worlds, and stars are other distant suns, so the whole Solar System is actually only a small part of an immensely large universe, and ...