As we all learned in elementary school, the solar system is comprised of the sun and the planets that orbit around it. But there’s a lot more to learn about our celestial neighbors. Here are 8 quirky facts about the solar system that you may not have known. Enjoy!
1. Uranus Spins on Its Side
While most planets spin on an axis that is more or less perpendicular to the plane of their orbit, Uranus’ spin is tilted at an angle of 97.77 degrees. In other words, Uranus’ north and south poles point almost directly at the sun during part of its orbit, and away from the sun during the rest of its orbit.
As a result, Uranus experiences extreme seasons, with each pole spending about 20 years in complete darkness, followed by 20 years of continuous sunlight. This unusual tilt is thought to be the result of a giant impact early in Uranus’ history. Whatever the cause, it makes Uranus a uniquely quirky planet.
2. Looking Into The Past
It’s hard to wrap our minds around the concept of space. It’s so vast and empty, and yet it’s also full of fascinating objects and phenomena. One of the most intriguing facts about space is the amount of time it takes for light to travel.
For example, did you know that it takes eight minutes for sunlight to reach Earth? That means that when we look at the sun, we’re actually seeing it as it was eight minutes ago. It’s a mind-boggling thought, but it’s just one of the many strange and wonderful things about our universe.
3. The Biggest Mountain Ever
At over three times the height of Mount Everest, Olympus Mons is the largest mountain in the solar system. However, its size is not the only thing that makes it unique.
Unlike most mountains, which are formed by the movement of tectonic plates, Olympus Mons is thought to be a shield volcano. This a type of volcano that is typically found in areas where the crust is thin and hot molten rock from the mantle can easily break through.
The other strange thing about Olympus Mons is its location. Most volcanoes are found near plate boundaries, but Olympus Mons is located in the middle of a large Martian plain. How this massive mountain came to be in such an unlikely spot is still a mystery to scientists.
One theory is that Mars once had a much thicker atmosphere than it does today, which allowed hot air to rise more easily and fueled the formation of Olympus Mons. Whatever its origins, this giant volcano is definitely one of the most fascinating features of the red planet.
4. Venus Is Hot Stuff
Despite being farther from the sun than Mercury, Venus is actually hotter. There are a few reasons for this. For one, Venus has a thick atmosphere that traps heat. Additionally, the planet has very little water vapor, which helps to reflect sunlight back onto the surface.
As a result, Venus experiences temperatures that can reach up to 864 degrees Fahrenheit. Mercury, on the other hand, only reaches temperatures of up to 800 degrees Fahrenheit. So next time you’re feeling hot, just be thankful you’re not on Venus!
5. Saturn’s Delicate Rings
Space is full of fascinating oddities, and one of the quirkiest is the fact that Saturn’s rings are actually very thin. Though they may appear to be massive and imposing from a distance, the reality is that they’re only about 30 feet thick on average.
In fact, if you were to scale them down to the size of a dinner plate, they would be just as thin as a sheet of paper. Of course, this doesn’t make them any less magnificent; it just goes to show that appearances can sometimes be deceiving. Who knows what other secrets the universe is hiding?
6. The Asteroid Belt Is Not Like the Movies
The asteroid belt is located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. It contains thousands of asteroids, but they are spaced out so that they occupy only a very small percentage of the volume of this region. That means that, for the most part, the asteroid belt is mostly empty space.
This is not what most people expect when they think of an asteroid belt. They usually imagine a dense field of rocks, like a minefield.
In reality, though, it would be very easy to fly a spacecraft through the asteroid belt without hitting anything. So, next time you’re wondering why there hasn’t been a successful mission to mine asteroids, remember that there’s not much to mine!
7. That’s a Long Day!
Did you know that a day on Venus is actually longer than a year? That’s because Venus rotates incredibly slowly, taking 243 Earth days to complete one rotation.
A day is defined as the amount of time it takes for a planet to rotate 360 degrees and a year is the length of time a plant takes to orbit the sun. As Venus takes 225 days to go around the sun, it means that the day is longer than a year.
8. Jupiter is Enormous
If you took all of the planets in our solar system by volume and put it all together, it would fit inside of Jupiter. That’s right, every last bit of it!
It’s so large, in fact, that it comprises more than two-thirds of the mass of all the planets in the solar system combined. And yet, despite its size, Jupiter only has about one-thousandth the density of Earth.
That means that if you were to take all the matter in Jupiter and compress it into a sphere, that sphere would be about the size of Earth. But don’t let its size fool you; Jupiter is no slacker when it comes to speed.
It has the fastest rotation of any planet in the solar system, completing a day in just under 10 hours. And its rotational force is so strong that it actually flattens the planet at the poles, giving it an oblate shape.