The names of the planets of the solar system: where do they come from?
About the origin of the name of which planet humanity still does not know anything? The answer will surprise you...
Most of the cosmic bodies in the universe got their names in honor of the ancient Roman and ancient Greek deities. Modern names of the planets in the solar system are also associated with ancient mythological characters. And only one planet is an exception to this list: its name has nothing to do with the ancient gods. What space object are we talking about? Let's figure it out.
Planets of the solar system.
Science knows exactly about the existence of 8 planets of the solar system. Not so long ago, scientists expanded this list with the discovery of the ninth planet, the name of which has not yet been officially announced, so let's leave it alone for now. Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, Jupiter, due to their location and giant size, are combined into a single, external, group. Mars, Earth, Venus and Mercury belong to the terrestrial inner group.
The location of the planets.
Until 2006, Pluto was considered a planet in the solar system, but careful exploration of outer space has changed the idea of this object. It has been classified as the largest body in the Kuiper belt. Pluto has been given the status of a dwarf planet. Known to mankind since 1930, it owes its name to Oxford schoolgirl Venice Burney. By voting astronomers, the choice fell on the option of an eleven-year-old girl who proposed to name the planet in honor of the Roman god - the patron of the underworld and death.
Pluto and its moon Charon.
Its existence became known back in the middle of the 19th century (1846), when the cosmic body was discovered by mathematical calculations by John Coach Adams and Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier. The name of the new planet in the solar system caused a discussion between astronomers: each of them wanted to perpetuate his last name in the name of the object. To end the dispute, they offered a compromise - the name of the god of the seas from ancient Roman mythology.
Neptune: The name of a planet in the solar system.
Initially, the planet had several names. Discovered in 1781, they decided to christen it after the discoverer W. Herschel. The scientist himself wanted to honor the British ruler George III with a similar honor, but astronomers were asked to continue the tradition of their ancestors and, like the 5 most ancient planets, give a “divine” name to the cosmic body. The main contender was the Greek god of the sky Uranus.
Uranus.
The existence of a giant planet was known back in pre-Christian era. Choosing the name, the Romans decided to focus on the God of agriculture.
The giant planet Saturn.
The name of the Roman supreme god is imprinted in the name of the planet of the solar system - the largest of them. Like Saturn, Jupiter has been known for a very long time, because it was not difficult to see a giant in the sky.
Jupiter.
The reddish tint of the planet's surface is associated with bloodshed, which is why the god of war among the Romans gave the name to the space object.
"Red Planet" Mars.
Almost nothing is known about the name of our home planet. Surely we can say that its name has nothing to do with mythology. First mention modern name planets was recorded in 1400. It is associated with the Anglo-Saxon term for soil or ground - "Earth". But who called the Earth "earth" - there is no information.
On March 13, 1781, English astronomer William Herschel discovered the seventh planet in the solar system - Uranus. And on March 13, 1930, American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh discovered the ninth planet in the solar system - Pluto. By the beginning of the 21st century, it was believed that the solar system included nine planets. However, in 2006, the International Astronomical Union decided to strip Pluto of this status.
There are already 60 known natural satellites of Saturn, most of which have been discovered using spacecraft. Most of the satellites are rocks and ice. The largest satellite, Titan, discovered in 1655 by Christian Huygens, is larger than the planet Mercury. The diameter of Titan is about 5200 km. Titan orbits Saturn every 16 days. Titan is the only moon to have a very dense atmosphere, 1.5 times the size of Earth's, and consisting mostly of 90% nitrogen, with a moderate amount of methane.
The International Astronomical Union officially recognized Pluto as a planet in May 1930. At that moment, it was assumed that its mass was comparable to the mass of the Earth, but later it was found that the mass of Pluto is almost 500 times less than the Earth's, even less than the mass of the Moon. The mass of Pluto is 1.2 times 1022 kg (0.22 Earth masses). The average distance of Pluto from the Sun is 39.44 AU. (5.9 by 10 to the 12th degree km), the radius is about 1.65 thousand km. The period of revolution around the Sun is 248.6 years, the period of rotation around its axis is 6.4 days. The composition of Pluto supposedly includes rock and ice; the planet has a thin atmosphere composed of nitrogen, methane and carbon monoxide. Pluto has three moons: Charon, Hydra and Nyx.
At the end of XX and early XXI centuries, many objects have been discovered in the outer part of the solar system. It has become apparent that Pluto is only one of the largest Kuiper belt objects known to date. Moreover, at least one of the objects of the belt - Eris - is a larger body than Pluto and 27% heavier than it. In this regard, the idea arose to no longer consider Pluto as a planet. On August 24, 2006, at the XXVI General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union (IAU), it was decided to henceforth call Pluto not a "planet", but a "dwarf planet".
At the conference, a new definition of the planet was developed, according to which planets are considered to be bodies revolving around a star (and not being a star themselves), having a hydrostatically balanced shape and "clearing" the area in the region of their orbit from other, smaller, objects. Dwarf planets will be considered objects that revolve around a star, have a hydrostatically equilibrium shape, but have not "cleared" the nearby space and are not satellites. Planets and dwarf planets are two different classes of solar system objects. All other objects revolving around the Sun and not being satellites will be called small bodies of the solar system.
Thus, since 2006, there have been eight planets in the solar system: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune. Five dwarf planets are officially recognized by the International Astronomical Union: Ceres, Pluto, Haumea, Makemake, Eris.
On June 11, 2008, the IAU announced the introduction of the concept of "plutoid". It was decided to call plutoids celestial bodies that revolve around the Sun in an orbit whose radius is greater than the radius of Neptune's orbit, whose mass is sufficient for gravitational forces to give them an almost spherical shape, and which do not clear the space around their orbit (that is, many small objects revolve around them ).
Since it is still difficult to determine the shape and thus the relation to the class of dwarf planets for such distant objects as plutoids, scientists recommended temporarily assigning to plutoids all objects whose absolute asteroid magnitude (brilliance from a distance of one astronomical unit) is brighter than +1. If it later turns out that the object assigned to the plutoids is not a dwarf planet, it will be deprived of this status, although the assigned name will be left. The dwarf planets Pluto and Eris were classified as plutoids. In July 2008, Makemake was included in this category. On September 17, 2008, Haumea was added to the list.
The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources
It's hard to believe, but once the Cosmos was completely empty. There were no planets, no satellites, no stars. Where did they come from? How was the solar system formed? These questions have troubled mankind for centuries. This article will help to give some idea of what the Cosmos is and will reveal Interesting Facts about the planets of the solar system.
How it all began
The Universe is the entire visible and invisible Cosmos, together with all existing cosmic bodies. Several theories have been put forward:
3. Divine intervention. Our Universe is so unique, everything in it is thought out to the smallest detail, that it could not arise by itself. Only the Great Creator is capable of creating such a miracle. Absolutely not a scientific theory, but it has the right to exist.
Disputes about the causes of the true origin of outer space continue. In fact, we have an idea of the solar system, which includes a burning star and eight planets with their satellites, galaxies, stars, comets, black holes and much more.
Amazing discoveries or interesting facts about the planets of the solar system
Outer spaces beckon with their mystery. Each celestial body keeps its own mystery. Thanks to astronomical discoveries, valuable information about celestial wanderers appears.
Closest to the sun is Mercury. There is an opinion that it was once a satellite of Venus. But due to space disaster the cosmic body separated from Venus and acquired its own orbit. A year on Mercury is 88 days, and a day is 59 days.
Mercury is the only planet in the solar system where you can observe the movement of the Sun in the opposite direction. This phenomenon has a completely logical explanation. The speed of rotation of the planet around its axis is much slower than the movement in its orbit. Due to such a difference in speed regimes, the effect of changing the movement of the Sun arises.
On Mercury you can observe a fantastic phenomenon: two sunsets and sunrises. And if you move to the meridians 0˚ and 180̊, then you can witness three sunsets and sunrises per day.
Venus goes next to Mercury. Lights up in the sky during sunset on Earth, but you can observe it for only a couple of hours. Because of this feature, she was nicknamed "Evening Star". Interestingly, the orbit of Venus lies inside the orbit of our planet. But it moves in the opposite direction, counterclockwise. A year on the planet lasts 225 days, and 1 day is 243 Earth days. Venus, like the Moon, has a phase change, transforming either into a thin sickle or into a wide circle. There is an assumption that some types of terrestrial bacteria can live in the atmosphere of Venus.
Earth- truly a pearl of the solar system. Only on it there is a huge variety of life forms. People feel so comfortable on this planet and do not even realize that it is rushing along its orbit at a speed of 108,000 km per hour.
The fourth planet from the Sun is Mars. He is accompanied by two companions. A day on this planet is equivalent in duration to the earth - 24 hours. But 1 year lasts 668 days. Just like on Earth, the seasons change here. The seasons cause change and appearance planets.
Jupiter- the largest space giant. It has many satellites (more than 60 pieces) and 5 rings. It is 318 times the mass of Earth. But, despite its impressive size, it moves quite quickly. It turns around its own axis in just 10 hours, but it overcomes the distance around the Sun in 12 years.
The weather on Jupiter is bad - constant storms and hurricanes, accompanied by lightning. A striking representative of such weather conditions is the Great Red Spot - a whirlwind moving at a speed of 435 km / h.
hallmark Saturn, certainly are his rings. These flat formations are made up of dust and ice. The thickness of the circles ranges from 10 - 15 m to 1 km, the width from 3,000 km to 300,000 km. The rings of the planet are not a single whole, but represent formations in the form of thin spokes. Also, the planet is surrounded by more than 62 satellites.
Saturn has an incredibly high rate of rotation, so much so that it is compressed at the poles. A day on the planet lasts 10 hours, a year - 30 years.
Uranus, like Venus, it moves around the star counterclockwise. The uniqueness of the planet lies in the fact that it "lies on its side", its axis is tilted at an angle of 98˚. There is a theory that the planet took this position after a collision with another space object.
Like Saturn, Uranus has a complex ring system, consisting of a combination of an inner and outer group of rings. In total, Uranus has 13 of them. It is believed that the rings are the remains of the former satellite of Uranus, which collided with the planet.
Uranus does not have a solid surface, a third of the radius, approximately 8,000 km, is a gaseous shell.
Neptune is the last planet in the solar system. It is surrounded by 6 dark rings. The most beautiful shade sea wave The planet is supplied with methane, which is present in the atmosphere. Neptune makes one revolution in its orbit in 164 years. But around its axis it moves quite quickly, and the day passes for
16 hours. In some places, the orbit of Neptune intersects with the orbit of Pluto.
Neptune has a large number of satellites. Basically, they all rotate in front of the orbit of Neptune and are called internal. There are only two outer satellites accompanying the planet.
You can see it on Neptune. However, outbreaks are too weak and occur throughout the planet, and not exclusively at the poles, as on Earth.
Once in space, there were 9 planets. This number also included Pluto. But because of small size, the astronomical community has identified it as a series of dwarf planets (asteroids).
Here are some interesting facts and amazing stories about the planets of the solar system are discovered in the process of exploring the black depths of the Cosmos.
Quick answer: 8 planets.
The solar system is a planetary system that includes the central star, which is the Sun, as well as all other natural space objects, which in turn revolve around the Sun.
Interestingly, most of the entire mass solar system falls on itself, while the rest falls on 8 planets. Yes, yes, there are 8 planets in the solar system, not 9, as some people believe. Why do they think so? One of the reasons is that they mistake the Sun for another planet, but in fact it is the only star that is part of the solar system. But in fact, everything is simpler - Pluto used to be considered a planet, but now it is considered a dwarf planet.
Let's start the review of the planets, starting with the closest to the Sun.
Mercury
This planet was named after the ancient Roman god of trade - the swift-footed Mercury. The fact is that it moves much faster than other planets.
Mercury completely revolves around the Sun in 88 Earth days, while the duration of one sidereal day on Mercury is 58.65 Earth days.
Relatively little is known about the planet, and one of the reasons is that Mercury is too close to the Sun.
Venus
Venus is the second so-called inner planet of the solar system, which was named after the goddess of love Venus. It is worth noting that this is the only planet that got its name in honor of a female deity, and not a male one.
Venus is very similar to Earth, not only in size, but also in composition and even gravity.
It is believed that once on Venus there were many oceans, similar topics what we have. However, some time ago, the planet warmed up so much that all the water evaporated, leaving behind only rocks. Water vapor was carried into outer space.
Earth
The third planet is Earth. It is the largest planet among the terrestrial planets.
It was formed about 4.5 billion years ago, after which it was almost immediately joined by its only satellite, which is the Moon. It is believed that life on Earth appeared about 3.9 billion years ago, and over time, its biosphere began to change in better side, which made it possible to form the ozone layer, increase the growth of aerobic organisms, etc. All this, among other things, allows us to exist even now.
Mars
Mars closes the four terrestrial planets. The planet is named after the ancient Roman god of war Mars. This planet is also called red because its surface has a reddish tint due to iron oxide.
Mars has a surface pressure 160 times less than Earth's. On the surface are craters similar to those that can be observed on the moon. There are also volcanoes, deserts, valleys and even ice caps.
Mars has two moons: Deimos and Phobos.
Jupiter
It is the fifth planet from the Sun and the first among the giant planets. By the way, the largest in the solar system, which got its name in honor of the ancient Roman supreme god of thunder.
Jupiter has been known for a long time, which is reflected in ancient myths and legends. It has a very large number of satellites - 67 to be exact. Interestingly, some of them were discovered several centuries ago. So, Galileo Galilei himself discovered 4 satellites in 1610.
Jupiter can sometimes be seen with the naked eye, as was the case in 2010.
Saturn
Saturn is the second largest planet in the solar system. It was named after the Roman god of agriculture.
It is known that Saturn consists of hydrogen with signs of water, helium, ammonia, methane and other heavy elements. An unusual wind speed has been noticed on the planet - about 1800 kilometers per hour.
Saturn has visible rings that are mostly ice, dust, and other elements. Saturn also has 63 moons, one of which, Titan, surpasses even Mercury in size.
Uranus
The seventh planet in terms of distance from the Sun. It was discovered relatively recently (in 1781) by William Herschel and was named after the sky god.
Uranus is the first planet to be discovered with a telescope between the Middle Ages and modern times. Interestingly, despite the fact that the planet can sometimes be seen with the naked eye, before its discovery, it was commonly believed that it was a dim star.
Uranus has a lot of ice, but there is no metallic hydrogen. The atmosphere of the planet is made up of helium and hydrogen, as well as methane.
Uranus a complex system rings, there are also 27 satellites at once.
Neptune
Finally, we have reached the eighth and last planet of the solar system. The planet is named after the Roman god of the seas.
Neptune was discovered in 1846, and, interestingly, not with the help of observations, but thanks to mathematical calculations. Initially, only one of its satellites was discovered, although the remaining 13 were not known until the 20th century.
Neptune's atmosphere is made up of hydrogen, helium, and possibly nitrogen. Here the most are raging strong winds, the speed of which reaches a fantastic 2100 km / h. AT upper layers atmospheric temperature is about 220°C.
Neptune has an underdeveloped ring system.
The sun is an ordinary star, its age is about 5 billion years. All the planets of the solar system revolve in this star.
SUN, the central body of the solar system, a hot plasma ball, a typical dwarf star spectral type G2; mass M~2.1030 kg, radius R=696 t. km, average density 1.416.103 kg/m3, luminosity L=3.86.1023 kW, effective temperature surface (photosphere) approx. 6000 K.
The rotation period (synodic) varies from 27 days at the equator to 32 days at the poles, the free fall acceleration is 274 m/s2. Chemical composition determined from analysis solar spectrum: hydrogen approx. 90%, helium 10%, other elements less than 0.1% (by number of atoms).
The source of solar energy is the nuclear transformation of hydrogen into helium in the central region of the Sun, where the temperature is 15 million K (thermonuclear reactions).
Energy from the depths is transferred by radiation, and then in the outer layer with a thickness of approx. 0.2 R by convection. The existence of photospheric granulation, sunspots, spicules, etc. is associated with the convective motion of plasma. 
The intensity of plasma processes on the Sun changes periodically (11-year period; see C
solar activity). solar atmosphere(chromosphere and solar corona) is very dynamic, flares, prominences are observed in it, there is a constant outflow of corona matter into interplanetary space (solar wind).
Features of the motion Venus moves in an orbit located between the orbits of Mercury and the Earth, with a sidereal period equal to 224.7 Earth days. ;
- Third Earth. The only planet where life exists. Thanks to its unique, perhaps the only one in the universe natural conditions, became the place where organic life arose and developed. The shape, dimensions and movement of the Earth The shape of the Earth is close to an ellipsoid, flattened at the poles and stretched in the equatorial zone. ;
- the fourth from the solar system. Behind him is the asteroid belt.
The average distance from the Sun is 228 million km, the period of revolution is 687 days, the period of rotation is 24.5 hours, the average diameter is 6780 km, the mass is 6.4 × 1023 kg; 2 natural satellites Phobos and Deimos. Atmospheric composition: CO2 (>95%), N2 (2.5%), Ar (1.5-2%), CO (0.06%), H2O (up to 0.1%); surface pressure 5-7 hPa. The areas of the surface of Mars covered with craters are similar to the lunar mainland. Significant scientific material about Mars was obtained with the help of the Mariner and Mars spacecraft.
Movement, size, mass Mars moves around the Sun in an elliptical orbit with an eccentricity of 0.0934. The plane of the orbit is inclined to the plane of the ecliptic at a small angle (1° 51). ;
- the fifth from the sun of our solar system. the average distance from the Sun is 5.2 AU. e. (778.3 million km), sidereal circulation period 11.9 years, rotation period (cloud layer near the equator) approx. 10 h, equivalent to a diameter of approx. 142,800 km, weight 1.90 1027 kg.
Atmospheric composition: H2, CH4, NH3, He. Jupiter is a powerful source of thermal radio emission, has a radiation belt and an extensive magnetosphere. Jupiter has 16 satellites;
Saturn is the sixth planet from the sun in our solar system. Orbital period 29.46 years, rotation period
at the equator (cloud layer) 10.2 hours, equatorial diameter 120 660 km, mass 5.68 1026 kg, has 17 satellites, the atmosphere includes CH4, H2, He, NH3. Saturn has radiation belts. , which has rings. SATURN, the second largest planet in the solar system after Jupiter; refers to the giant planets.
Movement, size, shape Saturn's elliptical orbit has an eccentricity of 0.0556 and an average radius of 9.539 AU. e. (1427 million km). The maximum and minimum distances from the Sun are approximately 10 and 9 AU. e. Distances from the Earth vary from 1.2 to 1.6 billion km.
The inclination of the planet's orbit to the plane of the ecliptic is 2°29.4. ;
- the seventh from the sun of our solar system. Refers to the giant planets, the average distance from the Sun is 19.18 AU. e. (2871 million km), circulation period 84 years, rotation period approx. 17 hours, equatorial diameter 51,200 km, mass 8.7 1025 kg, atmospheric composition: H2, He, CH4. The axis of rotation of Uranus is tilted at an angle of 98°. Uranus has 15 satellites (5 discovered from Earth Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, Oberon, and 10 discovered by the Voyager 2 spacecraft Cordelia, Ophelia, Bianca, Cressida, Desdemona, Juliet, Portia, Rosalind, Belinda, Pack) and ring system. Movement, dimensions, mass Uranus moves around the Sun in an elliptical orbit, the major semi-axis of which (average heliocentric distance) is 19.182 greater than that of the Earth, and is 2871 million km. ;
is the eighth from the sun in our solar system. Orbital period 164.8 years, rotation period 17.8 hours, equatorial diameter 49,500 km, mass 1.03.1026 kg, atmospheric composition: CH4, H2, He. Neptune has 6 moons.
It was discovered in 1846 by I. Galle according to the theoretical predictions of W. J. Le Verrier and J. C. Adams. The remoteness of Neptune from the Earth significantly limits the possibilities of its study. NEPTUNE, the eighth largest planet from the Sun, belongs to the giant planets. Some parameters of the planet Neptune moves around the Sun in an elliptical, close to circular (eccentricity 0.009) orbit; its average distance from the Sun is 30.058 times greater than that of the Earth, which is approximately 4500 million km. This means that the light from the Sun reaches Neptune in a little over 4 hours. ;
- the ninth from the sun of our solar system. The average distance from the Sun is 39.4 AU. e., circulation period 247.7 years, rotation period 6.4 days, diameter approx. 3000 km, weight approx. 1.79.1022 kg. Methane has been discovered on Pluto. Pluto is a double planet, its satellite, about 3 times smaller in diameter, moves at a distance of only approx. 20,000 km from the center of the planet, making 1 revolution in 6.4 days. Some parameters of the planet Pluto moves around the Sun in an elliptical orbit with a significant eccentricity equal to 0.25, exceeding even the eccentricity of Mercury's orbit (0.206).
The semi-major axis of Pluto's orbit is 39.439 AU. e. or approximately 5.8 billion km. The plane of the orbit is inclined to the ecliptic at an angle of 17.2°. One revolution of Pluto lasts 247.7 Earth years;
, their satellites, many small planets, comets, small meteoroids and cosmic dust moving in the area of the prevailing gravitational action of the Sun. According to the prevailing scientific ideas, the formation of the solar system began with the emergence of the central body of the Sun;
The gravitational field of the Sun led to the capture of an incident gas-dust cloud, from which the Solar System was formed as a result of gravitational separation and condensation. The pressure of the solar radiation caused its inhomogeneity chemical composition: lighter elements, primarily hydrogen and helium, predominate in the peripheral (so-called outer, or distant) planets. The age of the Earth has been most reliably determined: it is approximately equal to 4.6 billion years.
The general structure of the solar system was revealed in the middle of the 16th century. N. Copernicus, who substantiated the idea of the motion of the planets around the Sun. Such solar system model called heliocentric. In the 17th century I. Kepler discovered the laws of planetary motion, and I. Newton formulated the law of universal gravitation. The study physical characteristics cosmic bodies that are part of the solar system, became possible only after the invention of G. Galileo in 1609 telescope. So, observing sunspots, Galileo first discovered the rotation of the Sun around its axis.
