The term Solar system generally refers to a star and any objects under the influence of its gravitational field. Our Solar system that includes Earth consists of the star known as the sun, a number of planets, an asteroid belt, numerous comets, and other objects. Earth’s position in this roughly disk-like arrangement provides the opportunity for life, as known to humankind, to arise. Here we will see that what is Earth and what is earths position in the Solar system.
What is the Solar system?
Our solar system is having a star that we call the Sun and the planets which are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. It also includes the satellites of the planets, a large number of comets, asteroids, and meteoroids. The Sun is the richest source of electromagnetic energy which is in the form of heat and light.
The red dwarf star i.e. Proxima Centauri is the Sun’s nearest stellar neighbor. We can see the whole solar system, together with the local stars in a clear night. Our own home galaxy is a spiral disk of 200 billion stars and known as Milky Way.
This Milky Way has two small galaxies orbiting it nearby, which are visible from the southern hemisphere. These two are called the Large Magellan Cloud and the Small Magellanic Cloud. The nearest large galaxy to it is the Andromeda Galaxy. This galaxy is in a spiral, like the Milky Way but is 4 times as massive and is 2 million light-years away. Our galaxy is one of the billions of galaxies known.
Arrangement of the Solar System
The solar system contains eight planets and one planetoid, or dwarf planet which is Pluto. In this Solar system, the inner four planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. These are also known as terrestrial planets. These are smaller, solid and similar to Earth.
The outer four planets i.e. Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are termed as Jovian planets. These are large, mostly gaseous and are similar to Jupiter. Pluto was declassified as a planet in 2006, as it is more strongly resembling an oversized comet than anything else.
The Earth
The Earth is our own planet and the third nearest planet to the Sun. The shape of the earth is known as Geoid because it is slightly flattened at the poles. Certain essential conditions that are necessary to support life exists only on earth. If anyone looks from outer space, the earth appears blue.
This is because, a two-third surface of the earth, is covered by water. This is the reason that Earth is also known as the blue planet. Its diameter is 7,926 miles i.e. 12,760 km with orbit duration of 365.24 days.
What is Earth’s location in space?
The third planet from the sun i.e. Earth is a water world. It’s the only world known to harbor life. The atmosphere at Earth atmosphere is rich in life-sustaining nitrogen and oxygen. Its surface rotates about its axis at 467 meters per second. The planet does move around the sun at more than 18 miles per second.
Our Earth is located in the Virgo Supercluster of galaxies. A supercluster is a group of galaxies which are held together by gravity. Within this supercluster, we are living in a smaller group of galaxies called the Local Group. Earth is in the second-largest galaxy of the Local Group which is Milky Way. Earth is located in one of the spiral arms of the Milky Way which is called the Orion Arm.
Questions for You on What is Earth
Q.1: Which planet has the largest ring system?
Ans: Saturn
Q.2: Which is the only moon of Pluto?
Ans: Charon
Q.3: Which planet has the hottest temperatures?
Ans: Venus
