It is almost no secret that many celestial bodies revolve around the Sun, which, in addition to planets, also include their satellites, comets, asteroids and other particles. Modern scientists have managed not only to observe them through telescopes and other devices, but even to conduct research on their samples obtained through the use of probes. All this now allows us to confidently answer many questions about planets close to the Sun, their satellites and other celestial bodies.
General description of the planets of the solar system
There are a total of nine planets in our solar system. Each of them is distinguished by its astronomical and structural characteristics. Similar to the Earth, they all rotate not only around their own axis, but also around a common celestial body. The planets closest to the Sun are Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. They are also commonly called "planets" terrestrial group" Their common characteristics are their relatively small size, the predominance of solid elements in their structure, the absence of rings, and a small number of satellites. After them come the planets which include Jupiter itself, as well as Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. They are characterized by a fairly dense atmosphere, as well as light components surrounding the cores. Around each of them there are rings consisting of fragmented substances, and numerous satellites rotate. As for Pluto, it is constantly in the dark, and some scientists do not consider it a planet at all.
Mercury
Almost every schoolchild knows which planet is the closest to the Sun. This is Mercury. In terms of size, it is in eighth place among all representatives of the system. An interesting fact is that Jupiter (Titan and Ganymede, respectively) are larger in size. is 4880 kilometers, and its orbit passes at a distance of almost 58 million kilometers from the Sun. In its entire history, only one ship has flown to this planet (Mariner 10 in 1974-1975), so now there is information about only 45 percent of its surface. According to scientists' research, temperature fluctuations here range from 90 to 700 o K.
The closest planet to the Sun is somewhat reminiscent of the Moon. The fact is that it does not contain, but on the surface there are a large number of craters and huge chasms. In terms of density, Mercury is in second place in the system after Earth. This planet's magnetic field is weak. Its power compared to the Earth is one hundred times less. Mercury has no satellites, and can be seen even with the naked eye.
Venus
The second planet, judging by the distance from the Sun, is Venus. In the case when a criterion such as magnitude is taken as a basis, it is in sixth place. Its diameter is more than 12 thousand kilometers, and its orbit passes 108 million kilometers from the Sun. The first to approach Venus was Mariner 2 in 1962.
Compared to Earth, Venus rotates very slowly. Due to the synchronization of its orbit and rotation period, only one side of this planet is always turned towards us. Very often, Venus is called “sister of the Earth,” which is due to their great similarity. Indeed, its diameter is 95% of our planet, and its mass is 80%. The density and chemical composition are also quite similar. At the same time, one cannot help but note the fact that in many other parameters there are radical differences. There is every reason to believe that Venus once had a large amount of water, which boiled away over time, so it is now completely dry. The planet has no magnetic field(due to slow rotation), as well as satellites. You can see it with the naked eye, because in our sky it is the brightest “star”.
Earth
The third from the Sun is the Earth. Its diameter is 12,756.3 km, and its orbit passes at a distance of 149.6 million km from the celestial body. Like other planets close to the Sun, it has a history of approximately 5.5 billion years. In the system, the Earth is considered the densest celestial body. Water covers 71% of its area. An interesting feature is that only here it exists in liquid form on the surface. Scientists suggest that the stability of temperature on our planet is largely due to this. The only natural one is the Moon. In addition to it, many artificial bodies were launched into orbit.
Mars
In fourth place in terms of distance from the Sun and in seventh position in magnitude is Mars. Its orbit is located at a distance of almost 228 million km from the celestial body, and its diameter is 6794 km. The first ship that flew to it was Mariner 4 in 1965. Like other planets close to the Sun, Mars boasts a rather original and interesting terrain. There are many craters, mountain ranges, planes and hills here. The average is about minus 55 degrees. It is possible to see it even with the naked eye. As for satellites, this planet has two of them: which rotate near its surface.
August 7, 2013Name the closest planet to the Sun! And what about the largest planet in our system? How many of them are there, exactly? Not everyone will immediately remember the answers to these questions. Those who sincerely believed that they knew such simple things will be even more surprised. In fact, it turns out that astronomy is a very dynamic science and knowledge becomes outdated incredibly quickly: seemingly indisputable facts after a few years receive their refutation or addition. And the picture of the Universe looks completely different!
Name the closest planet to the Sun
The planet closest to the luminary is Mercury. It has a very small size and rocky structure. And the proximity to the Sun causes an unimaginably high temperature on the surface of the planet. Mercury is the fastest planet in our system. The duration of its rotation around the Sun is 88 Earth days.
Now name the terrestrial planets! We have already remembered the closest planet to the Sun. Hint: in addition to Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars are also separated from other planets orbiting the star by an asteroid belt. That's why they are called terrestrial planets.
All about the planet Venus
In size, Venus is close to Earth, only slightly inferior to it. However, the atmosphere on this planet is very dense, tens of times denser than Earth’s, and incredibly hot. These atmospheric features determine the characteristic delicate color of the planet, for which it was identified with the female deity of love. It is interesting that a day here lasts as many as 243 Earth days, but the Venusian year is shorter - only 225 days. In addition, it is the only planet in our star system that rotates counterclockwise. There is no generally accepted explanation for this phenomenon.
Mars is the personification of war.
Many ancient peoples associated the reddish body in the starry sky with fire and destruction. Actually, thanks to its ominous appearance, Mars got its name, becoming the god of war in Roman mythology. On this planet there is the most high mountain the entire solar system. Mount Olympus reaches almost 27 km in height, which is three times higher than our earthly Everest. The surface of Mars is heavily dotted with many canyons and mountain ranges. Some of them have such a bizarre shape that people who observed them through a telescope have more than once rushed to declare the artificial origin of these formations.
Jupiter and Saturn are giant planets 
That's right - these celestial bodies are real giants among the planets. Jupiter is 318 times the mass of Earth. Interestingly, it is a gas accumulation. To a spaceship It is impossible to land on the planet, since it does not have solid soil, but consists mainly of active hydrogen and helium. Saturn is about 95 times the mass of the Earth, although it is also not a solid body in the terrestrial concept. It is famous for its rings, which are clearly visible around the planet. They are formed from dust and small satellites rotating in orbit. Only Saturn has 62 more or less large satellites.
Uranus is a planet with many satellites.
Of all the planets, Uranus is the lightest. His interesting feature is that it rotates as if lying on its side.
Neptune - planet of the solar system
Neptune's mass is 17 times that of Earth. Moreover, its density is also higher than that of Earth. Neptune has thirteen moons, the largest of which is called Triton. It is the only planetary satellite in our system that moves in the opposite direction.
And what body closes this series?
And now I ask you, last planet, revolving around the Sun, name it! We have already named the closest planet to the Sun, gas giants, a planet with a ring and the largest satellite of Neptune, but what about the boundaries of our star system? If you think this is Pluto, then you are mistaken. A few years ago this answer would have been correct, but not today. After the discovery of some other bodies behind Pluto, not inferior to it in size, but not moving in a clear planetary orbit, in scientific world the question arose: “What, in fact, is rightfully called a planet?” The consensus was as follows. The planet must:
1) orbit the Sun;
2) have sufficient dimensions to take on a spherical shape under the influence of its own gravity;
3) clear a path for yourself in orbit, and not leave it under the influence of other bodies.
Alas, Pluto does not meet these parameters, like many bodies in the so-called Kuiper belt, discovered on the outskirts of the Solar system in last decade: Eris, Sedna and others.
Source: fb.ru
Current
But after it was demoted from the status of “full-fledged” planets, primacy passed to Mercury, which is what our article is about today.
History of the discovery of the planet Mercury
The history of Mercury and our knowledge about this planet goes back to ancient times; in fact, it is one of the first planets known to mankind. So Mercury was observed back in ancient Sumer, one of the first developed civilizations on Earth. The Sumerians associated Mercury with the local god of writing, Nabu. Babylonian and ancient Egyptian priests, who were also excellent astronomers of the ancient world, also knew about this planet.
As for the origin of the name of the planet “Mercury”, it it's already underway from the Romans, who named this planet in honor of the ancient god Mercury (in the Greek version Hermes), patron of trade, crafts and messenger of other Olympian gods. Also, astronomers of the past sometimes poetically called Mercury the morning or evening dawn, according to the time of its appearance in the starry firmament.
God Mercury, after whom the planet was named.
Also, ancient astronomers believed that Mercury and its closest neighbor, the planet Venus, revolved around the Sun, and not around the Earth. But in turn it revolves around the Earth.
Features of the planet Mercury
Perhaps the most interesting feature of this small planet is the fact that it is on Mercury that the largest temperature fluctuations occur: since Mercury is closest to the Sun, during the day its surface warms up to 450 C. But on the other hand, Mercury does not have its own atmosphere and cannot retain heat, as a result, at night the temperature drops to minus 170 C, here is the largest temperature difference in our solar system.
Mercury is only slightly larger in size than our Moon. Its surface is also similar to that of the Moon, riddled with craters and traces of small asteroids and meteorites.
Interesting fact: approximately 4 billion years ago, a huge asteroid crashed into Mercury, the force of which can be compared to the explosion of a trillion megaton bombs. This impact left a giant crater on the surface of Mercury, approximately the size of the modern state of Texas; astronomers called it the crater Basin Caloris.
Also very interesting is the fact that on Mercury there is real ice, which is hidden in the depths of the craters there. Ice could have been brought to Mercury by meteorites, or even formed from water vapor that escaped from the bowels of the planet.
Another interesting feature of this planet is the reduction in its size. The decrease itself, scientists believe, is caused by the gradual cooling of the planet, which occurs over millions of years. As a result of cooling, its surface collapses and lobe-shaped rocks form.
The density of Mercury is high, higher only at our Earth, in the center of the planet there is a huge molten core, making up 75% of the diameter of the entire planet.
With the help of NASA's Mariner 10 research probe sent to the surface of Mercury, an amazing discovery was made - there is a magnetic field on Mercury. This was all the more surprising, since according to the astrophysical data of this planet: the rotation speed and the presence of a molten core, there should be no magnetic field there. Despite the fact that the strength of Mercury's magnetic field is only 1% of the strength of the Earth's magnetic field, it is superactive - the magnetic field of the solar wind periodically enters the field of Mercury and from interaction with it strong magnetic tornadoes arise, sometimes reaching the surface of the planet.
The speed of the planet Mercury, at which it revolves around the Sun, is 180,000 km per hour. Mercury's orbit is oval-shaped and highly elongated epileptically, as a result of which it either approaches the Sun by 47 million kilometers, or moves away by 70 million kilometers. If we could observe the Sun from the surface of Mercury, it would appear three times larger from there than from Earth.
One year on Mercury is equal to 88 Earth days.
Mercury photo
We bring to your attention a photo of this planet.
Temperature on Mercury
What is the temperature on Mercury? Although this planet is located closest to the Sun, the championship of the warmest planet in the solar system belongs to its neighbor Venus, whose thick atmosphere, which literally envelops the planet, allows it to retain heat. As for Mercury, due to the lack of an atmosphere, its heat evaporates and the planet both quickly heats up and cools down quickly; every day and every night there are simply huge temperature changes from +450 C during the day to -170 C at night. Wherein average temperature on Mercury it will be 140 C, but it’s not cold, not hot, the weather on Mercury leaves much to be desired.
Is there life on Mercury?
As you probably guessed, with such temperature fluctuations the existence of life is not possible.
Atmosphere of Mercury
We wrote above that there is no atmosphere on Mercury, although one can argue with this statement; the atmosphere of the planet Mercury is not absent, it is simply different and different from what we actually understand by atmosphere.
The original atmosphere of this planet was dissipated 4.6 billion years ago due to the very weak Mercury, which simply could not contain it. In addition, the proximity to the Sun and constant solar winds also did not contribute to the preservation of the atmosphere in the classical sense of the term. However, a weak atmosphere on Mercury remains, and it is the most unstable and insignificant atmosphere in the solar system.
The composition of Mercury's atmosphere includes helium, potassium, sodium, and water vapor. In addition, the planet's current atmosphere is periodically replenished from various sources, such as solar wind particles, volcanic degassing, and radioactive decay of elements.
Also, despite small size and the meager density of Mercury's atmosphere can be divided into as many as four sections: the lower, middle and upper layers, as well as the exosphere. The lower atmosphere contains a lot of dust, which gives Mercury a peculiar red-brown appearance; it warms up to high temperatures, thanks to the heat that is reflected from the surface. The middle atmosphere has a current similar to the earth's. Mercury's upper atmosphere actively interacts with solar winds, which also heat it to high temperatures.
The surface of the planet Mercury is bare rock of volcanic origin. Billions of years ago, molten lava cooled and formed rocky, gray surface. This surface is also responsible for the color of Mercury - dark gray, although due to the dust in the lower layers of the atmosphere it seems that Mercury is red-brown. Images of the surface of Mercury taken from the Messenger research probe are very reminiscent lunar landscape, the only thing on Mercury is not " lunar seas", while there are no Mercury scarps on the Moon.
Rings of Mercury
Does Mercury have rings? After all, many planets solar system, for example, and of course they are present. Alas, Mercury literally has no rings at all. Rings cannot exist on Mercury again due to the proximity of this planet to the Sun, because the rings of other planets are formed from ice debris, pieces of asteroids and other celestial objects, which near Mercury are simply melted by hot solar winds.
Moons of Mercury
Just like Mercury has no satellite rings. This is due to the fact that there are not many asteroids flying around this planet - potential candidates for satellites when they come into contact with the planet’s gravity.
Rotation of Mercury
The rotation of the planet Mercury is very unusual, namely, the orbital period of its rotation is shorter compared to the duration of rotation around its axis. This duration is less than 180 Earth days. While the orbital period is half as long. In other words, Mercury goes through two orbits in three of its revolutions.
How long does it take to fly to Mercury?
At its closest point, the minimum distance from Earth to Mercury is 77.3 million kilometers. How long will it take modern spacecraft to cover such a distance? NASA's fastest spacecraft to date, New Horizons, which was launched to Pluto, has a speed of about 80,000 kilometers per hour. It would take him about 40 days to get to Mercury, which is comparatively not that long.
The first spacecraft, Mariner 10, launched to Mercury back in 1973, was not so fast; it took 147 days to reach this planet. Technology is improving, and perhaps in the near future it will be possible to fly to Mercury in a few hours.
- Mercury is quite difficult to spot in the sky, as it “loves to play hide and seek,” literally “hiding” behind the Sun. However, ancient astronomers knew about it. This is explained by the fact that in those distant times the sky was darker due to the lack of light pollution, and the planet was visible much better.
- The shift in Mercury's orbit helped confirm Albert Einstein's famous theory of relativity. In short, it talks about how the light of a star changes when another planet orbits it. Astronomers reflected a radar signal from Mercury, and the path of this signal coincided with predictions general theory relativity.
- The magnetic field of Mercury, the very existence of which is very mysterious, in addition to everything else, also differs at the poles of the planet. At the south pole it is more intense than at the north.
Mercury, video
And finally interesting documentary about the flight to the planet Mercury.
Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun, which does not deviate from it by more than 30°. This close arrangement allows the celestial body to make two revolutions a year around the blazing center of the Universe. It is interesting that the planet closest to the sun in the solar system is always visible to earthlings only from one side.
Mercury from mythological and astrological points of view
Mercury, like the ancient Greek Hermes, was the deity of trade and crafts among the Romans, and also served as a messenger. In mythology, Mercury is a symbol of news, conversation and gossip. In an interesting way the meaning is interpreted from an astronomical point of view. The planet closest to the Sun is responsible for rational thinking, as well as speech, the end result of thoughts. Main characteristics: logic and cold calculation, feelings and emotions are excluded.
Mercury is fluent in the magic of words, which is one of the most powerful means of influencing a person. This influence can manifest itself in well-developed psychological energy and the ability to hypnotize. As for the zodiac signs, Mercury, the planet closest to the sun, fully rules Gemini and gives them success and the necessary energy. The planet gives signs of the air element an extensive vocabulary, the ability to speak clearly, meaningfully and competently, and a quick, but slightly superficial way of rational thinking.
Mercury: general information and characteristics
The planet closest to the Sun is located 58 million kilometers from the blazing star. A year on the planet consists of 88 days. In just 3 months, by earthly standards, Mercury circles the Sun, the speed being about 50 km/sec, which is quite fast compared to Earth. As for physical data, the planet’s mass is only 0.06 Earth’s weight, its diameter is 4880 kilometers, and its density is 5500 kg/m3.
Mercury itself is also an extremely hot planet, with temperatures ranging daytime reaches 427° Celsius, and at night, on the contrary, it is very cold here - minus 173°. Judging by the photographs taken in 1974 by Mariner 10, one could notice the similarity of the planet's surface to the Moon. According to the American interplanetary station, the center of Mercury is full of iron, and the gravity is much less than on Earth.
Mercury Exploration
Studying Mercury from Earth due to its close location to the Sun is quite problematic, since it very rarely finds itself in orbit between our planet and the celestial body, approximately once every 100 years. And even in this case, only a small part of the planet is visible, which is not enough for a detailed examination. A more convenient way to study a celestial body is to use various space stations, which can take pictures much more best quality than the most advanced terrestrial telescopes.
The best photographs show different sizes craters and cracks no more than 100 m in diameter, with the exception of one huge crater, called the Caloris Basin, with a diameter of 1300 km. Probably, the reason could have been a meeting with an object like an asteroid, and large enough to leave such a many-kilometer hole. Like the Moon, Mercury's surface has small bowl-shaped craters and larger craters with a sharp rise in the middle. Such traces are reminiscent of the consequences of a collision with meteorites or asteroids.
Does Mercury have an atmosphere?
The Mariner 10 space station, which visited the planet in close proximity, confirmed the presence of an atmosphere here. Due to the high temperature and proximity to the Sun, the gas shell is lost in quite a large quantities. Helium, the main atmospheric component, is mostly lost, but it is constantly renewed thanks to the Sun. The pressure at the surface is very low due to the thin atmosphere and is 500 billion times less than that of the earth.
In addition to helium, it was discovered minimal amount hydrogen, argon and neon. And the presence of a magnetic field allows us to draw conclusions that the planet’s core contains iron, which is a common element of celestial bodies similar to the Earth in structure. The crust and mantle, 600 kilometers deep, comprise predominantly siliceous rocks.
Reliefs of Mercury
Any schoolchild will answer the question which planet is closest to the sun. Mercury has no satellites. Having studied the photographs of the planet, we can draw certain conclusions regarding its surface. Looking at the pictures, one can assume that this is the surface of the Moon, but this is not so, there are also character traits, characteristic of this particular planet. The structural features and shape of the craters indicate the incredible kinetic energy of objects colliding with the surface, and the rock composition of Mercury also played a role.
The planet closest to the Sun is characterized by varying levels of erosion and smoothing of craters and basins. Compared to lunar craters, Mercurian craters are shallower, and secondary ones are scattered at a closer distance to the main one. Another type of relief can be called basins formed by bottom displacements and subsidence of the continental surface. The rest of the territory is called the interkrator plateau, its appearance reminiscent of a turbulent volcanic past.
The keen interest of scientists from different times to the nearest neighbor of the Sun
Mercury is a very bright planet along with Venus, Mars, Jupiter and the large star Sirius. Interest in this planet arose in ancient times, as evidenced by the Sumerian cuneiform chronicles of the 3rd millennium BC. Mercury was once considered even two different objects. Ancient India called the planet Buddha and Roginea. And in translations from Asian languages, Mercury sounds like the Water Star, and Hebrew describes it as the Solar Planet.
Was discovered interesting fact, despite the fact that the orbits of Mars and Venus are closer to the Earth, Mercury, when these neighbors are moving away, is the closest neighbor of the Earth for a long time. There are also suggestions that despite the sharp changes in temperature, there may be ice formations on the planet, as radar studies show substances that have good reflective properties of radio waves, and this is evidence that traces of water can be found on the planet.
Answering a simple question, name the planet closest to the sun, we can safely say - Mercury. However, this planet is not as simple as it might seem at first glance. Much has become known thanks to data and photographs received from space stations, but many questions regarding the origin, presence of atmosphere, water and perhaps some forms of life remain open.
– a powerful and bright energy emitter of light and heat. It is a huge and hot fireball consisting of plasma, helium and hydrogen. According to one popular theory, the star was formed as a result of a supernova explosion 4.5 billion years ago. A dusty gas cloud appeared. The movement then led to the appearance of a disk where the Sun and the rest of the planets orbiting around it were formed.
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Types of planets
Eat two types of planets– terrestrial (Mercury, Venus, Mars) and giants (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune).
The terrestrial representatives are small in size, their surface is rocky, and they are located closer to the Sun than the giants. Planets closer to the Sun than Earth- These are Mercury and Venus.
The giants include: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. They contain gas and have rings formed from icy dust and rocky stones.
There is also a ninth planet - Pluto. It is not included in any of the groups discussed above, since it is the farthest from the Sun, and its diameter is 2320 km (while the diameter of Mercury is 2 times larger). Pluto has the status of a dwarf planet.
Let's consider the main luminary of the galaxy, and which of the planets is in which place from the Sun.
Belongs to the “yellow dwarf” variety exists about 4.5 billion years. On this moment the middle of existence is observed. In 4 billion years it will become a “red giant”, expanding and reaching the orbit of our planet (according to scientists, the Earth will be moved away, and due to high temperatures, life on it will disappear). The Sun will spend the end of its existence as a “white dwarf”.
This is the smallest planet in size Venus or Mercury is closer to our luminary? It is Mercury that is closest to the Sun. The speed of rotation around its axis is extremely low: making one and a half revolutions around itself, the planet completes a full revolution around the main body. At night the temperature is minus 180 degrees, and during the day – plus 430 degrees.
The planet with such a romantic name is enveloped in a dense cloud of carbon dioxide. It is similar to our planet in such parameters as mass and size. Which is closer to the Sun - Mars or Venus? Venus is in second place from the star, and Mars is in fourth. The hottest planet is Venus because it has a greenhouse effect.
Life on this planet arose thanks to its unique atmosphere, consisting of carbon and hydrogen, as well as due to the presence and optimal temperature. Where is Earth located from the yellow dwarf?? It is the third in a row, and rotates at a distance of 149 million km from this giant star. It was this that determined the formation of suitable conditions for the emergence and development of life.
It resembles the Earth in structure, but has a much smaller mass and 2 times smaller radius. If it had water and an atmosphere, it would be suitable for life. The length of the day on it is the same as on Earth, but the length of the year is twice as long as ours. Orbiting Mars are two small satellites that resemble asteroids: Deimos and Phobos. Features of its location include the fact that Mars is closer to Earth than Neptune. Some people mistakenly believe that Mars is closer to the Sun than Earth, but that's not true.
Is the largest among all planets included in the solar system (exceeds our Earth by more than 300 times). If Jupiter's mass were several times greater, it would become not a planet, but a star. Its atmosphere consists almost entirely of hydrogen, and 15% is made up of helium, sulfur, phosphorus and ammonia. The length of a day on it is 10 hours, and the length of a year is 144 months. Has more than 60 satellites and 4 rings.
The density of Saturn is less than one: if there were an ocean that was several times larger in size than this planet, then Saturn would not drown in it. Has many rings. Nearest neighbors- satellites, some quite large. Titan is a unique satellite because its atmosphere resembles that of Earth, and its pressure is only 1.5 times higher than ours.
It has blue-green tones and lies “on its side”, since its axis of rotation and the ecliptic plane are parallel to each other. It has 27 moons and 13 rings. This coldest planet(the lowest temperature that was recorded on it is minus 222 degrees). It is very windy there: the speed of continuous winds is up to 580 km/h. Thanks to Voyager 2, which reached Uranus, scientists received information that this celestial body has 2 main magnetic poles, and two more secondary ones.
Planet formed from gas, consisting of methane, ammonia and water. Has a solid stone core. Due to the presence of methane, Neptune is colored blue. It has 14 moons and 6 rings. Due to the great distance from Earth about celestial body little is known.
Attention! Neptune was discovered precisely thanks to mathematical calculations. It is the windiest of all the planets in the solar system, with hurricane speeds of 700 km/h, as reported by Voyager 2 scientists.
Refers to dwarf planets. According to scientists, its rocky core is covered with a gigantic thickness of ice, amounting to about 200 km. Little is known about him because he is farthest planet from the Sun. Its atmosphere is uninhabitable and consists of nitrogen, methane and carbon monoxide. It has three satellites - Charon (for a long time considered the only one), Hydra and Nix. The diameter of Pluto is only a couple of times larger than the diameter of Charon.
Dwarf planets
Which planet is closer to the main luminary, if we consider only dwarf ones? In total, five planets with this status have been discovered so far. These include Pluto, Makemake, Eris, Haumea and Ceres. Makemake is known for having an incredibly flat icy surface - it is covered with slabs of ice consisting of methane. Eris is the heaviest dwarf planet (it is about 27% heavier than Pluto). Haumea is notable for the fact that its shape is oval and its surface is covered with a layer of ice. As for Ceres, it is located in the asteroid belt, has a spherical shape, and its orbit passes between the orbits of Jupiter and Mars.
Important! It is Ceres among the other dwarf planets closest to the luminary.
Approximate distance from the Sun:
- to Ceres – 414 million km;
- Pluto – 5.9 billion km;
- Haumea – 7.7 billion km;
- Makemake – 7.9 billion km;
- Eris – 10 billion km.
Perhaps even more dwarf planets will be discovered in the future.
Useful video: how many planets are there in the solar system?
Useful video: what you need to know about the Solar System?
