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The Titius–Bode law predicts planets will be present at specific distances in astronomical units, which can be compared to the observed data for the planets and two dwarf planets in the Solar System: Graphical plot of the eight planets, Pluto, and Ceres versus the first ten predicted distances.
The orbits of Solar System planets are nearly circular. Compared to many other systems, they have smaller orbital eccentricity. [70] Although there are attempts to explain it partly with a bias in the radial-velocity detection method and partly with long interactions of a quite high number of planets, the exact causes remain undetermined. [70] [74]
The asteroid and comet belts orbit the Sun from the inner rocky planets into outer parts of the Solar System, interstellar space. [16] [17] [18] An astronomical unit, or AU, is the distance from Earth to the Sun, which is approximately 150 billion meters (93 million miles). [19]
All bodies in the Solar System attract one another. The force between two bodies is in direct proportion to the product of their masses and in inverse proportion to the square of the distance between them. As the planets have small masses compared to that of the Sun, the orbits conform approximately to Kepler's laws.
The following is a list of Solar System objects by orbit, ordered by increasing distance from the Sun. Most named objects in this list have a diameter of 500 km or more. The Sun, a spectral class G2V main-sequence star; The inner Solar System and the terrestrial planets. 2021 PH27; Mercury. Mercury-crossing minor planets; Venus. Venus-crossing ...
It had been determined that the stars were much farther away than the planets. Saturn: Planet of the Solar System 1619 − 1781 10 AU From Kepler's Third Law, it was finally determined that Saturn is indeed the outermost of the classical planets, and its distance derived. It had only previously been conjectured to be the outermost, due to it ...
The star, whose mass is roughly half that of the Sun, is currently 62 light-years from the Solar System. It was first noticed in 1999 using data from the Hipparcos satellite, and was estimated to pass less than 1.3 light-years (0.40 pc) from the Sun in 1.4 million years. [ 73 ]
Distances between the planets in the Solar System are often measured in astronomical units (AU), defined as the average distance between the Sun and Earth, some 1.5 × 10 8 kilometers (93 million miles). Venus, the closest planet to Earth is (at closest approach) 0.28 AU away. Neptune, the farthest planet from the Sun, is 29.8 AU away.