10 interesting facts about our solar system that will surprise you

The Solar System is a weird place filled with incredible physics and geological oddities that often break down in human terms. The way we learn the order of the planets is the classroom version of what is actually happening.

For instance, Venus is hotter than Mercury and has a surface that looks like it was formed in a volcanic hell, while ice giants are believed to have ‘diamond rain’ falling through their atmosphere. NASA’s Solar System exploration archives state that 99.8 per cent of the Solar System’s mass is contained in the Sun. These 10 things you didn’t know about the solar system highlight a universe that is far more dynamic than any textbook could ever tell.

The research being done by NASA’s MESSENGER Mission determined that roughly 85 per cent of Mercury’s radius comes from its metallic core, while the Earth’s core makes up approximately 50 per cent of the radius. When the planets were initially formed within the solar system, a collision may have occurred that would have destroyed the outer rock layers of the planet Mercury.

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Even though Pluto is considered a dwarf planet of the solar system, the Oort Cloud is a theoretical ‘bubble’ of icy debris that marks the outer boundary of the Sun’s gravitational influence. It is located up to 1.6 light-years away, and it is the birthplace of most long-period comets.

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It is almost impossible to comprehend the scale of our universe on our planet. As per NASA’s Solar System Exploration, our sun contains 99.86 per cent of the entire mass of our solar system. In other words, the total combined mass of all the planets, moons, asteroids and comets that comprise our solar system is less than 0.2 per cent of what’s left. If the entire solar system were the same size as a standard front door, planet Earth would only be the size of a single coin (nickel).

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Saturn is a giant gas planet with such a low density that it can float in water. Saturn is primarily made up of hydrogen and helium; thus, it is the only body in our solar system that has a lower density than water, according to NASA Science. If there were a sufficiently large bathtub to hold it, Saturn would float.

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Despite being closer to the sun, Venus has a much higher surface temperature than Mercury. The European Space Agency (ESA) explains that Venus is plagued by the ‘runaway greenhouse effect’, which is a result of its carbon dioxide-dominant atmosphere trapping heat at such a high efficiency that Venus’ surface temperature is consistently 470 degrees Celsius (878 degrees Fahrenheit), which is hot enough for melting lead.

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The weather on Neptune and Uranus comes with a dazzling light show deep within the planets. Research conducted by the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory indicates that carbon is pulled from methane to create diamonds due to the extreme pressure at these depths, which then ‘rains’ downwards towards the core.

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The most well-known feature of Jupiter is a storm that has been around for hundreds of years, but it is also gradually disappearing. In the 1800s, the Great Red Spot was estimated to have an overall size of 40,000 kilometres across (large enough for 3 Earths to fit). According to data collected by orbiters now in space, the storm has shrunk to 16,500 kilometres in diameter and continues to decrease every year.

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Mars has the most impressive geological activity in our solar system. According to NASA’s Mars Exploration Program, Mars’s Olympus Mons volcano measures 21.9 kilometres (13.6 miles) high, almost three times taller than the tallest mountain in the world, Mount Everest. Because Mars does not exhibit plate tectonic activity, it was built up over a singular ‘hotspot’ for billions of years, resulting in such an impressive size.

The solar system extends well beyond Neptune into a large collection of cold, frozen things, also referred to as a ‘junkyard.’ The Kuiper Belt contains millions of ice-cube-like shapes according to the New Horizons Mission (NASA), and at least 3 of these shapes are recognised by scientists as dwarf planets- Pluto, Haumea, and Makemake. The Kuiper Belt is also known for providing a ‘fossil record’ of how the early solar system developed.
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