solar system

                                              Avg. Radius        Period of
Body       Radius (m)       Mass (kg)         of orbit (m)       Revolution (s)
Sun        6.95 x 108       1.98 x 1030       -------*           -------*
Mercury    2.57 x 106       3.28 x 1023       5.79 x 1010        7.60 x 106
Venus      6.31 x 106       4.38 x 1024       1.08 x 1011        1.94 x 107
Earth      6.38 x 106       5.98 x 1024       1.49 x 1011        3.16 x 107
Mars       3.43 x 106       6.37 x 1023       2.28 x 1011        5.94 x 107
Jupiter    7.18 x 107       1.90 x 1027       7.78 x 1011        3.74 x 108
Saturn     6.03 x 107       5.67 x 1026       1.43 x 1012        9.30 x 108
Uranus     2.67 x 107       8.80 x 1026       2.87 x 1012        2.66 x 109
Neptune    2.48 x 107       1.03 x 1026       4.50 x 1012        5.20 x 109
Pluto      -------*         -------*          5.90 x 1012        7.28 x 109
Moon**     1.74 x 106       7.34 x 1022       3.80 x 108         2.36 x 106

^* unknown or does not apply
^** In relation to Earth

Although Saturn's rings are hundreds of thousands of miles wide, they are only a couple hundred meters thick.

On one of Neptune's moons there are ice-cliffs so tall it would take 14 minutes to fall off.

The Sun rotates faster around the middle than on other parts. (It's possible because it's made of burning gas.)

A Mercury day is longer than a Mercury year: the planet rotates at a speed so slow that one side of Mercury faces the Sun for about 120 Earth days. During this time, the Sun rises very slowly, then falls back the way it came, and then just before going out of sight, it rises again and continues to go across the sky as it does on Earth, setting in the other direction. Each "day" the Sun rises twice.

As Mars orbits around the Sun it changes the axis on which it spins, creating some mega-weird weather patterns.

If you made a "to scale" model of our solar system with the Sun of diameter 20cm, Pluto would be a dot on a piece of paper about 700 meters away. If you continued the model at this scale and created the whole of the galaxy Milky Way, the star models would continue to be placed passed the actual planet Pluto and further still.

Winds on Neptune go up to 1500 miles per hour.

Neptune's biggest moon, Triton, is gradually nearing Neptune on it's orbit and is due to collide in the next 10 million to 100 million years. When this happens, Neptune will have larger and more rings than Saturn.

Notes: The satellites of each body are listed beneath it. New moons are continually being reported in orbit of the outer planets, but I've only listed those that have been recognized and officially named. In addition to their moons, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are all orbited by diffuse rings, though only Saturn's rings are easily observable. Asteroids are dispersed throughout the solar system; they're not all confined to the main belt, though most are. Comets usually remain in the Oort cloud and Kuiper belt, with a few notable exceptions (such as Halley's Comet).

The Solar System

The Sun

• Mercury
• Venus
• Earth
  • The Moon
• Mars
  • Phobos
  • Deimos
• the Asteroid Belt: a few asteroids are Ceres, Pallas, Eros, Juno, Vesta, and Ida
• Jupiter
  • Metis
  • Adrastea
  • Amalthea
  • Thebe
  • Io
  • Europa
  • Ganymede
  • Callisto
  • Leda
  • Himalia
  • Lysithea
  • Elara
  • Ananke
  • Carme
  • Pasiphae
  • Sinope
• Saturn
  • Pan
  • Atlas
  • Prometheus
  • Pandora
  • Epimitheus
  • Janus
  • Mimas
  • Enceladus
  • Thethys
  • Telesto
  • Calypso
  • Dione
  • Helene
  • Rhea
  • Titan
  • Hyperion
  • Iapetus
  • Phoebe
• Uranus
  • Cordelia
  • Ophelia
  • Bianca
  • Cressida
  • Desdemona
  • Juliet
  • Portia
  • Rosalind
  • Belinda
  • Puck
  • Miranda
  • Ariel
  • Umbriel
  • Titania
  • Oberon
  • Caliban
  • Sycorax
  • Prospero
  • Setebos
  • Stephano
• Neptune
  • Naiad
  • Thalassa
  • Despina
  • Galatea
  • Larissa
  • Proteus
  • Triton
  • Nereid
• Pluto
  • Charon
• the Kuiper belt
• the Oort Cloud

I would like to keep this outline accurate and up to date. If you have any additions or corrections, please tell me.

A weapon system from the Gundam universe.

Used during the Battle of Solomon and during the events of U.C. 0083, a Solar System is a huge array of hundreds of mirrors in space. Each mirror is controlled by a central control module. The weapon is used by orienting the mirrors to reflect solar energy to a small point in space - i.e. spacecraft or colonies.

Although cheap and efficient, it's construction makes is extremely vulnerable to enemy attack, lacking any defenses against capital ships, mobile armor, or mobile suits. Thus, they need to be protected with a fleet-sized group.

On of the more feasible weapons from the Gundam universe, not requiring alterations in known physics, unlike mobile suits, which require Minovsky particles.

As an aside, I'd like to contruct a miniature version in my back yard. In order to do this, I need lots of cheap, reflective things. Those of you who have some AOL CDs are encouraged to send them to me.