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Solar system comparison of the sizes of planets and stars. Comparison of the sizes of known planets and stars. Brief information about the giant planets

Solar system comparison of the sizes of planets and stars. Comparison of the sizes of known planets and stars. Brief information about the giant planets

I love looking at the starry sky. It is very exciting. When a star falls, I always make a wish. For me personally, every star is a mysterious and unknown world. Scientists prove that there is no life in the entire Galaxy except Earth. Is this so... Perhaps there is something on some star. There are millions of them and they are all so far from us.

What are the sizes of stars?

Every person knows what a star is. From Earth we see a small bright celestial body. In fact, it's very large balls that consist of different gases. It has been proven that in their core temperature is about 6 million degrees. And at the heart of the stars lie Vhydrogen (90%) and helium (slightly less than 10%). In fact, a star is also the Sun, only smaller in size (or larger). Astronomers often call them "fireballs."

If you look through a telescope, you can see that each star is different in size, shape and is surrounded by a different nebula. Stars are divided into three types based on size:

dwarfs- they are the majority. They are much smaller than the sun, therefore they save their energy and can shine for tens of billions of years;
giants - their mass is approximately the same as the Sun. Less bright than dwarfs;
supergiants- are relatively rare in the solar system. Their diameter is more than 1 billion km. Such stars in 1 00 times more from the Sun.

Classification of stars by color

Do you know that The color of a star directly depends on its temperature s. Red stars have the lowest temperature, blue stars have the highest:

red stars– temperature 2,500 -3,500 °C. These are mostly dwarfs, and to a lesser extent giants. They are classified as cool stars;
orange– 3,500 – 5000 °C. Also cold stars, dwarfs;
brown 5000 -6000 °C. They are often spoken by planets, mainly dwarfs;
yellow– 6000 – 7,500 °C. They are classified as solar type. These are giant stars;
white– 7,500 -10,000 °C. They belong to a number of cooling ones;
blue– 10000 – 28000 °C. They have a blue glow. Some of the hottest;
blue– 28000 – 50000 °C. The hottest stars.

It seems to us from Earth that all the stars are almost the same. And we think that they differ only in the brightness of the glow. In fact - all stars are different sizes and have different temperatures.

Our Solar System consists of the Sun, the planets orbiting it, and smaller celestial bodies. All of these are mysterious and surprising because they are still not fully understood. Below will be indicated the sizes of the planets of the solar system in ascending order, and a brief description of the planets themselves.

There is a well-known list of planets, in which they are listed in order of their distance from the Sun:

Pluto used to be in last place, but in 2006 it lost its status as a planet, as larger celestial bodies were found further away from it. The listed planets are divided into rocky (inner) and giant planets.

Brief information about rocky planets

The inner (rocky) planets include those bodies that are located inside the asteroid belt separating Mars and Jupiter. They got their name “stone” because they consist of various hard rocks, minerals and metals. They are united by a small number or absence of satellites and rings (like Saturn). On the surface of rocky planets there are volcanoes, depressions and craters formed as a result of the fall of other cosmic bodies.

But if you compare their sizes and arrange them in ascending order, the list will look like this:

Brief information about the giant planets

The giant planets are located beyond the asteroid belt and therefore are also called outer planets. They consist of very light gases - hydrogen and helium. These include:

But if you make a list by the size of the planets in the solar system in ascending order, the order changes:

A little information about the planets

In modern scientific understanding, a planet means a celestial body that revolves around the Sun and has sufficient mass for its own gravity. Thus, there are 8 planets in our system, and, importantly, these bodies are not similar to each other: each has its own unique differences, both in appearance and in the components of the planet themselves.

- This is the planet closest to the Sun and the smallest among the others. It weighs 20 times less than the Earth! But, despite this, it has a fairly high density, which allows us to conclude that there are a lot of metals in its depths. Due to its strong proximity to the Sun, Mercury is subject to sudden temperature changes: at night it is very cold, during the day the temperature rises sharply.

- This is the next planet closest to the Sun, in many ways similar to Earth. It has a more powerful atmosphere than Earth and is considered a very hot planet (its temperature is above 500 C).

- This is a unique planet due to its hydrosphere, and the presence of life on it led to the appearance of oxygen in its atmosphere. Most of the surface is covered with water, and the rest is occupied by continents. A unique feature is the tectonic plates, which move, albeit very slowly, resulting in changes in the landscape. The Earth has one satellite - the Moon.

– also known as the “Red Planet”. It gets its fiery red color from a large amount of iron oxides. Mars has a very thin atmosphere and much lower atmospheric pressure compared to Earth. Mars has two satellites - Deimos and Phobos.

is a real giant among the planets of the solar system. Its weight is 2.5 times the weight of all the planets combined. The surface of the planet consists of helium and hydrogen and is in many ways similar to the sun. Therefore, it is not surprising that there is no life on this planet - there is no water and a solid surface. But Jupiter has a large number of satellites: 67 are currently known.

– This planet is famous for the presence of rings consisting of ice and dust revolving around the planet. With its atmosphere it resembles that of Jupiter, and in size it is slightly smaller than this giant planet. In terms of the number of satellites, Saturn is also slightly behind - it has 62 known. The largest satellite, Titan, is larger than Mercury.

- the lightest planet among the outer ones. Its atmosphere is the coldest in the entire system (minus 224 degrees), it has a magnetosphere and 27 satellites. Uranium consists of hydrogen and helium, and the presence of ammonia ice and methane has also been noted. Because Uranus has a high axial tilt, it appears as if the planet is rolling rather than rotating.

- despite its smaller size than , it is heavier and exceeds the mass of the Earth. This is the only planet that was found through mathematical calculations, and not through astronomical observations. The strongest winds in the solar system were recorded on this planet. Neptune has 14 moons, one of which, Triton, is the only one that rotates in the opposite direction.

It is very difficult to imagine the entire scale of the solar system within the limits of the studied planets. It seems to people that the Earth is a huge planet, and, in comparison with other celestial bodies, it is so. But if you place giant planets next to it, then the Earth already takes on tiny dimensions. Of course, next to the Sun, all celestial bodies appear small, so representing all the planets in their full scale is a difficult task.

The most famous classification of planets is their distance from the Sun. But a listing that takes into account the sizes of the planets of the Solar System in ascending order would also be correct. The list will be presented as follows:

As you can see, the order has not changed much: the inner planets are on the first lines, and Mercury occupies the first place, and the outer planets occupy the remaining positions. In fact, it doesn’t matter at all in what order the planets are located, this will not make them any less mysterious and beautiful.

Dimensions of objects in the Universe in comparison (photo)

1. This is Earth! We live here. At first glance it is very large. But, in fact, compared to some objects in the Universe, our planet is negligible. The following photos will help you at least roughly imagine what simply cannot fit into your head.

2. The location of planet Earth in the solar system.

3. Scaled distance between the Earth and the Moon. Doesn't look too far away, does it?

4. Within this distance you can place all the planets of our solar system, beautifully and neatly.

5. This small green spot is the continent of North America, on the planet Jupiter. You can imagine how much larger Jupiter is than the Earth.

6. And this photo gives an idea of the size of planet Earth (that is, our six planets) compared to Saturn.

7. This is what Saturn's rings would look like if they were around the Earth. Beauty!

8. Hundreds of comets fly between the planets of the solar system. This is what comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko, on which the Philae probe landed in the fall of 2014, looks like, compared to Los Angeles.

9. But all objects in the solar system are negligible compared to our Sun.

10. This is what our planet looks like from the surface of the Moon.

11. This is what our planet looks like from the surface of Mars.

12. And this is us from Saturn.

13. If you fly to the edge of the solar system, you will see our planet like this.

14. Let's go back a little. This is the size of the Earth compared to the size of our Sun. Impressive, isn't it?

15. And this is our Sun from the surface of Mars.

16. But our Sun is only one of the stars in the Universe. Their number is more than grains of sand on any beach on Earth.

17. This means that there are stars much larger than our Sun. Just look at how tiny the Sun is compared to the largest star known today, VY, in the constellation Canis Major.

18. But not a single star can compare with the size of our Milky Way Galaxy. If we reduce our Sun to the size of a white blood cell and reduce the entire Galaxy by the same amount, then the Milky Way will be the size of Russia.

19. Our Milky Way Galaxy is huge. We live somewhere around here.

20. Unfortunately, all the objects that we can see with the naked eye in the sky at night are placed in this yellow circle.

21. But the Milky Way is far from the largest Galaxy in the Universe. This is the Milky Way compared to Galaxy IC 1011, which is 350 million light-years from Earth.

22. But that's not all. This Hubble image captures thousands upon thousands of galaxies, each containing millions of stars with their own planets.

23. For example, one of the galaxies in the photo, UDF 423. This galaxy is located ten billion light years from Earth. When you look at this photo, you are looking billions of years into the past.

24. This dark piece of the night sky looks completely empty. But when zoomed in, it turns out that it contains thousands of galaxies with billions of stars.

25. And this is the size of a black hole compared to the size of the Earth’s orbit and the orbit of the planet Neptune.

One such black abyss could easily suck in the entire solar system.

The main sources of light in the Universe are stars. Moreover, the main energy factory for life on Earth is the star closest to us - the Sun. Many of us know how insignificant our blue planet is compared to the mighty star. However, each time recalling the ratio of the volumes of these two celestial bodies, it is impossible not to be surprised. Think about it, the Sun is more than a million times larger than the Earth! Luminaries are among the largest single-phase objects in space, but how can the sizes of stars vary?

"Odyssey" - the ship on which we will explore the stars

Looking at the night sky, each of us can be amazed at the countless number of luminous points. It was as if myriads of pearls of different sizes, luminosity and colors were scattered on the black heavenly glaze. Looking up at night, it seems that all the stars are the same size, with the exception of the planets, of course. Let's agree that we have some kind of compact spacecraft that looks like a fighter. It will be equipped with an engine of the future, which will have enough normal-sized aircraft tanks to operate, and we will give it a simple name - “Odyssey”.

So is it a star or not?

And so, our Odyssey enters the orbit of the double star Gliese 229. It is located only 19 light years from the Sun. We are interested in Gliese 229 V, an object externally smaller than even Jupiter. We set the parameters to the computer to enter orbit. But suddenly the autopilot warns us that the ship is falling rapidly and the manually entered data is false. The computer quickly adjusts the thrust, not just a little, but significantly. It soon becomes clear that Gliese 229 V, although smaller in geometric dimensions than Jupiter, is 25 times heavier.

Until now, there is debate about whether strange objects like brown dwarfs should be classified as stars? Nowadays, they mean a hydrogen substar with sizes ranging from 0.012 to 0.0767 solar masses. They are comparable to the size of Jupiter. Thermonuclear processes occur in the interiors of brown dwarfs, just like in stars. But the release of heat occurs mainly due to the fusion reaction of isotopes of light nuclei such as lithium, beryllium, boron, and deuterium. The contribution of classical proton thermonuclear fusion to the total heat release is small. Brown dwarfs are thought to account for the majority of stars in space. Some astronomers believe that a large portion of dark matter may come from brown dwarfs. Well, let's fly on!

From the little ones

Sizes of stars in the Milky Way

Let us ask ourselves, what are the dimensions of the smallest members of this class of space objects? We command the on-board computer to fly to the nearest neutron star. Hyperleap and voila, we are approaching a tiny star with a strange name - RX J1856.5-3754.

RX J1856.5-3754 X-ray image from the Chandra telescope

"Odyssey" is hovering high above the surface of the crumb, which has a diameter of only 10-20 kilometers, but our engines are frantically picking up speed, and the information from the screens says that we are in orbit of the Sun! And here the first surprise awaits us! The smallest representatives of the stellar family have a diameter of about 15 kilometers. But their mass exceeds that of the Sun. Just imagine how dense a neutron star would be. After elementary mathematical calculations, it becomes clear that the compactness of the packing of matter there exceeds that of the atomic nucleus.

Neutron stars

We pluck up our courage and go lower to get a better look at the star, but an alarm begins to sound in the cabin, warning us of a colossal magnetic field.

But these are all known facts. But there is another exotic property of neutron stars. And it is connected primarily with relativistic effects, the essence of which is that if you look at a neutron star from any angle (top, bottom or perpendicular to the axis of rotation), you will see more than 50% of the total surface area! It’s hard to wrap my head around it. If this effect were transferred to our planet, then you would be able to see what is beyond the horizon. In future articles we will definitely return to this phenomenon and to many other amazing phenomena. And in order to understand them better, let’s take them into account. Neutron stars are the “skeletons” of once-living stars; they have no source of energy. They are more like giant batteries that lose energy irretrievably. Okay, time to look at another class of pseudostars.

Odyssey enters orbit around Van Maanen's Star, the nearest white dwarf 14.1 light-years from the Sun. A depressing sight. We see a kind of “corpse” - the remains of an evolved star. The sizes of white dwarfs do not exceed one hundredth the size of the Sun, and their mass is comparable to it. A white dwarf is the dim core of a dead star, which shines only due to the cooling of its plasma matter. Between white dwarfs and our Sun there is one of the largest class of constituent stars in terms of numbers - red dwarfs. A command to the computer, and we instantly find ourselves in the orbit of Proxima Centauri.

A small red star, glowing dejectedly in the boundless space. The size and mass of such stars does not exceed only a third, and their luminosity is thousands of times less than that of the Sun.

According to many astronomers, red dwarfs constitute the largest class of “real” stars in the Universe. The fact is that all of the above stars are not really stars. Only in red dwarfs do classical proton thermonuclear reactions take place, allowing them to exist for hundreds of billions of years.

This inconspicuous star will very likely outlive the Sun, and if humanity wants to find a star in space that can shelter us after the death of our native star, then we won’t have to go far. By space standards, of course.

From the Sun to Red Supergiants

Let's look at yellow dwarfs. Yes, yes, our Sun is a yellow dwarf! More precisely, its spectral class is G2V. This type of star is not very numerous in the Universe. Stars of this kind have a mass of 0.8 to 1.2 solar masses. After stars like our star use up their hydrogen fuel, their size increases and they become red subgiants and giants. There is little interesting and we demand that “Odyssey” continue the banquet.

Betelgeuse

We find ourselves in orbit around Betelgeuse, located 500 light-years from home, at 19 astronomical units from the star's center. An indescribable picture appears before your eyes. Being as far from the core of this star as Uranus is from the core of the Sun, we see that the red disk of the star is almost hundreds of times larger than the size of the Sun, and its color is red. Dying star. If we translate the age of stars into human life, then the Sun would be a little over forty years old. Betelgeuse is already an old man, reaching the end of his life. We are carried away by the mesmerizing view, the computer warns us that we urgently need to leave the confines of the star, since according to spectral observations, very soon the star will shine brighter, which could harm our small ship. Red giants are unstable and their emission can vary greatly.

Alnitak

But if such red “fat men” are already elderly stars, then blue giants and supergiants are very young stars. The ship enters the orbit of Alnitak, a blue giant in the constellation Orion, suspended in black space 800 light-years from Earth. The computer warns us that we can only look at this star through a video camera with special filters, since its luminosity is 35 thousand times greater than that of the Sun! In fact, blue giants are so hot that they don't even have time to live their lives by stellar standards. If yellow dwarfs live up to 10 billion years, and red dwarfs can theoretically last up to 100, then blue giants and supergiants literally burn out in the blink of an eye. What is a life of 10 - 50 million years for a star? Despite their menacing name, their sizes are more than modest. In total, no more than 25 solar radii. Alnitak's radius is 18 times that of the Sun, as is its mass.

Antares

In the vastness of endless space there are real mastodons in the form of supergiants. The humble Odyssey takes us into the high orbit of Antares, the brightest star in the constellation Scorpio, 600 light-years from the Sun. To get a better look at it, we ask the computer to move to a distance of 1.4 astronomical units from the core, so to speak with a margin. But the system protests, assuring us that we will end up below the surface of the star. How so? We will be at the level of the equivalent of the orbit of Mars from the Antares core. But it turns out that the radius of red supergiants is sometimes 800 times greater than that of the Sun. But Antares's mass is only 12.4 times that of the Sun, and its gas is very rarefied.

UY Shield

Before completing our excursion, we request that the Odyssey be taken to the largest star currently known. And we enter the orbit of UY Scuti, at the same distance from the core at which Saturn is from the Sun. Yet almost our entire field of vision is eclipsed by the red giant disk of a star that is 1,700 times larger in radius than the Sun, but only 40 times heavier. If we placed this star at the center of the solar system, it would absorb all the planets up to Jupiter. If you compress the Earth to the size of a centimeter, then UY Scuti on the same scale was almost 2 kilometers!

What's the result?

To summarize, it is important to note that both the mass and geometric dimensions of stars can vary greatly. Some have an unimaginable density, while others, on the contrary, are highly discharged. Stars vary greatly in luminosity and color, temperature and lifespan. The size of stars is influenced by a combination of two forces - the force of gravity, which tries to compress the star, and the pressure of the gas heated inside. At present, the theory of stellar evolution is far from perfect.

Astrophysicists cannot give a clear answer to the banal question: “How big and massive can a star be?”

Of course, there are fundamental limitations that prevent, for example, the existence of a galaxy-sized star. Stars with a mass from 8 to about 150 solar lives quickly, due to the fact that the temperature in their depths is colossal, and thermonuclear reactions occur rapidly. More recently, it was believed that the limit for a star's mass was 150 solar masses. But recent space research has shown that 300 solar masses for a star may not be the limit! In such stars, in addition to lightning-fast thermonuclear fusion reactions, additional fluctuations arise due to the interaction of particle-antiparticle pairs. Such supergiants can explode even before the classical collapse occurs, simply going through the process of annihilation. But this is all theory for now.

A lot is left outside the scope of this story. But everything has its time. And we, amazed by such diverse sizes of stars, tired and satisfied, give the command to the Odyssey to return to the tiny, but so dear Earth.

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