Thursday, September 18, 2008

1.000.000 $ question: how many planets in our solar system?

You might think you know... but recently the astronomers have being redefining, de-classing and altering planetary bodies and their definitions.

So this is the current situation:
''In order of their distances from the Sun, the eight planets are:

* Mercury
* Venus
* Earth
* Mars
* Jupiter
* Saturn
* Uranus
* Neptune

As of mid-2008, five smaller objects are classified as dwarf planets: Ceres is in the asteroid belt, while the other four (Pluto, Haumea, Makemake, and Eris) all orbit the Sun beyond Neptune.

Six of the planets and three of the dwarf planets are in turn orbited by natural satellites, usually termed "moons" after Earth's Moon, and each of the outer planets is encircled by planetary rings of dust and other particles.
''



Source here.

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