The largest planets in the universe. What is the largest planet in the solar system

My sister was lucky - for her birthday she was presented with a real telescope. Of course, it does not increase too much, but is it really that important? I myself for about forty minutes, not looking up, looked at the starry sky. And I even recognized one of the small round spots, which, in fact, is the largest planet in the solar system.

What is the largest planet in the solar system

The largest planet is Jupiter. It is more than 11 times larger than our Earth.

Jupiter also has many more moons than our planet. You and I can only boast of having one single moon.

Jupiter but at the moment they counted already 69 satellites- more than any other planet in the solar system. Of course, I won't list them all. But I will name the most famous ones:

Callisto.
Ganymede.
Europe.

This magnificent four of Jupiter's satellites Galileo discovered, and made it whole 407 years ago.

Why is it difficult to fly to Jupiter

The first reason is that it is located enough far from earth. Distance varies from 588.5 to 968.6 million km. Why such a large spread? The fact is that the planets, revolving around the Sun, cyclically either approach or move away from each other. So in order to fly faster, you need to guess the moment when the planets will be successfully located one relative to the other.

The second problem is landing. Space probes that are sent to explore this space behemoth, can not Fine sit on its gas surface. They just need to immerse themselves in the atmosphere - and huge pressure the planet flattens the probe into a cake.

Yes and radiation around Jupiter also strongly interferes with the operation of spacecraft, often leading to severe failures or even large losses of collected data.

However, despite such enormous difficulties, Jupiter and its moons are being carefully studied. Some of moons gas giant attract special attention - there, presumably, there is an ocean, which means it could life is born. It is unlikely that it will be intelligent, but even the very fact of its discovery will let humanity know that we are not alone in space.

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When I was little, I stubbornly believed that the largest planet in the solar system was a large red-yellow ball in its center. Only later, when I entered school, did the teachers explain to me that this "planet" is the main star of our system - the Sun. Such news made me look further for the largest planet in the solar system.

The planet is a giant

If put planets in ascending order of mass, then the list will look like this:

Mercury - 3.3 10 ^ 20 kilograms;
Mars - 6.4 10 ^ 20 kilograms;
Venus - 4.9 10 ^ 21 kilograms;
Earth-6.0 10^21 kilograms;
Uranium - 8.7 10 ^ 22 kilograms;
Neptune - 1.0 10 ^ 23 kilograms;
Saturn - 5.7 10 ^ 23 kilograms;
Jupiter - 1.9 10^24 kilograms.

As seen , Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system.The diameter of this planet in the thickest part, at the equator, 11 thousand times larger than the diameter of the Earth. Of course, this size is much smaller than the diameter of the Sun, about 10 Jupiter diameters would be equal to the Sun's diameter. In proportion to the size and mass of Jupiter is very large. If you put on the scales (of course, "cosmically" huge) all the planets of the solar system and their satellites and compare their weight with the weight of Jupiter, then Jupiter will easily outweigh all this. If only make the weight of the planets and their satellites 2.5 times heavier, the scales will balance.

Cause of Jupiter's Huge Size

This planet was formed in the early period of the development of the solar system, like Saturn, during this period more materials (gases) were free to create planets, therefore the size of the planets of that period is simply huge. High temperature + a lot of gas made the planet Jupiter so big. The rest of the planets have much less gas left, so they look unattractive. Also about gases, Jupiter's atmosphere is very dense, so it's difficult to give an accurate estimate of its size. All that humanity can observe now is the clouds of Jupiter and nothing more.

someone bigger

In our solar system, Jupiter is definitely a giant, but there are other systems where gas giants are closer to the star than Jupiter is to the Sun, so the temperature of these giants is higher, which means that the size exceeds the size of Jupiter. WITHThe largest planet known to mankind is TRES-4.

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A couple of years ago, my son returned from school with the question: “How many planets are there in the solar system?”. Recently it turned out that Pluto is no longer considered a planet. Like, it's too small. Needless to say, this controversy continues to this day. Fortunately, there is no doubt about the largest planet in the solar system.

The largest planet in the solar system

Jupiter is often referred to as a gas giant. It is the fifth planet in order from the Sun. Its diameter is about 143 thousand kilometers. Thus Jupiter is almost 11 times the size of Earth. Jupiter is so large that its mass is two and a half times the combined mass of all the other planets in our galaxy. It is one of the few planets that can be viewed without a telescope. That is why people in ancient times knew about the existence of this giant space object, just like about the Sun, Moon and Venus. By pointing a small telescope towards Jupiter, we will see an impenetrable layer of clouds 4 thousand kilometers thick and among them a characteristic feature - a large red spot. First time I saw him in 1665 French astronomer Giovanni Cassini. Its size is comparable to the diameter of the planet Earth. The active movement of gases in the atmosphere of Jupiter occurs under the influence of winds, the speed of which reaches 600 kilometers per hour.

Diamond in the center of Jupiter

Scientists believe that under a thick layer of fast-moving clouds, at a depth of about 40 thousand kilometers, is in a stationary state the core of the planet. Nothing is known about its chemical and physical parameters. There is a hypothesis that under enormous pressure and temperature, the core could have formed either in the form of petrified hydrogen with the properties of a metal, or in the form of coal with all the properties of a diamond. Can anyone imagine a diamond is three times the size of the earth?

Rings and moons of Jupiter

Jupiter has rings like that of Saturn. Despite the fact that the total width of the rings is about 6 thousand kilometers, few people know about them. In addition to all of the above, expressively answers the question of which planet is the largest in the solar system, the fact that Jupiter has 67 moons. The largest of them are:

Europe;
Ganymede;
Callisto.

Solar System Vacuum Cleaner

The presence of a large number of satellites is due to the fact that Jupiter creates very strong attraction field. Therefore, this planetary ball can be called a vacuum cleaner of the solar system. Numerous asteroids and comets are sucked into Jupiter's atmosphere. Thus, these space objects no longer pose a threat to planet Earth and humanity.

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The giant of the solar system

Everyone knows that largest planet - Jupiter. Due to the fact that it is possible to observe it almost all night, the planet has been known since ancient times. "Mulu Babbar"- that is what the representatives of the ancient culture of Mesopotamia called it, which means "star-sun". A significant breakthrough in the study of this planet occurred only by the middle of the 17th century.. He became first celestial body to have moons, but this discovery was made by the great Galileo. This is truly a giant among the planets, but is it a planet?

planet or star

Some of the scientists of the beginning of the last century believed that the giant radiates own light, and some of its characteristics like the sun:

consists of hydrogen;
emits x-rays;
emits radio waves;

has a huge magnetic field.

Observational astronomers immediately noticed that all of the above characterizes the stars but not planets. Therefore, the question arose: maybe this is not a planet, but a star? Jupiter found a small nuclear energy emitter, but science says otherwise: the planet should not have anything like this. Indeed, the planets reflect rays and energy, while the stars themselves generate both. And what is most interesting is that the outgoing energy significantly exceeds that which it transmits to the planet Sun.

Another important point is the huge energy generation rate, which indicates that, in fact, the planet "warming up". Observations made it possible to establish that due to the gigantic mass, the planet absorbs particles "solar wind". With an increase in the number of captured particles, the mass of the planet itself increases, which is one of the main conditions for turning into a star.

Scientists estimate that after about 2 billion years Jupiter will overtake the Sun in mass, which will cause binary solar system.

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In April of this year, I observed in the starry sky one very bright object, lighting in my city is practically absent at night, so I was able to see well largest an object in the solar system after the luminary itself - Jupiter. And it is not at all surprising that it was so clearly visible to the naked eye, because this the planet is superior our weight earth a little more than 300 once. Accordingly, when she is at the point of opposition, the light she reflects outshines even Sirius.

The largest planet in the solar system - Jupiter and its origin

Jupiter located at a sufficient distance from the Sun so that it would be difficult for mankind to study it, and the atmosphere there is unfriendly, after all gas giant, somehow. Ammonia showers hardly contribute to a comfortable immersion in the environment of any terrestrial device, especially since there is also no solid surface. No, it is quite possible that somewhere very deep there is core, but hydrocarbon life does not exist there. planet formed due to large-scale phenomena, a series of chemical reactions and, probably, gravitational collapse, which marked the beginning of our system. Structurally Jupiter comprises:

multi-layered atmosphere.
metallic hydrogen.
Core, presumably stone.

Of course, it is not possible to obtain accurate data due to the characteristics of the celestial body, but space devices sent directly closeness, made it possible to record more or less specific information at least about outer atmosphere.

Jupiter makes a revolution around his axes just for 10 earth hours, which makes it in this regard not only the most massive, but also fast planet of the solar system. However, the orbit is so large that one revolution around the sun lasts 12 years. Because of its size, Jupiter has an extremely powerful gravity, so approaching comet at a distance of 15 thousand kilometers was torn apart into many pieces. Plus, the planet has record number of satellites- about 70 objects.

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Who is the largest in the solar system

The largest planet in the solar system is gas giant -Jupiter. Jupiter known to ancient people as supreme deity of ancient Rome. Interestingly, the wife of God was Juno. Namely, this is the name of the spacecraft that was sent to explore the planet. What strikes us this gas giant:

To fill all Jupiter volume, need to 1300 planets Earth.
If stocks hydrogen And helium was in 80 times more,Jupiter would become a star.
Jupiter has small copy of the solar system- 4 months and 67 small satellites.

And also, as it turned out, Jupiter shrinks by 2cm every year. Scientists have found that after his "birth" giant was much bigger and hotter. And it was formed much earlier than Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. These four were formed from substances that throwing gas planets into space.

Mystery of the planet - the great red spot

Jupiter It has amazing coloring. And all thanks winds that blow up 650 kilometers per hour. And here from the sky in the form of rain fall diamonds. In addition to this wealth, on Jupiter constantly rages Hurricane, whose diameter is 3 times the size of the Earth. From space it looks like giant red spot. It either increases or decreases, and color still remains a mystery to scientists.

Powerful giant magnetic field

A magnetic field this "god of the planets" more than 20,000 times Earth's. The electrically charged particles of this field are constantly at war with other planets, constantly attacking them. A Jupiter radiation can inflict damage even good protected spacecraft. Jupiter also has three rings, although they are not as bright as those of Saturn.

And also Jupiter like a real supreme god, protects planets from comets and asteroids. Its gravitational field affects asteroids and changes their orbits. Because of this, we are still alive today.

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Since school, we all know that the largest planet in the solar system is Jupiter. It is also gaseous. She also has satellites ... Perhaps this is all the information about Jupiter that is stored in the memory of most people after graduation. But after all, this is not only a large, but also a very interesting planet, and it is worth knowing a lot more about it. Although it is possible that in the near future we will have the opportunity to find out what is not known to scientists at the moment.

Education of Jupiter

Of course, no one can be absolutely sure of the correctness of the theory of the origin of the solar system in general and Jupiter in particular. However, the basic theory is as follows.

About 4.6 billion years ago, the solar system did not yet exist. There was only a cloud of gas and dust of unthinkable dimensions. This cloud is now called the Solar Nebula. Over time, gravity led to the fact that matter began to be absorbed into itself, and the Sun arose in the middle of the nebula.

After the birth of the star, the rest of the materials began to stick together. The smallest particles under the influence of gravity approached and coalesced, forming larger parts. The solar wind captured light helium and hydrogen, leaving rocks that later became the basis of the terrestrial planets. But at a significant distance from the Sun, the solar wind could not have a significant effect. This made it possible for light materials to combine and form the gas giant - Jupiter. Satellites, comets, asteroids appeared in a similar way.

In order for the gases that make up the planet not to be blown away by the solar wind, the gas giant had to form incredibly quickly. Even after the solid base of Jupiter reached a mass that is 10 times that of the Earth, the attraction was enough to hold light gases without fear of the influence of the solar wind. Despite the fact that Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system, there are larger planets in the universe. But few celestial bodies were able to form at the same speed.

There is another theory of the origin of Jupiter - the instability disk model. The difference between this model and the basic one is that its followers believe that dust and gas were originally related. In this case, a planet like Jupiter could have come into being in as little as a thousand years, while the normal birth time of a planet is several million years.

The emergence of such a massive celestial body at the very beginning of the birth of the solar system most likely influenced the formation of other planets. The mass of Jupiter gave him the ability to change the trajectory of the movement of small planets flying by. It was his gravity that could contribute to the fact that some planets ended up on the inner boundaries of the solar system, while others - on the outer ones.

Discovery of Jupiter and moons

As such, the discovery of Jupiter was not. After all, this planet is visible at night with the naked eye. Therefore, it is simply impossible to say who first drew attention to it. It is known for sure that the planet was known in ancient times. The religious beliefs of Greek, Mesopotamian, Babylonian and other cultures were based, in particular, on knowledge of the existence of Jupiter.

Subsequently, in 1610, Galileo discovered that this celestial body has satellites. Jupiter is the largest planet in our star system. In the Galaxy, there are planets and larger than it. However, few planets can boast so many moons. To date, 67 natural satellites of Jupiter have been discovered, the largest and most famous of which are Io, Ganymede, Callisto and Europa. These four satellites were discovered by Galileo, who in this way proved the theory of Copernicus, who claimed that it was not the Earth at all - the center of the universe.

Name history

Jupiter got its name in ancient times. It was named after the main god of the Romans - a worthy name for the planet, the largest of all known even today. It is interesting that the ancient Greeks called the same planet Zeus, by analogy with the Romans, because in Greek mythology the king of the gods is Zeus. But nevertheless, this name remained in Ancient Greece, only the Roman name of the planet has survived to our time.

Peculiarities

When a child asks which planet is the largest, we boldly answer that Jupiter. And we are right not only literally. After all, Jupiter is not just the largest in size of all the planets in the solar system. In addition, it is also much more massive than all the planets. Moreover, Jupiter is not heavier than each individual planet, and its weight is 2/3 greater than the weight of all the planets combined! Scientists believe that if the mass of Jupiter was 80 times greater, it would have every chance of becoming a star.

But not only the high mass gives Jupiter a resemblance to the Sun. Like our star, this planet is composed primarily of helium and hydrogen. It has 4 large moons and a large number of small moons. The Jupiter system is a solar system in miniature. Therefore, if a child asks about what is the largest solar planet, you can not correct him, but proudly answer: “Jupiter!”

If you look at this planet through a telescope, you can see beautiful light and dark stripes on it. These bands are the movements of the wind raging in the atmosphere. Its speed is about 640 km / h.

The Great Red Spot looks especially unusual in photographs of Jupiter. More precisely, it is not even the stain itself that is of interest, but what it is. The fact is that this is a hurricane, the wind speed at the edge of which reaches about 360 km / h. The dimensions of this storm exceed the diameter of the Earth three times. But even this is not the strangest thing in this phenomenon. The most amazing thing is that the storm has been observed for more than 300 years, stopping only for a short time. However, the possibility of its termination has not yet been confirmed, it is only a hypothesis. The spot is called Red because the clouds of Jupiter contain phosphorus and sulfur in the composition of ammonia crystals.

Jupiter's magnetic field is 20,000 times greater than Earth's. Like the planet itself, its magnetic field is the strongest in the solar system. Jupiter's electromagnetic fields are so strong that they damage specially protected aircraft that have been sent to study it.

Day

Jupiter is the largest planet. In addition, she is also the most "nimble". The fact is that this celestial body rotates around its axis faster than other known planets. And this is even taking into account its gigantic size. A day on Jupiter lasts less than 10 Earth hours. This speed of rotation has led to the fact that the planet is more convex at the equator, so the equator is 7% wider than the poles.

Atmosphere of Jupiter

The largest planet is of extraordinary interest to scientists. In the world of this giant, everything is determined by the composition of the atmosphere. The gas giant has no solid elements on its surface that an aircraft could land on. Jupiter's surface is made up of helium and hydrogen, with a small percentage of other gases present in the air.

Most of the giant's atmosphere is hydrogen (90%). Helium is about 10%. The rest, an extremely small part, includes ammonia, water vapor, methane and sulfur.

If we assume that it is possible to descend from the outer shell of Jupiter to its center, then we would meet with a strong increase in pressure and temperature. This is due to the separation of gases into layers. Deep under the shell, closer to the center of the planet, hydrogen is most likely in a liquid state. And even deeper, presumably, it passes into the metal. It is the gigantic reserves of hydrogen and helium that make Jupiter the heaviest planet in the solar system.

The temperature of Jupiter's atmosphere ranges from -150 degrees Celsius in the lower troposphere to 725 degrees Celsius on the planet's surface. A little higher is the thermosphere, which emits a glow. Heating comes from the Sun and from particles from the magnetosphere.

The upper layer of the atmosphere is the exosphere. It does not have a clear boundary, which allows gas particles to go on an interstellar journey.

Jupiter center

The largest planet in the solar system definitely has a dense core. Its composition cannot be studied, but it is known that it is surrounded by a liquid layer of metallic hydrogen containing helium. Wrapped around it is an atmosphere of molecular hydrogen.

The core weighs 10 times less than the Earth. Hydrogen around it is more than 80% of the diameter of the planet.

Satellites and rings

Jupiter has at least 63 moons. The most famous of them are the Galilean satellites.

The largest planet in the solar system, as expected, has the largest satellite in our system. This is not just the largest satellite, its size exceeds the size of some planets - Pluto and Mercury. In addition, it is the only satellite known to mankind that has a magnetic field.

Io is the most volcanically active body known to science. Sulfur, which is ejected as a result of such activity, gives the satellite a yellow-orange color. Jupiter's gravity causes tides on solid Io, creating heat for volcanic activity.

Europe is completely covered in ice. If the ice melts, there will be twice as much water on Europa as on Earth. In addition, the existence of ice on Callisto and Ganymede is assumed.

Callisto has the lowest reflective effect. This means, most likely, that the entire surface of this satellite consists of a colorless dark stone.

The largest planet, the “earths” of which were able to surprise scientists in 1979, also has rings. Three rings were discovered by Voyager 1 passing around the gas giant's equator.

The main ring has a flat structure. Its thickness is about 30 kilometers and its width is 6400 km.

The inner cloud, called the halo, is about 20,000 kilometers thick. It runs from the main ring to the final one, expanding under the influence of the planet's magnetic field. Both rings are composed of dark small particles.

The third ring resembles a gossamer, as it is almost transparent. In fact, it consists of the smallest pieces of the giant's three satellites: Thebes, Amalthea and Adrastea. It is likely that the ring is composed of dust particles the size of particles in cigarette smoke. This ring has the most impressive dimensions - 129 thousand kilometers wide and more than 30 thousand kilometers thick.

The size of the planet and position in the solar system

Jupiter has simply incredible dimensions! It is 318 times more massive than the Earth. Its diameter is 12 times the length of the equator of our home planet. Despite the weight, this planet is in fifth place in terms of density (it is 1326 g / cubic centimeter). This is easy to explain: gas is much less dense than rock. The structure of the gas giant is similar to the structure of our Star. However, in order to start the fusion of hydrogen that feeds the star, it is necessary to be 75 times larger than it is now.

Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun. It is 778 million kilometers away from the star. Of course, Jupiter is our largest planet. In the Universe, such scales are not uncommon, but in the nearest star systems there is no planet so massive.

Study and forecasts

The largest planet in the solar system has been studied for a very long time, but detailed studies were organized only by NASA. Of particular importance was the probe dropped into the atmosphere of Jupiter by the Galileo spacecraft. In addition, the Pioneer and Voyager spacecraft were sent for research. The last to relay information about Jupiter was the New Horizons probe, which was sent to Pluto.

At present, Jupiter has no artificial satellites, but the next explorer of the gas giant is scheduled to be launched in 2016.

Jupiter can be seen from Earth with an 80mm telescope. At this magnification, spots, protrusions and depressions will be visible. With an aperture of 150 mm or more, the Great Red Spot and fine details of the belts will be visible.

During opposition, as seen from Earth, the largest planet in the solar system reaches an apparent magnitude of -2.94. Thus, Jupiter is the third brightest object in the sky. The rest of the time, the apparent value becomes -1.6.

Since the observation of Jupiter has become available to every inhabitant of the Earth, the largest planet, photos of which have circled the Internet and are the subject of collections of starry sky observers, has become more and more interesting for humanity.

Unfortunately, no one can predict the future. And although it has long been known which planet is the largest, no one understands what awaits it in the future. There is an assumption that in the future Jupiter will become a star, and its moons will form peculiar planets, which will make it possible to move to live in this system when the life of the Sun comes to an end.

Interesting facts about Jupiter that everyone should know

If we imagine that the Sun does not exceed the size of a door, then the Earth will be equal to a coin, and Jupiter will become like a basketball.
Jupiter is the fifth solar planet.
Jupiter's day lasts only 9 hours and 55 minutes. The planet goes around the Sun in almost 12 Earth years.
Jupiter is a gas giant. However, it is generally accepted that deep under the gases there is a solid core, approximately equal to the size of the Earth.
The giant's atmosphere is made up of helium and hydrogen.
Jupiter has poorly developed rings, discovered in 1979.
Research on Jupiter and its satellites has been going on for a long time. The next mission - "Juno" will start in 2016.
There can be no life forms familiar to us on Jupiter. However, the presence of oceans on the satellites suggests that there may be some kind of life there.
The Great Red Spot is a huge storm larger than the Earth's diameter. The hurricane has been raging for over 300 years.

A planet is a space object that revolves around the Sun and forms the solar system with the rest of the planets. The term "planet" comes from the Greek word for "wanderer". Before the invention of telescopes, planets, like stars, were viewed as objects moving across the sky. Technological advances have helped scientists greatly increase their knowledge of the planets, thanks to spacecraft as well as improved observations from Earth. Our solar system contains eight known planets, although there were originally nine when Pluto was discovered in the 1930s. However, in 2006, astronomers adopted an official definition of the term "planet", which Pluto did not match and was downgraded to the status of a dwarf planet.

The largest planets in the solar system:

Jupiter

Jupiter is the largest of all eight planets orbiting the Sun. Its radius is 69,911 km. Jupiter is so gigantic that the other seven planets can fit in it. This is the fifth planet from the Sun, named after the king of the Roman gods. The atmosphere of the planet consists of gases, mainly hydrogen and helium. The surface of Jupiter is an ocean of liquid hydrogen.

Jupiter has white, yellow, thick red and brown clouds. These clouds move at high speeds in the opposite direction as the planet rotates on its axis. The famous vortex - the Great Red Spot, moves parallel to the plane of the planet's equator at high speed, and exceeds the size of the Earth.

Jupiter has the strongest magnetosphere of any planet, nearly 20,000 times larger than Earth's. The planet rotates around its axis in just 10 hours. Jupiter has three faint rings made up of dust particles, which are the remnants of comets and asteroids. The planet completely completes its orbit around the Sun once every 11.86 Earth years.

Saturn

The planet Saturn has a radius of 58,282 (excluding rings) km and ranks second in size among the planets of the solar system. It is the sixth planet and is easily visible to the naked eye from Earth. The discovery of Saturn is not credited to any individual. It was named after the ancient Roman god Saturn. The planet rotates around its axis in 10 hours and 34 minutes, and around the Sun in 29.4 Earth years. Saturn's atmosphere has three layers: the first layer consists mainly of ammonia ice, the second includes water ice, and a mixture of hydrogen and sulfur makes up most of the third layer.

Saturn is predominantly made up of hydrogen. It has thin and wide rings formed from ice particles and small particles of carbonaceous dust. It is believed that these particles are the remains of asteroids, satellites and comets, destroyed near Saturn. The planet is 1,424,600,000 km from the Sun. Saturn has 62 known moons and is the most oblate planet in the solar system, mainly due to its low density and fast rotation rate.

Uranus

The discovery of the existence of the planet Uranus is attributed to the British astronomer William Herschel. It was an unprecedented discovery made on March 13, 1781. Uranus is in the seventh position relative to the distance from the Sun, preceding Neptune, and is also third in size with an average radius of 25,362 km. The name of the planet comes from the name of the ancient Greek deity of the sky - Ouranos. It takes Uranus 17 hours and 14 minutes to complete an orbit around its axis, and about 84 Earth years to complete an orbit around the Sun. Uranus and Venus are the only planets of the eight known to move clockwise around the sun. 80% of the planet is made up of ice. Uranus has a pale blue color due to the presence of water, ammonia and methane ice in its outer atmosphere. Under the upper atmosphere there is a layer of hydrogen and helium. The planet contains a core of iron and magnesium silicate.

Neptune

Of all the known planets, Neptune is the most distant from the Sun. It was discovered on September 23, 1846 by Johann Gall. The discovery was facilitated by preliminary information from French astronomer Urban Le Verrier and another independent British astronomer, John Cooch Adams. Neptune makes a complete revolution around the Sun every 164.79 Earth years, has 14 satellites and five faint rings.

Neptune is a gas planet composed primarily of hydrogen, helium and methane. Methane in the atmosphere absorbs red light in significant amounts, so Neptune is blue. The name of the planet comes from Roman mythology, where Neptune was the god of the seas. The core is mostly rock. A massive storm called the Great Dark Spot is raging on the planet. The climate on Neptune is very active with violent storms and winds swirling around the planet at high speeds. Only one spacecraft, called Voyager 2, approached Neptune in 1989.

Other planets and Pluto

Others in size are in this order: Earth with a radius of 6,371 km, Venus with a radius of 6,052 km, Mars with a radius of 3,390 km, and Mercury with a radius of 2,440 km. It is noteworthy that Pluto, which has recently ceased to be considered the ninth planet, is not on the list. The new definition of the term "planet" adopted by astronomers in 2006 led to the reclassification of Pluto in the group of dwarf planets.

Table ranking the sizes of the planets in the solar system in decreasing order

If you find an error, please highlight a piece of text and click Ctrl+Enter.

Stars, comets, asteroids and meteorites have attracted the attention of people since the beginning of time. Priests prayed to heavenly idols, astrologers predicted fate along the trajectory of the planets, astronomers studied the constellations.

The ancient Romans and Greeks paid special respect to Jupiter. In ancient Rome, he personified the supreme God, and among the Greeks he was considered the king of Olympus. A worthy place, considering that Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system.

gas giant

At the center of our star system is the brightest star - the Sun, around which Uranus, Saturn, Neptune, Mercury, Mars, Earth, Venus and Jupiter revolve. All planets are very interesting, and each has its own distinctive characteristics. The largest of them is Jupiter.

It has a number of unusual features:

entirely made up of gas. Almost 90% is hydrogen, about 10% is helium, the rest is an insignificant part - methane, sulfur, ammonia and water vapor;
colossal pressure was recorded in the lower layers of the atmosphere, due to which the gas passes into a liquid state, and the core of Jupiter is metallic hydrogen;
it weighs 2.5 times more than all the other planets of the solar system combined, 318 times heavier than the Earth;
its diameter is 1.39 thousand km! This means that 1,300 planets like our own Earth can easily fit in Jupiter. Such a huge scale is even difficult to imagine;
the strength of the magnetic field of this celestial body exceeds the strength of the earth by 20 thousand times and is the largest in the solar system. This causes as yet insurmountable difficulties for a careful study of the planet, since no aircraft can get close enough;
its rotation rate is the highest of any known planet in the galaxy. The length of a day on Jupiter is less than 10 Earth hours. This, combined with the incredible size and gaseous state, leads to the flattening of the celestial body;
temperature in the lower layer of the troposphere - minus 150°С, and in the upper layers of the atmosphere - plus 730°С;
the gas giant is known for its endless storms of terrible force. Whirlwinds are rushing at a breakneck speed of 640 km/h! But the most amazing hurricane has been observed by astronomers since the end of the 17th century. It was called the Great Red Spot, has not been interrupted for more than 300 years, and is 3 times larger than the earth's diameter;
Jupiter is many millions of kilometers away from the Earth, but due to its impressive size, it is visible to the naked eye. With a medium-power telescope, you can see the surface of the giant, the Great Red Spot, rings and satellites.

Jupiter is not only the largest planet in the solar system, but also one of the largest planets in the universe known to scientists today.

The most...

Jupiter is an exclusive of its kind. It is the largest planet in the solar system and has the strongest magnetic field. Jupiter is the fastest rotating planet, with the sharpest temperature difference - almost 900 ° C.

It is difficult to find such a celestial body not only in the Galaxy, but throughout the entire infinite space.

Moons and rings of Jupiter

A total of 67 moons of Jupiter have been discovered. The first 4 - Io, Europa, Callisto and Ganymede - were discovered by Galileo Galilei in 1610. In his honor they are named Galileevs. They are also the largest.

Ganymede is larger than all known satellites, even larger than such planets as Mercury and Pluto. Io is the only satellite in the Universe that has its own magnetic field, and it is also the most volcanically active celestial body known. The entire surface of Europa's moon is covered in ice. Callisto has an incredibly low reflective effect, which gives scientists reason to consider it a huge piece of colorless stone.

Also in 1979, the Voyager spacecraft discovered 3 faint rings around Jupiter.

Jupiter, along with its satellites, is very similar to the solar system in miniature. Therefore, most scientists in the world agree that in millions of years Jupiter will be able to be reborn into a Star and become the center of another system in the Universe. Satellites around the planet can turn into celestial bodies with habitable conditions.

Other giants of the solar system

In addition to Jupiter, our system has 3 more large planets:

Saturn. Its diameter is slightly inferior to Jupiter and is 116 thousand km. It is 95 times heavier than the Earth, is in a gaseous state, the speed of storms on its surface is 1800 km/h. Has 62 satellites.
Uranus has a diameter of 50.7 thousand km, it is relatively "light" - only 14 times heavier than the Earth, gaseous, winds rush along its surface at a frantic speed - 900 km / h, a year on Uranus is equal to 84 Earth years, has 27 satellites.
Neptune is another large planet with a diameter of 49.2 thousand km. It also consists of gases, 17 times heavier than the Earth. The wind speed here reaches 2100 km/h and is the most significant in the Universe. Has 14 satellites.

All the largest planets in the solar system, except for their huge size, have the following common features:

gaseous state (the main components are hydrogen and helium);
low density;
very high rotation speed, which leads to some oblateness of the planets from the poles;
powerful gravitational field;
a large number of satellites.

Queen of the Universe

Many are interested in which planet is the largest in all the vast space. In 2006, scientists at the Lovell Observatory in the United States, Arizona, received an answer to this question. They discovered a giant planet in the Hercules system. There are not enough epithets in modern Russian to describe its size. It's impossible to imagine. She is a huge giantess, against her background, even Jupiter seems like a baby. They called it laconic and completely unromantic - TrES-4.

Although the diameter of the newly discovered planet is several times larger than the giant Jupiter, it is inferior to it in weight, which is explained by the very low density of the gaseous substance from which the giantess is "built". You cannot descend to the planet, you can only plunge into it in the literal sense. Scientists around the world are at a loss as to how TrES-4 can even exist at such a density without being sprayed into interstellar space.

The giant gas ball is hot up to 1300°C and is very similar to the Sun. For some time it was even considered a star, but then it was nevertheless proved that TrES-4 is a planet. It orbits its star, GSC02620-00648, 1400 light-years away.

The above facts testify that the endless expanses of the cosmos keep their secrets in silence. Exploring the airless space, scientists are faced with inexplicable and mysterious phenomena, most of the questions still remain unanswered.

To date, scientists know only one large solar system in which our planet is located. It was formed 4.6 billion years ago. Star clouds of matter began to thicken in the Galaxy. Because of this, a large amount of thermal energy gradually began to be generated. With the formation of high temperature and density, nuclear reactions began to form, which provoked the formation of various gases and helium. These streams provoked the formation of a star, which we now call the Sun. The process of its creation took about several tens of millions of years.

Due to the high temperature, stellar dust accumulated in dense compounds, forming separate planets with its structure. Since the formation of all the planets and satellites of the solar system, no special changes have been observed.

Heliocentric theory of world building

In the second century AD, a scientist from Alexandria put forward a hypothesis about the location of our planet. It was from her that all scientists repelled, until the end of the fifteenth century. According to his theory, our planet was in the very center of the universe, and all other planets, including the Sun, could only rotate around its axis. But only thanks to the painstaking work of Nicolaus Copernicus, this hypothesis suffered a crushing failure. His observations were published only after his death, so the astronomer did not wait for world recognition. His observations were able to prove the fact that it is the Sun that is the center of the system, and all other planets can revolve around it along a given trajectory.

Number of planets in the solar system

Everyone knows that at the moment, there are eight planets in the solar system. But until recently, it was believed that Pluto, which was discovered in early 1930, was also part of the solar system. But after long observations and research, it turned out that the planet farthest from the Sun does not rotate at all along a given trajectory. She is constantly in one position and does not move at all. Only with the onset of 2006, at a meeting of the International Assembly in Prague, was it possible to prove that the dwarf planet is not part of the solar system at all.

The principle of the largest solar system

It is worth noting that the solar system is part of the Milky Way, which is located in our galaxy. It is located on its outskirts, and is located at a distance equal to thirty thousand light years from its central point. The solar system includes the Sun itself, as well as numerous planets, satellites and asteroids, which constantly move along a given trajectory.

Planet placement

All planets are divided into two different types. These are the inner and outer planets. The first type includes four planets that are closest to the surface of the Sun. This:

Mercury;

Their sizes in relation to other planets are not so great, and the surface is covered with a stone hard crust.

The second type includes the giant planets:

These are the planets that are mainly composed of accumulations of various gases. They are located almost in the same plane. From the North Pole, one can clearly see that the planets move around the Sun, in a direction that is opposite to the clockwise movement.

But be that as it may, in the universe there are constantly unexplored sections of space that can hide huge secrets. Perhaps in a few decades, scientists will be able to get to the most intimate corners.