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The four outer planets, called giant planets or Jovian planets, collectively make up 99% of the mass orbiting the Sun. [h] All four giant planets have multiple moons and a ring system, although only Saturn's rings are easily observed from Earth. [91]
Planets whose orbits lie within the orbit of Earth. [nb 1] Inner planet: A planet in the Solar System that have orbits smaller than the asteroid belt. [nb 2] Outer planet: A planet in the Solar System beyond the asteroid belt, and hence refers to the gas giants. Pulsar planet: A planet that orbits a pulsar or a rapidly rotating neutron star ...
Within the Solar System, rocky planets have a mantle and crust containing silicates, oxides, and silicate melts, and an iron-rich core. [3] The principal elements that compose rocky planets, which are magnesium, iron, oxygen, carbon, and silicon, are assumed to be universal in the interiors of these planet types. [4]
These attributes are impossible to achieve via capture, while the gaseous nature of the primaries also makes formation from collision debris unlikely. The outer moons of the giant planets tend to be small and have eccentric orbits with arbitrary inclinations. These are the characteristics expected of captured bodies.
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: Solar System – gravitationally bound system comprising the Sun and the objects that orbit it, either directly or indirectly.
[14] [15] [16] But since 2005, hundreds of potentially terrestrial extrasolar planets have also been found, with several being confirmed as terrestrial. Most of these are super-Earths, i.e. planets with masses between Earth's and Neptune's; super-Earths may be gas planets or terrestrial, depending on their mass and other parameters.
The V 1298 Tau star system contains four young planets, orbiting close to their parent star, where they are baked in X-ray radiation. Orbiting the young star V 1298 Tau, more than 350 light-years ...
All planets in the Solar System, plus their major moons along some asteroids and comets, have now been visited to varying degrees by spacecraft launched from Earth. Through these uncrewed missions, humans have been able to get close-up photographs of all the planets and, in the case of landers, perform tests of the soils and atmospheres of some.