're traveling, we know that if this occupation and to devote all his life, there is still a piece, or even a portion of a huge piece of land remaining unexplored.It seems as if our planet is full of boundless open spaces.Task squint and imagine it all feels like a completely impossible.Meanwhile, the Earth is a type of space objects, which can be called "small planets of the solar system."Scientifically, they are referred to as terrestrial planets, quite modest universal scale.Even more it would seem infinite our earth, if its size is approaching the parameters of the gas giants, which will be discussed below.
Classification
To begin, consider the principle underlying the order on what types of divides the world of astronomy.The solar system delineated the main asteroid belt into two parts.The first group includes Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars.The second - Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, Pluto is behind them and the Kuiper Belt.The first four - this is the terrestrial planets.In addition to the location of the structure they have in common: they consist of metal compounds and silicon have a core, mantle and crust.Earth - the largest planet in the solar system in the group.
Four of the asteroid belt - the so-called gas giants.As the name implies, they are huge, far exceed the size of the terrestrial planets.However, the major difference between them lies in the composition of the substance forming such space objects.This gas mixture: hydrogen, helium, ammonia, methane.Such a structure makes it fundamentally different from the giants to Earth and similar to her planet.
Ninth
As for Pluto, he in 2006 was "demoted" to the dwarf planet and assigned to the objects of the Kuiper Belt, is sufficiently far from the Earth's structure, which, however, is still not the end of the solar system.Pluto, according to scientists, does not meet one of the points of the accepted definition of a planet: it does not have enough mass to clear its orbit of other bodies.Apparently, in this composition it is close to the bodies of the Kuiper belt, blocks of ice formed by frozen methane and nitrogen.
Now our only eight planets and several dwarf planets, which never grow to the "brothers".
What planet in the solar system is the biggest?
Obviously, the most impressive outer body to be found among the gas giants.However, the answer to the question "what planet in the solar system's largest" today every schoolboy knows.This Jupiter - the first in the main asteroid belt magnificent giant, probably played a role in the emergence of life on Earth, all the time of its existence, to defend it from meteorites.
Damaging dimensions
Again, very difficult to understand how huge Jupiter, if you try to imagine the object is 1300 times greater than in the bulk of the Earth.In aid of the comparison: Jupiter - the planet of the solar system, surpassing the size of our house, like a soccer ball pea.The storm played out in an atmosphere of a giant, too colossal that can cover them all terrestrial planets except Mercury combined.
affects not only the size but also the speed of rotation of Jupiter.It makes one revolution around its axis in just 10 hours, moving at a speed of 45,300 km / h.This giant orbit passes over 12 years.And it is also quite fast, considering how far it is from the sun (five times farther than Earth).
ephemeral surface
Many students learn what a planet in the solar system's largest, wondered how long it would be possible for her to walk, to travel.And the dreams continued until, until they learned that the planet's surface step no one can ever.Jupiter is surrounded by an atmosphere of hydrogen and helium in a ratio of 9: 1.It flows smoothly into the liquid hydrogen.The boundaries between the atmosphere and the surface in fact no, it is conventionally designated by the level of pressure.
Clouds and patches
If you look at photographs of Jupiter, it is easy to notice that the world "characteristic appearance".Recognizable striped pattern of the upper layers of the atmosphere is stable clouds: light areas are interspersed with reddish-brown belt.Between them wedged powerful atmospheric flows, or scientifically jets.In fact, this huge force winds.They either direction coincides with the movement of the planets, or the opposite of him.Clouds, light and dark, and are referred to as jets conditional on geographic features as conventional surface of the gas giant.
main sign
Jupiter's surface is characterized by another phenomenon.This is the Great Red Spot.It can be called a special sign of the planet.Such education is as bright and persistent, there is no other space objects of the solar system.Scientists suggest that the Great Red Spot - a giant storm in the atmosphere.It moves on the planet, changing longitude, but strictly adhering to the same latitude, for at least the last 350 years.To change the dimensions of the spot characteristic: it is growing to enormous proportions, it is reduced by half.
Research spacecraft astronomers confirmed the hypothesis: the Great Red Spot is a huge anticyclone, rotating counterclockwise at a rate of one revolution in six days.
Approximate giant
On Jupiter takes a lot of interesting processes, but it is worth mentioning his "brothers."The second largest is the planet Saturn.There is hardly a person who is not able to identify him in the image of objects in the solar system.Its distinguishing feature - marked ring.By the way, such as education, as well as satellites, has all the gas giants.Saturn's rings are best known for their impressive.They consist of ice particles with a small admixture of heavy elements and dust.
Saturn composition similar to Jovian: hydrogen, helium, methane, ammonia, and various impurities.On the visible surface of the planet from space is not formed as stable formations like on Jupiter.There are raging much stronger winds.
Ice giants
next for Saturn is Uranus, Neptune then.Astronomers combined them into a separate subgroup of ice giants because their interiors no metallic hydrogen characteristic of Jupiter and Saturn, but a lot of ice in the high-temperature modification.Perhaps the most unusual feature of Uranus - a tilt of its axis.The planet as it lying on its side so the sun illuminates is substantially equatorial zone, and alternately the North, the South Pole.
Neptune blow the strongest winds.For it is characteristic of the formation of the surface, similar to the Great Red Spot.It was called the "Great Dark Spot".
So, the answer to the question "what planet in the solar system's largest" sounds simple: it is Jupiter.Hidden behind this short word of a huge mass, strong winds, the Great Red Spot.It is followed by Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, each is unique, each about something interesting to know modern astronomy.The solar system entirely with all the objects and structures, even in comparison with the giant Jupiter, enormous.And this corner of the universe for us in many ways remains shrouded in mystery.The mass of information, including about the gas giants, are now left without explanation, some theories require further development.We can confidently say that we are waiting for many more discoveries, associated with both the largest planet in the system, and with more modest in size.
