Solar System

 

More Than Planets

If you finished the main Solar System section, you now understand that our system has one star and eight accepted planets. Given that basic information, we want to let you know that there is much more in our little system than those nine objects.

What You Can See

Sure, you can see a planet. They are tough to miss. As you continue exploring, you will find moons around almost every planet. While the Earth only has one, other planets have more than twenty moons. You also know that you can see rings made of small pieces of dust and ice that circle Saturn and other gas giants.

As you look for smaller objects in the system, you will find a field of asteroids in orbit around the Sun between Mars and Jupiter. There are also stray asteroids flying through the Solar System. Comets are also found orbiting the Sun. The amazing thing is that there may still be other objects in our Solar System. That's one of the exciting things about astronomy... There are still millions of things to discover in the universe.

What You Can't See

There are also many things we can't see in the Solar System. There are small particles and energies swirling throughout the system. Many of these unseen energies are created by the Sun. We have a heliosphere that surrounds our entire system and Voyager has just reached the heliopause (the edge). The Sun also gives off small particles called the solar wind, light, and various types of radiation. While Earth needs to be protected from some of these forces, the energy that creates the heliosphere is protecting every object in our system.