Solar System Facts For Kids | Hidden Facts About Solar System

We have collected some of the amazing solar system facts for kids. So let’s begin our journey by the fact that the center point of our solar system is the Sun while eight planets orbit the Sun on a plane called as Ecliptic. Besides there are few dwarf planets, 4 ring systems, comets amounting to trillions in numbers and millions of asteroids. All the planets have their natural satellites called Moons. The boundary of our solar system is believed to have been the Pluto’s most exterior orbit. It was long believed that Pluto is a planet but not anymore since now we know that it is a Dwarf Planet. That’s why there are eight planets instead of nine. Hence we’ll try to unravel true and hidden realities in the solar system facts for kids.

Most Appealing Solar System Facts For Kids

1. No planet in our solar system glows by itself but it reflects light from the Sun.
2. The largest planet of our solar system is Jupiter.
3. Gas giants are planets that are made up of gases.
4. As from the Sun, Jupiter is the closest gas giant in the entire solar system.
5. Our solar system has eight planets. It is perhaps a new addition for some readers in this solar system facts for kids.
6. Every planet has one or few moons that orbits around it but Venus and Mercury have no moon.
7. Our solar system has one hundred and sixty five moons or natural satellites.
8. The term Planet comes from the Latin word Planeta, which means the wanderer.
9. In olden times, people spotted only five planets namely Mercury, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars and Venus.
10. The solar system came into being at around 4.56 billion years before.
11. If any celestial body is spherical in shape, orbiting around the Sun and with the help of great pull of gravity, it has cleaned up its area from rubble; it means that thing can be called as a planet. All the three prerequisites are indispensable for a planet.
12. If a celestial body is spherical and circle around the Sun but without so much gravitational power is known as Dwarf Planet.
13. Our solar system has three Dwarf Planets namely Pluto, Eris and Ceres.
14. There are almost one million asteroids in our solar system.
15. Sun is present at the heart of our solar system.
16. One of the interesting solar system facts for kids is that almost 99 percent of the solar system’s mass is stored within the Sun.
17. The Sun radiates energy with the help of nuclear fusion reaction and the temperature at this point is almost 15.7 million K.
18. We can view the exterior atmosphere of the Sun (Corona) only during solar eclipse.
19. A coronagraph is a telescope built to view the Corona.
20. The lifecycle of the Sun is about ten billion years.
21. Almost 70 percent of the Earth is protected by oceans.
22. Of all the planets in our solar system, our Earth is the unique planet to have correct atmospheric pressure to sustain water on its surface.

Did you know these solar system facts for kids before? Well, if they are interesting enough, do not just stop here.

More Solar System Facts For Kids

• Those planets that resemble Jupiter are known as Jovian planets.
• The names of Jovian planets are Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Jupiter.
• The other name of Jovian planets is Gas Giants.
• The big icy satellite of Neptune (known as Triton) is very much similar to Pluto.
• The biggest asteroid of our solar system is called Ceres (Dwarf Planet).
• Those planets that are similar to the Earth are known as Terrestrial planets.
• The surface of the Moon reveals that planets may have suffered heavy bombing ever since the formation of the solar system.
• There was heavy bombing on the Moon during 4.2 to 3.8 billion years before. This period is now referred to as Late Heavy Bombardment.
• There are four primary satellites of Jupiter. They are also referred to as Galilean Satellites after their exploration by Galileo in 1610.
• The size of one of the Galilean Satellites (known as ‘Io’) is almost equal to the Moon (the satellite of Earth). Do you find these solar system facts for kids interesting?
• The biggest satellite of our solar system is called Ganymede (Satellite of Jupiter). It is bigger than the size of Mercury.
• There is no satellite in the solar system that has substantial atmosphere except Titan (satellite of Saturn).
• Ceres is the only planet (Dwarf Planet) that has no satellite.
• The rotation periods of Pluto and its satellite, Charon, is exactly alike. As a result, the face of planet fronting its satellite and the face of satellite fronting its planet remains same at all times.
• There are significant magnetic fields in all the Jovian planets.
• There is no magnetic field on Venus as well as on the satellite of Earth (the Moon).
• Our solar system and the Sun lie at about 8.5 kpc from the galactic center of Milky Way.
• The name of the star which is closest to our solar system is “Proxima Centauri”. Are you aware of these solar system facts for kids?
• The most gleaming star in our solar system is known as Sirius.
• Pluto is the smallest and the farthest planet from the Sun.
• The size of the Sun is very big as compare to our planet such that it can absorb 1.3 million Earths.

The distance of the Sun from our planet is so great that if you drive a car on a main road at optimum speed, it’ll take you one hundred and fifty years to arrive at the Sun. Wow! What long drive!

• The galaxy in which our solar system exists is called Milky Way.
• Comets and Asteroids are the tiniest celestial bodies in our solar system.
• There is a Great Red Spot on Jupiter and its size is almost 3 times the size of our planet.
• The spinning speed of Jupiter is fastest among all the planets as within every ten Earth Hours, the planet revolves.
• With the help of great gravitational pull, the massive cloud full of dirt and gases in space begins to fuse and this huge mass then starts rotating. The miniature objects develop into planets while others turn into moons (natural satellites). That’s how our solar system was formed.
• Once in a while, Comets penetrate our solar system. Isn’t it one of the amazing solar system facts for kids?
• Even though Jupiter is the largest planet but it is so small as compare to the Sun that the Sun can take in almost 1,000 Jupiters in it. Isn’t it one of the rarely known solar system facts for kids?
• The Chinese were the first people to document the happening of solar eclipse way back 4,300 years before.
• Around 2,265 years before, Aristarchus suggested that the center point of solar system is the Sun.
• It was long thought that our planet is the center of solar system (for as long as 1,400 years).
• In 1781, William Herschel explores the 7^th planet, Uranus.
• The maximum temperature of any planet is of Mercury which ranges up to 1112^oF (Earth’s maximum temperature is 300^oF).
• Mercury holds hundreds of craters and interestingly the names of few are Shakespeare, Beethoven and Mark Twain, Sibelius, Dickens.
• Venus is the most burning planet of our solar system.
• Around 3,000 years before the Greeks thought that our planet was a horizontal disc.

Do you really like these solar system facts for kids or not? If yes, then please comment on which is the most interesting fact in this solar system facts for kids?