
The following is a list of
Solar System
The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Sola ...
objects by orbit, ordered by increasing distance from the Sun. Most named objects in this list have a diameter of 500 km or more.
*The
Sun
The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...
, a
spectral class
In astronomy, stellar classification is the classification of stars based on their spectral characteristics. Electromagnetic radiation from the star is analyzed by splitting it with a prism or diffraction grating into a spectrum exhibiting the ...
G2V main-sequence star
*The
inner Solar System and the
terrestrial planet
A terrestrial planet, tellurian planet, telluric planet, or rocky planet, is a planet that is composed primarily of silicate, rocks or metals. Within the Solar System, the terrestrial planets accepted by the IAU are the inner planets closest to ...
s
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Mercury
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Mercury-crossing minor planets
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Venus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is often called Earth's "twin" or "sister" planet for having almost the same size and mass, and the closest orbit to Earth's. While both are rocky planets, Venus has an atmosphere much thicker ...
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Venus-crossing minor planets
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524522 Zoozve, Venus'
quasi-satellite
A quasi-satellite is an object in a specific type of co-orbital configuration (1:1 orbital resonance) with a planet (or dwarf planet) where the object stays close to that planet over many orbital periods.
A quasi-satellite's orbit around the Sun ...
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Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...
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Moon
The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...
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Near-Earth asteroid
A near-Earth object (NEO) is any small Solar System body orbiting the Sun whose closest approach to the Sun (perihelion) is less than 1.3 times the Earth–Sun distance (astronomical unit, AU). This definition applies to the object's orbit aro ...
s
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99942 Apophis
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433 Eros
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Earth trojan
An Earth trojan is an asteroid that orbits the Sun in the vicinity of the Earth–Sun Lagrange points (leading 60°) or (trailing 60°), thus having an orbit similar to Earth's. Only two Earth trojans have so far been discovered. The name "tr ...
s ()
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Earth-crosser asteroids
****Earth's
quasi-satellite
A quasi-satellite is an object in a specific type of co-orbital configuration (1:1 orbital resonance) with a planet (or dwarf planet) where the object stays close to that planet over many orbital periods.
A quasi-satellite's orbit around the Sun ...
s
**
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...
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Deimos
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Phobos
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Mars trojan
The Mars trojans are a group of trojan objects that share the orbit of the planet Mars around the Sun. They can be found around the two Lagrangian points 60° ahead of and behind Mars. The origin of the Mars trojans is not well understood. One t ...
s
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Mars-crossing minor planets
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Asteroid
An asteroid is a minor planet—an object larger than a meteoroid that is neither a planet nor an identified comet—that orbits within the Solar System#Inner Solar System, inner Solar System or is co-orbital with Jupiter (Trojan asteroids). As ...
s in the
asteroid belt
The asteroid belt is a torus-shaped region in the Solar System, centered on the Sun and roughly spanning the space between the orbits of the planets Jupiter and Mars. It contains a great many solid, irregularly shaped bodies called asteroids ...
, between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter
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Ceres, a
dwarf planet
A dwarf planet is a small planetary-mass object that is in direct orbit around the Sun, massive enough to be hydrostatic equilibrium, gravitationally rounded, but insufficient to achieve clearing the neighbourhood, orbital dominance like the ...
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Pallas
Pallas may refer to:
Astronomy
* 2 Pallas asteroid
** Pallas family, a group of asteroids that includes 2 Pallas
* Pallas (crater), a crater on Earth's moon
Mythology
* Pallas (Giant), a son of Uranus and Gaia, killed and flayed by Athena
* Pa ...
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Vesta
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Hygiea
***Asteroids number in the hundreds of thousands. For longer lists, see
list of exceptional asteroids,
list of asteroids, or
list of Solar System objects by size
This article includes a list of the most massive known objects of the Solar System and partial lists of smaller objects by observed mean radius. These lists can be sorted according to an object's radius and mass and, for the most massive objects, ...
.
****
Asteroid moons
**A number of
smaller groups distinct from the asteroid belt
*The
outer Solar System
The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Sol ...
with the
giant planet
A giant planet, sometimes referred to as a jovian planet (''Jove'' being another name for the Roman god Jupiter (mythology), Jupiter), is a diverse type of planet much larger than Earth. Giant planets are usually primarily composed of low-boiling ...
s, their satellites, trojan asteroids and some
minor planet
According to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a minor planet is an astronomical object in direct orbit around the Sun that is exclusively classified as neither a planet nor a comet. Before 2006, the IAU officially used the term ''minor ...
s
**
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a Jupiter mass, mass more than 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined a ...
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Rings of Jupiter
***Complete list of
Jupiter's natural satellites
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Galilean moons
The Galilean moons (), or Galilean satellites, are the four largest moons of Jupiter. They are, in descending-size order, Ganymede (moon), Ganymede, Callisto (moon), Callisto, Io (moon), Io, and Europa (moon), Europa. They are the most apparent m ...
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Io
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Europa
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Ganymede
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Callisto
CALLISTO (''Cooperative Action Leading to Launcher Innovation in Stage Toss-back Operations'') is a reusable VTVL Prototype, demonstrator propelled by a small 40 kN Japanese LOX-LH2 rocket engine. It is being developed jointly by the CNES, French ...
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Jupiter trojan
The Jupiter trojans, commonly called trojan asteroids or simply trojans, are a large group of asteroids that share the planet Jupiter's orbit around the Sun. Relative to Jupiter, each Trojan (celestial body), trojan Libration point orbit, librat ...
s
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Jupiter-crossing minor planets
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Saturn
Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant, with an average radius of about 9 times that of Earth. It has an eighth the average density of Earth, but is over 95 tim ...
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Rings of Saturn
Saturn has the most extensive and complex ring system of any planet in the Solar System. The rings consist of particles in orbit around the planet made almost entirely of water ice, with a trace component of Rock (geology), rocky material. Parti ...
***Complete list of
Saturn's natural satellites
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Mimas
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Enceladus
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Tethys (
trojans:
Telesto and
Calypso)
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Dione (trojans:
Helene and
Polydeuces)
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Rhea
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Rings of Rhea (largely disproven)
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Titan
Titan most often refers to:
* Titan (moon), the largest moon of Saturn
* Titans, a race of deities in Greek mythology
Titan or Titans may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Fictional entities
Fictional locations
* Titan in fiction, fictiona ...
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Hyperion
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Iapetus
In Greek mythology, Iapetus (; ; ), also Japetus, is a Titan, the son of Uranus and Gaia and father of Atlas, Prometheus, Epimetheus, and Menoetius. He was also called the father of Buphagus and Anchiale in other sources.
Iapetus was linked ...
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Phoebe
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Shepherd moons
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Saturn-crossing minor planets
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Uranus
Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun. It is a gaseous cyan-coloured ice giant. Most of the planet is made of water, ammonia, and methane in a Supercritical fluid, supercritical phase of matter, which astronomy calls "ice" or Volatile ( ...
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Rings of Uranus
***Complete list of
Uranus's natural satellites
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Miranda
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Ariel
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Umbriel
Umbriel () is the third-largest moon of Uranus. It was discovered on October 24, 1851, by William Lassell at the same time as neighboring moon Ariel. It was named after a character in Alexander Pope's 1712 poem '' The Rape of the Lock''. Umb ...
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Titania
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Oberon
Oberon () is a king of the fairy, fairies in Middle Ages, medieval and Renaissance literature. He is best known as a character in William Shakespeare's play ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'', in which he is King of the Fairies and spouse of Titania ...
***Uranus trojan ()
***
Uranus-crossing minor planets
**
Neptune
Neptune is the eighth and farthest known planet from the Sun. It is the List of Solar System objects by size, fourth-largest planet in the Solar System by diameter, the third-most-massive planet, and the densest giant planet. It is 17 t ...
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Rings of Neptune
The rings of Neptune consist primarily of five principal Planetary ring, rings. They were first discovered (as "arcs") by simultaneous observations of a stellar occultation on 22 July 1984 by André Brahic's and William B. Hubbard's teams at La S ...
***Complete list of
Neptune's natural satellites
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Proteus
In Greek mythology, Proteus ( ; ) is an early prophetic sea god or god of rivers and oceanic bodies of water, one of several deities whom Homer calls the "Old Man of the Sea" (''hálios gérôn''). Some who ascribe a specific domain to Prote ...
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Triton
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Nereid
In Greek mythology, the Nereids or Nereides ( ; ; , also Νημερτές) are sea nymphs (female spirits of sea waters), the 50 daughters of the ' Old Man of the Sea' Nereus and the Oceanid Doris, sisters to their brother Nerites. They ofte ...
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Neptune trojan
Neptune trojans are bodies that orbit the Sun near one of the stable Lagrangian points of Neptune, similar to the trojans of other planets. They therefore have approximately the same orbital period as Neptune and follow roughly the same orbita ...
s
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Neptune-crossing minor planets
**Non-trojan
minor planet
According to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a minor planet is an astronomical object in direct orbit around the Sun that is exclusively classified as neither a planet nor a comet. Before 2006, the IAU officially used the term ''minor ...
s
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Centaur
A centaur ( ; ; ), occasionally hippocentaur, also called Ixionidae (), is a creature from Greek mythology with the upper body of a human and the lower body and legs of a horse that was said to live in the mountains of Thessaly. In one version o ...
s
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Damocloids
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Trans-Neptunian object
A trans-Neptunian object (TNO), also written transneptunian object, is any minor planet in the Solar System that orbits the Sun at a greater average distance than Neptune, which has an orbital semi-major axis of 30.1 astronomical units (AU).
...
s (beyond the orbit of Neptune)
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Kuiper-belt objects (KBOs)
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Plutino
In astronomy, the plutinos are a dynamical group of trans-Neptunian objects that orbit in 2:3 mean-motion resonance with Neptune. This means that for every two orbits a plutino makes, Neptune orbits three times. The dwarf planet Pluto is the la ...
s
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Orcus
Orcus was a god of the underworld, punisher of broken oaths in Etruscan and Roman mythology. As with Hades, the name of the god was also used for the underworld itself. Eventually, he was conflated with Dis Pater and Pluto.
A temple to Orcus ma ...
, a
dwarf planet
A dwarf planet is a small planetary-mass object that is in direct orbit around the Sun, massive enough to be hydrostatic equilibrium, gravitationally rounded, but insufficient to achieve clearing the neighbourhood, orbital dominance like the ...
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Vanth
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Pluto
Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of Trans-Neptunian object, bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the Su ...
, a
dwarf planet
A dwarf planet is a small planetary-mass object that is in direct orbit around the Sun, massive enough to be hydrostatic equilibrium, gravitationally rounded, but insufficient to achieve clearing the neighbourhood, orbital dominance like the ...
******Complete list of
Pluto's natural satellites
*******
Charon
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Twotinos
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Cubewano
A classical Kuiper belt object, also called a cubewano ( "QB1-o"), is a low-eccentricity Kuiper belt object (KBO) that orbits beyond Neptune and is not controlled by an orbital resonance with Neptune. Cubewanos have orbits with semi-major axe ...
s (classical objects)
*****, a
dwarf planet
A dwarf planet is a small planetary-mass object that is in direct orbit around the Sun, massive enough to be hydrostatic equilibrium, gravitationally rounded, but insufficient to achieve clearing the neighbourhood, orbital dominance like the ...
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Namaka
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Hiʻiaka
*****, a
dwarf planet
A dwarf planet is a small planetary-mass object that is in direct orbit around the Sun, massive enough to be hydrostatic equilibrium, gravitationally rounded, but insufficient to achieve clearing the neighbourhood, orbital dominance like the ...
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Weywot
*****, a
dwarf planet
A dwarf planet is a small planetary-mass object that is in direct orbit around the Sun, massive enough to be hydrostatic equilibrium, gravitationally rounded, but insufficient to achieve clearing the neighbourhood, orbital dominance like the ...
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S/2015 (136472) 1
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307261 Máni
307261 Máni ( provisional designation ) is a large trans-Neptunian object in the Kuiper belt, which is a region of icy planetesimals beyond Neptune. It was discovered on 18 June 2002 by Chad Trujillo and Michael Brown during their search for ...
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120347 Salacia
Salacia (minor-planet designation: 120347 Salacia) is a large trans-Neptunian object (TNO) and possible dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, approximately in diameter. It was discovered on 22 September 2004, by American astronomers Henry G. Roe, Hen ...
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Actaea (moon)
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174567 Varda
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Ilmarë
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20000 Varuna
20000 Varuna (provisional designation ) is a large trans-Neptunian object in the Kuiper belt. It was discovered in November 2000 by American astronomer Robert McMillan during a Spacewatch survey at the Kitt Peak National Observatory. It is na ...
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Scattered-disc objects
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Gonggong
Gonggong () is a Chinese water god who is depicted in Chinese mythology and folktales as having a copper human head with an iron forehead, red hair, and the body of a serpent, or sometimes the head and torso are human, with the tail of a serpen ...
, a
dwarf planet
A dwarf planet is a small planetary-mass object that is in direct orbit around the Sun, massive enough to be hydrostatic equilibrium, gravitationally rounded, but insufficient to achieve clearing the neighbourhood, orbital dominance like the ...
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Xiangliu
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Eris, a
dwarf planet
A dwarf planet is a small planetary-mass object that is in direct orbit around the Sun, massive enough to be hydrostatic equilibrium, gravitationally rounded, but insufficient to achieve clearing the neighbourhood, orbital dominance like the ...
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Dysnomia
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****
****/
V774104
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Detached objects
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**** (possibly inner Oort cloud)
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Sedna, a
dwarf planet
A dwarf planet is a small planetary-mass object that is in direct orbit around the Sun, massive enough to be hydrostatic equilibrium, gravitationally rounded, but insufficient to achieve clearing the neighbourhood, orbital dominance like the ...
(possibly inner Oort cloud)
***
Oort cloud
The Oort cloud (pronounced or ), sometimes called the Öpik–Oort cloud, is scientific theory, theorized to be a cloud of billions of Volatile (astrogeology), icy planetesimals surrounding the Sun at distances ranging from 2,000 to 200,000 A ...
(hypothetical)
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Hills cloud/inner Oort cloud
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Outer Oort cloud
The Solar System also contains:
*
Comet
A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that warms and begins to release gases when passing close to the Sun, a process called outgassing. This produces an extended, gravitationally unbound atmosphere or Coma (cometary), coma surrounding ...
s
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List of periodic comets
Periodic comets (also known as short-period comets) are comets with orbital periods of less than 200 years or that have been observed during more than a single perihelion passage (e.g. 153P/Ikeya–Zhang). "Periodic comet" is also sometimes us ...
**
List of near-parabolic comets
The following is a list of comets with a very high eccentricity (generally 0.99 or higher) and a period of over 1,000 years that do not quite have a high enough velocity to escape the Solar System. Often, these comets, due to their extreme semima ...
*Small objects, including:
**
Meteoroid
A meteoroid ( ) is a small rocky or metallic body in outer space.
Meteoroids are distinguished as objects significantly smaller than ''asteroids'', ranging in size from grains to objects up to wide. Objects smaller than meteoroids are classifie ...
s
**
Interplanetary dust
**
Helium focusing cone, around the Sun
**Human-made objects orbiting the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, and Saturn, including active artificial
satellite
A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scient ...
s and
space junk
*
Heliosphere
The heliosphere is the magnetosphere, astrosphere, and outermost atmospheric layer of the Sun. It takes the shape of a vast, tailed bubble-like region of space. In plasma physics terms, it is the cavity formed by the Sun in the surrounding ...
, a bubble in space produced by the solar wind
**
Heliosheath
***
Heliopause
***
Hydrogen wall, a pile up of hydrogen from the
interstellar medium
The interstellar medium (ISM) is the matter and radiation that exists in the outer space, space between the star systems in a galaxy. This matter includes gas in ionic, atomic, and molecular form, as well as cosmic dust, dust and cosmic rays. It f ...
See also
*
Outline of the Solar System
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the Solar System:
Solar System – gravitationally bound system comprising the Sun and the objects that orbit it, either directly or indirectly. Of those objects that ...
*
Lists of astronomical objects
This is a list of lists, grouped by type of astronomical object.
Solar System
* List of Solar System objects
* List of gravitationally rounded objects of the Solar System
* List of Solar System objects most distant from the Sun
* List of ...
*
List of natural satellites
Of the Solar System's eight planets and its list of possible dwarf planets, nine most likely dwarf planets, six planets and seven dwarf planets are known to be orbited by at least 430 natural satellites, or moons. At least List of gravitational ...
*
List of Solar System objects by size
This article includes a list of the most massive known objects of the Solar System and partial lists of smaller objects by observed mean radius. These lists can be sorted according to an object's radius and mass and, for the most massive objects, ...
*
List of Solar System objects most distant from the Sun
These Solar System minor planets are the furthest from the Sun . The objects have been categorized by their approximate current distance from the Sun, and not by the calculated aphelion of their orbit. The list changes over time because the obj ...
*
Ring system
A ring system is a disc or torus orbiting an astronomical object that is composed of solid material such as dust, meteoroids, planetoids, moonlets, or stellar objects.
Ring systems are best known as planetary rings, common components of sate ...
*
Solar System models
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Solar System