(ORDO NEWS) — According to modern concepts, the solar system began to form about 4.6 billion years ago as a result of the gravitational collapse of a small part of a huge interstellar molecular cloud.
Most of the mass ended up in the gravitational center of the collapse, followed by the formation of a star – the Sun.
Matter that was not in the center formed a rotating protoplanetary disk, from which the planets, their satellites, asteroids and other small bodies of the solar system subsequently arose.
The solar system consists of the Sun and everything else that revolves around it: planets and their satellites, dwarf planets, asteroids, Kuiper belt objects and comets.
The solar system is also used to refer to a group of celestial bodies orbiting a star (called extrasolar planets). In this article, the Solar System is defined as the system that includes the Sun and the Earth.
The distance from the Sun and other parameters determine that a year on planet Earth lasts exactly as long as we are used to.
Most astronomers believe that there are a very large number of solar systems in the universe.
Solar Activity
Despite this stability, the Sun is an extremely active star: every 11 years, brown spots appear and disappear on its surface, surrounded by an intense magnetic field.
Sudden particle explosions cause aurora on Earth and interfere with radio signals. A continuous stream of protons, electrons and ions also leaves the Sun and travels throughout the solar system.
Planets of the solar system
The International Astronomical Union (IAU), the organization that determines the official names of objects in the solar system, currently recognizes eight major planets.
The planets are usually divided into two groups: the inner or telluric planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars) and the outer planets or gas giants (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune).
The telluric planets are small and consist mainly of rocks and iron. The gas giants are much larger and are made up mostly of ice, helium and hydrogen.
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