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Solar System Structure and Moons Explained

The structure of the solar system is due to how it formed, with rocky planets like Earth and Mars close to the Sun and gas giants like Jupiter and Saturn farther out where ice could form. While life is only known to exist on Earth, the moons Europa and Enceladus may have the potential for life under their icy shells since they likely have subsurface oceans. There are over 150 known moons in our solar system, with the giant planets having the most due to their strong gravity, and even small asteroids can have moons.

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65 views2 pages

Solar System Structure and Moons Explained

The structure of the solar system is due to how it formed, with rocky planets like Earth and Mars close to the Sun and gas giants like Jupiter and Saturn farther out where ice could form. While life is only known to exist on Earth, the moons Europa and Enceladus may have the potential for life under their icy shells since they likely have subsurface oceans. There are over 150 known moons in our solar system, with the giant planets having the most due to their strong gravity, and even small asteroids can have moons.

Uploaded by

Verendra
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Structure

The order and arrangement of the planets and other bodies in our solar system is
due to the way the solar system formed. Nearest the Sun, only rocky material could
withstand the heat when the solar system was young. For this reason, the first four
planets—Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars—are terrestrial planets. They're small
with solid, rocky surfaces.

Meanwhile, materials we are used to seeing as ice, liquid or gas settled in the outer
regions of the young solar system. Gravity pulled these materials together, and that
is where we find gas giants Jupiter and Saturn and ice giants Uranus and Neptune.

Potential for Life


Our solar system is the only place we know of that harbors life, but the farther we
explore the more we find potential for life in other places. Both Jupiter’s moon
Europa and Saturn’s moon Enceladus have global saltwater oceans under thick, icy
shells.

Moons
There are more than 150 known moons in our solar system and several more
awaiting confirmation of discovery. Of the eight planets, Mercury and Venus are the
only ones with no moons. The giant planets grab the most moons. Jupiter and
Saturn have long lead our solar system’s moon counts. In some ways, the swarms
of moons around these worlds resemble mini versions of our solar system. Pluto,
smaller than our own moon, has five moons in its orbit, including the Charon, a
moon so large it makes Pluto wobble. Even tiny asteroids can have moons. In 2017,
scientists found asteroid 3122 Florence had two tiny moons.
These six narrow-angle color images were made from the first ever 'portrait' of the
solar system taken by Voyager 1, which was more than 4 billion miles from Earth
and about 32 degrees above the ecliptic. Image Credit: NASA Planetary
Photojournal

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