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720,000 km/h (450,000 mi/h) [10] Orbital period. ~230 million years [10] The Solar System[d] is the gravitationally bound system of the Sun and the objects that orbit it. [11] It formed about 4.6 billion years ago when a dense region of a molecular cloud collapsed, forming the Sun and a protoplanetary disc.
The outer planets' orbits are chaotic over longer timescales, with a Lyapunov time in the range of 2–230 million years. [105] In all cases, this means that the position of a planet along its orbit ultimately becomes impossible to predict with any certainty (so, for example, the timing of winter and summer becomes uncertain).
The timeline of discovery of Solar System planets and their natural satellites charts the progress of the discovery of new bodies over history. Each object is listed in chronological order of its discovery (multiple dates occur when the moments of imaging, observation, and publication differ), identified through its various designations (including temporary and permanent schemes), and the ...
Indian mathematician-astronomer Bhāskara II, in his Siddhanta Shiromani, calculates the longitudes and latitudes of the planets, lunar and solar eclipses, risings and settings, the Moon's lunar crescent, syzygies, and conjunctions of the planets with each other and with the fixed stars, and explains the three problems of diurnal rotation.
1845 – John Adams predicts the existence and location of an eighth planet from irregularities in the orbit of Uranus. [138] 1845 – Karl Ludwig Hencke discovers a fifth body between Mars and Jupiter, Astraea [139] and, shortly thereafter, new objects were found there at an accelerating rate.
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 7 November 2024, there are 5,787 confirmed exoplanets in 4,320 planetary systems, with 969 systems having more than one planet. [1]
The biggest planets also have rings, consisting of a multitude of tiny solid objects and dust. The planets are, in order of distance from the Sun: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. There are three main belts of minor bodies: The asteroid belt, between Mars and Jupiter.
Planets in the Solar System. According to the IAU definition, there are eight planets in the Solar System, which are (in increasing distance from the Sun): [2] Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Jupiter is the largest, at 318 Earth masses, whereas Mercury is the smallest, at 0.055 Earth masses.