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[f] Six planets, seven dwarf planets, and other bodies have orbiting natural satellites, which are commonly called 'moons'. The Solar System is constantly flooded by the Sun's charged particles, the solar wind, forming the heliosphere. Around 75–90 astronomical units from the Sun, [g] the solar wind is halted, resulting in the heliopause.
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 14 January 2025, there are 5,819 confirmed exoplanets in 4,346 planetary systems, with 974 systems having more than one planet. [1]
Of those objects that orbit the Sun directly, the largest eight are the planets (including Earth), with the remainder being significantly smaller objects, such as dwarf planets and small Solar System bodies. Of the objects that orbit the Sun indirectly, the moons, two are larger than the smallest planet, Mercury.
The last time all eight planets were aligned was on Dec. 28, 2022. On Jan. 18, 2025, there will be six planets in the alignment: Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune and Saturn.
A planetary mnemonic refers to a phrase created to remember the planets and dwarf planets of the Solar System, with the order of words corresponding to increasing sidereal periods of the bodies. One simple visual mnemonic is to hold out both hands side-by-side with thumbs in the same direction (typically left-hand facing palm down, and right ...
According to experts, all eight planets only line up within 1 degree every 13.4 trillion years. Since scientists think our solar system only formed around 4.6 billion years ago—and roughly 5 ...
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 objects that orbit it. It formed about 4.6 billion years ago when a dense region of a molecular cloud collapsed, forming the Sun and a protoplanetary disc.
All eight exoplanets are larger than Earth and are within 1.1 AU of the parent star. Only star apart from the Sun with at least eight planets. [142] A Hill stability test shows that the system is stable. [143] Planet h orbits in the habitable zone. Kepler-150: Lyra: 19 h 12 m 56.2 s +40° 31′ 15″ 2906: G?V: 0.97: 5560: unknown: 5: Planet f ...