stars

A star is a massive, luminous ball of plasma. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is the source of most of the energy on Earth. Other stars are visible in the night sky, when they are not outshone by the Sun. For most of its life, a star shines due to thermonuclear fusion in its core releasing energy that traverses the star’s interior and then radiates into outer space. Almost all elements heavier than hydrogen and helium were created by fusion processes in stars.

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Neptune

Neptune is the eighth and farthest planet from the Sun in the Solar System. It is the fourth largest planet by diameter, and the third largest by mass. Neptune is 17 times the mass of Earth and is slightly more massive than its near-twin Uranus, which is 15 Earth masses and less dense.The planet is named after the Roman god of the sea. Its astronomical symbol is Astronomical symbol for Neptune., a stylized version of the god Neptune’s trident.

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Uranus

Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun and the third-largest and fourth-most massive planet in the solar system. It is named after the ancient Greek deity of the sky (Uranus, Οὐρανός), the father of Kronos (Saturn) and grandfather of Zeus (Jupiter). Uranus was the first planet discovered after 1700.

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Saturnus

Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and is the second largest in the solar system with an equatorial diameter of 119,300 kilometers (74,130 miles). Much of what is known about the planet is due to the Voyager explorations in 1980-81.

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Jupiter

Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System. It is two and a half times as massive as all of the other planets in our Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas giant, along with Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Together, these four planets are sometimes referred to as the Jovian planets, where Jovian is the adjectival form of Jupiter.


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Mars

Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after Mars, the Roman god of war. It is also referred to as the “Red Planet” because of its reddish appearance.

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Earth

Earth is the third planet from the Sun. Earth is the largest of the terrestrial planets in the Solar System in diameter, mass and density. It is also referred to as the Earth, Planet Earth, the World, and Terra.

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Asteroid

Asteroids, sometimes called minor planets or planetoids, are bodies—primarily of the inner Solar System—that are smaller than planets but larger than meteorite, with the exception of comets. The distinction between asteroids and comets is made on visual appearance when discovered: Comets show a perceptible coma (a fuzzy “atmosphere”), while asteroids do not. … continue reading this entry.

Comet

A comet is a small Solar System body that orbits the Sun and, when close enough to the Sun, exhibits a visible coma (atmosphere) or a tail — both primarily from the effects of solar radiation upon the comet’s nucleus. Comet nuclei are themselves loose collections of ice, dust and small rocky particles, measuring a few kilometres or tens of kilometres across.

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Venus

Venus is the second-closest planet to the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days. The planet is named after Venus, the Roman Goddes of love. It is the brightest natural object in the night sky, except for the Moon, reaching an apparent magnitude of −4.6. Because Venus is an inferior planet from Earth, it never appears to venture far from the Sun: its elongation reaches a maximum of 47.8°. Venus reaches its maximum brightness shortly before sunrise or shortly after sunset, for which reason it is often called the Morning Star or the Evening Star.

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