The Solar System

BY

Priyanshi
Shankar

Solar system
The solar system consists of the sun and all
the celestial bodies that revolve around it .
The bodies revolving around the sun include
the planets ,moons, comets , asteroids
,meteors, minor , planets, dust particles,
and gases. The sun is the largest member of
the solar system . It accounts for about 99%
of all the mass in the solar system. The sun
exerts a strong gravitational pull on all the
other bodies around it .

The sun
The sun is a star that is nearest to the earth .
It is the largest and heaviest member of the
solar system . The diameter of the sun is
approximately 1.4 million km .it is a huge ball
of gases, mainly hydrogen which is being
converted into helium by nuclear fusion
reactions. During these reactions, huge
amount of energy is liberated in the form of
heat and light . This heat and light are the
main source of energy for the entire solar
system.

The planets
A planet is a relatively large natural body
that revolves in an orbit around the sun.
Planets do not have their own light. They
reflect the sunlight that falls on their surface
. This reflected light makes them appear as
shining objects in the sky. There are eight
planets in the solar system. In order of
increasing distance from the sun, these
planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars
,Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

Mercury
Mercury {called Budh in Hindi} is the planet
closest to the sun. The glare of the sun makes
it difficult to sight this planet. However, it can
be observed near the horizon just before the
sunrise or just after the sunset.
Mercury is also the smallest planet in the
solar system. It has a rocky and mountainous
surface but has no atmosphere. In the
absence of an atmosphere, there are extreme
temperature various on Mercury.

Venus
Venus {called Shukra in Hindi} is
the second planet from the sun
and is the earths closest
planetary neighbour.
The
atmosphere
of
Venus
consists of a thick cloud cover of
carbon
dioxide.
The
dense
atmosphere reflects almost three
fourths of the sunlight falling

Earth
The earth {known as Prithvi in Hindi} is
the planet we live on. It is the third planet
from the sun. It is the largest of the four
rocky planets. About 70% of its surface is
covered with water. This makes it appear
like a blue ball from space. This is why the
earth is referred to as the blue planet. The
earth is made up of three main layers:
i) the core that consists of the solid inner
core and the molten outer core,
The mantle,

Mars
Mars {called mangal in Hindi }
is the next planet after the
earth. The radius of Mars is
slightly more than half that of
the earth. Its mass is onetenth that of the earth. The
Martian soil contains large
amounts of iron which gives it
a reddish look. It is therefore

Jupiter
.Jupiter {called brihaspati in Hindi} is the
largest and the heaviest of the solar
system. The mass of Jupiter is about 2.5
times the combined mass of the rest of
the planet. It is a planet of gases that
consists mainly of hydrogen and helium. It
spins rapidly around is axis and completes
one rotation in less than 10 hours. There
are faint rings around Jupiter. Jupiter has a
large number of moons.

Saturn
Saturn {called shani in
Hindi } is the second largest
planet in the solar system.
After Jupiter. It appears
yellowish in colour. The most
distinctive feature of Saturn is
the presence of beautiful
rings around it. Saturn has a

Uranus
Uranus is the first planet to be
discovered with the help of
telescope by William Herschel
in 1781. It also has rings
around it. The atmosphere of
Uranus is made of hydrogen,
helium, and methane.

Neptune
Neptune is the fastest planet
of the solar system. Neptune
was discovered by U.J
.Leverrier with the help of a
telescope. It has eight moons.
Triton is the largest moon of
Neptune