Those who travel know that if you devote your whole life to this occupation, you will still find a piece, a plot or even a huge piece of the Earth that has remained unknown. It seems as if our planet is full of vast expanses. The task of squinting and imagining it all feels completely impossible. Meanwhile, the Earth belongs to the type of space objects, which can be called "small planets of the solar system." Scientifically, they are designated as terrestrial planets, modest enough on a universal scale. Our Earth would seem even more infinite if its dimensions were close to the parameters of gas giants, which will be discussed below.
Classification
First, consider the principle that underlies what types astronomy divides planets. The solar system is delimited by the Main belt of asteroids into two parts. The first includes Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. In the second - Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, behind them is Pluto and the Kuiper belt. The first four - this is the planet of the earth group. In addition to their location, the structure unites them: they consist of compounds of metals and silicon, have a core, mantle and crust. Earth is the largest planet in the solar system in this group.
The four behind the Asteroid Belt are the so-called gas giants. As the name implies, they are huge, significantly exceed the size of the planet of the earth group. However, their most important difference lies in the composition of the substance forming such space objects. This is a mixture of gases: hydrogen, helium, ammonia, methane. Such a structure makes giants fundamentally different from the Earth and similar planets.
Ninth
As for Pluto, in 2006 it was “demoted” to dwarf planets and assigned to the objects of the Kuiper belt, a structure quite distant from the Earth, which, however, does not end the solar system. Pluto, according to scientists, does not correspond to one of the points of the accepted definition of the planet: it does not have enough mass to clear its orbit from other bodies. Apparently, while in composition it is close to the bodies of the Kuiper belt, ice blocks formed by frozen methane and nitrogen.
Now in our system there are only eight planets and a few more dwarf planets, which will never reach the "brothers".
What is the largest planet in the solar system?
Obviously, the most impressive cosmic body should be sought among the gas giants. However, today every schoolchild knows the answer to the question “which planet is the largest in the solar system”. This is Jupiter - the first magnificent giant beyond the Asteroid belt, probably playing its role in the appearance of life on Earth, all the time of its existence protecting it from meteorites.
Striking dimensions
And again, it is extremely difficult to understand how huge Jupiter is if you try to imagine an object 1300 times larger than Earth. Comparison comes to the rescue: Jupiter is the planet of the Solar system, surpassing our home in size, like a pea soccer ball . The storm, played out in the atmosphere of a giant, is so widespread that it can cover all the planets of the earth's group, except Mercury, combined.
It affects not only the size, but also the rotation speed of Jupiter. He makes one revolution around the axis in just 10 hours, moves at a speed of 45300 km / h. At the same time, the giant passes the orbit in 12 years. And this is also quite fast, given the distance from the Sun it is (five times farther than the Earth).
Ephemeral surface
Many schoolchildren, upon learning which planet in the Solar System is the largest, wondered how long one could walk on it, travel. And these dreams continued until they knew that no one could ever step on the surface of the planet. Jupiter is surrounded by an atmosphere of hydrogen and helium in a ratio of 9: 1. It flows smoothly into liquid hydrogen. There is essentially no border between the atmosphere and the surface; it is indicated conditionally by pressure level.
Clouds and spots
If you look closely at the photographs of Jupiter, it is easy to notice that the planet has a "characteristic appearance." The recognizable striped pattern of the upper atmosphere is composed of stable clouds: light zones are interspersed with reddish-brown belts. Between them, the most powerful atmospheric streams, or jets, are wedged. In fact, these are winds of great power. Their direction either coincides with the motion of the planet, or opposite to it. Clouds, light and dark, as well as jets are conventionally designated as geographical objects on the equally conventional surface of the gas giant.
The main symptom
The surface of Jupiter is characterized by another phenomenon. This is a big red spot. It can be called a special sign of the planet. Similar formations, equally bright and persistent, are absent on other space objects of the Solar system. Scientists suggest that the Great Red Spot is a gigantic storm in the atmosphere. It moves around the planet, changing longitude, but strictly adhering to the same latitude, for at least the last 350 years. The spot is characterized by changes in dimensions: it either increases to a huge size, then it is reduced by half.
Spacecraft research confirmed the hypothesis of astronomers: A large red spot is a huge anticyclone rotating counterclockwise at a speed of one revolution in six days.
Giants
There are a lot of interesting processes going on on Jupiter, but it is worth mentioning about its "brothers." The second largest planet is Saturn. It is unlikely that there will be a person who will not be able to identify him in the image of all objects of the solar system. Its distinguishing feature is noticeable rings. By the way, all gas giants have similar formations, like satellites. The rings of Saturn are most famous because of their impressiveness. They consist of particles of ice with a small admixture of heavy elements and dust.
The composition of Saturn is similar to that of Jupiter: hydrogen, helium, methane, ammonia, various impurities. On the surface of the planet visible from space, no stable formations are formed as on Jupiter. Much stronger winds rage here.
Ice giants
Next to Saturn is Uranus, then Neptune. Astronomers combine them into a separate subgroup of ice giants, because in their bowels there is no metallic hydrogen, characteristic of Jupiter and Saturn, but a lot of ice in high-temperature modifications. Perhaps the most unusual characteristic of Uranus is the tilt of its axis. The planet, as it were, lies on its side and therefore the Sun illuminates mainly not the equatorial zone, but alternately the North or South Pole.
On Neptune, the strongest winds blow. Its surface is characterized by a formation similar to the Great Red Spot. It was called the "Great Dark Spot."
So, the answer to the question "which planet is the largest in the solar system" sounds simple: it is Jupiter. Hiding behind this short word is a huge mass, strong winds, a large red spot. It is followed by Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, each is unique in its own way, modern astronomy knows something interesting about each. The entire solar system, with all its objects and structures, even in comparison with the giant Jupiter, is huge. And this corner of the universe remains largely a mystery to us. A lot of information, including about gas giants, is now left without explanation, some theories need refinement. We can say with confidence that there are still many discoveries awaiting us, related both to the largest planets of the system and to more modest in size.