TOPIC 02:THE SOLAR SYSTEM
Solar system Is the arrangement of the sun, planets and other solid objects in space in relation to the position of the sun.
The planets are not arranged in a single line from the sun, they are scattered in space.
- Mercury = 57,600,000 km
- Venus = 107,200,000 km
- Earth = 148,800,000 km
- Mars = 227,200,000 km
- Jupiter = 772,800,000 km
- Saturn = 1,417,600,000 km
- Uranus = 2,854,400,000 km
- Neptune = 4,468,800,000 km
A. SUN
Sun is the star. It is one among the millions of stars that one sees at night except that it looks much bigger because it is closer to the earth than other distant stars.
The sun is much larger than other distant stars from the earth, in fact much larger than all the planets put together. Its diameter is approximately 1.4 million kilometers and its mass is approximately 330,000 times greater than that of the earth. The elements that form the material of the sun are also in different proportions from those of the earth.
The sun is composed of approximately;
- 75% hydrogen
- 23% helium
- 3% of other elements