Solar system

The solar system is the retinue of objects gravitationally bound to our Sun. Traditionally, it is said to consist of nine planets and their 156 (at last count) moons; however a large number of other objects, including asteroids, meteoroids, planetoids and comets orbit the Sun along with them.

Other facts

The total surface area of the solar system's objects that have solid surfaces and a diameter greater than 1 km is ~1.7×109 km2 —about 11 times the area of the Earth's land masses.

Related Topics:
Surface area - Km

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It has been suggested that the Sun may be part of a binary star system, with a distant companion named Nemesis. Nemesis was proposed to explain some timing regularities of the great extinctions of life on Earth. The hypothesis says that Nemesis creates periodical perturbations in the Oort cloud of comets surrounding the solar system, causing a "comet shower". Some of them hit Earth, causing destruction of life. This hypothesis is no longer taken seriously by most scientists.

Related Topics:
Binary star - Nemesis - Oort cloud

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The concept of the tenth planet has frequently been explored in science fiction works and conspiracy theories (see also Planet X, and hypothetical planet).

Related Topics:
Tenth planet - Science fiction - Conspiracy theories - Planet X - Hypothetical planet

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