3. The Solar System is made up of the Sun, eight planets, five dwarf
planets, over one hundred sixty moons, half a million asteroids,
more than three thousand comets, dust, and gas.
The accepted theory for the formation of the Solar System states
that a cloud of gas and dust--known as a solar nebula--was
disturbed by some outside force, causing the cloud to rotate and
condense. As the cloud compressed, particles in the outer disk
began to stick together forming increasingly larger objects until
ultimately the planets were formed. While the planets were
forming in the out disk region, the particles in the center of the
disk continued to compress, eventually causing temperatures and
pressure to reach such extremes that nuclear fusion began to take
place, and thus the Sun was born.
4. Jupiter Sucks Up Space Garbage
There Are Five Dwarf Planets In Our Solar
System
Our Solar System Is (Not Quite) Full of Asteroids
Venus Is The Hottest Planet
Pluto’s Status Had Long Been Doubted
One Day On Mercury Equals 58 Earth-Days
Seasons On Uranus Last For Twenty Years
The Solar System’s Mass Is 99% Sun
You Would Weigh Much Less On The Moon
Saturn Isn’t The Only Planet With Rings
5.
Asteroids are minor planets, especially those of the inner Solar
System. The larger ones have also been called planetoids. These
terms have historically been applied to any astronomical object
orbiting the Sun that did not show the disk of a planet and was not
observed to have the characteristics of an active comet, but as
minor planets in the outer Solar System were discovered,
their volatile-based surfaces were found to more closely resemble
comets and so were often distinguished from traditional asteroids.
Thus the term asteroid has come increasingly to refer specifically
to the small bodies of the inner Solar System out to the orbit
of Jupiter. They are grouped with the outer bodies—
centaurs, Neptune trojans, and trans-Neptunian objects—as minor
planets, which is the term preferred in astronomical circles. In this
article the term "asteroid" refers to the minor planets of the inner
Solar System.
