Distances and scales

To-scale
diagram of distance between planets, with the white bar showing orbital variations. The size of the
planets is not to scale.

The radius of the Sun is 0.0047 AU (700,000 km; 400,000 mi).[57] Thus, the Sun occupies 0.00001% (1 part
in 107) of the volume of a sphere with a radius the size of Earth's orbit, whereas Earth's volume is roughly
1 millionth (10−6) that of the Sun. Jupiter, the largest planet, is 5.2 AU from the Sun and has a radius of
71,000 km (0.00047 AU; 44,000 mi), whereas the most distant planet, Neptune, is 30 AU from the Sun.[42]
[58]

With a few exceptions, the farther a planet or belt is from the Sun, the larger the distance between its
orbit and the orbit of the next nearest object to the Sun. For example, Venus is approximately 0.33 AU
farther out from the Sun than Mercury, whereas Saturn is 4.3 AU out from Jupiter, and Neptune lies
10.5 AU out from Uranus. Attempts have been made to determine a relationship between these orbital
distances, like the Titius–Bode law[59] and Johannes Kepler's model based on the Platonic solids,[60] but
ongoing discoveries have invalidated these hypotheses.[61]

Some Solar System models attempt to convey the relative scales involved in the Solar System in human
terms. Some are small in scale (and may be mechanical—called orreries)—whereas others extend across
cities or regional areas.[62] The largest such scale model, the Sweden Solar System, uses the 110-meter
(361-foot) Avicii Arena in Stockholm as its substitute Sun, and, following the scale, Jupiter is a 7.5-meter
(25-foot) sphere at Stockholm Arlanda Airport, 40 km (25 mi) away, whereas the farthest current
object, Sedna, is a 10 cm (4 in) sphere in Luleå, 912 km (567 mi) away.[63][64]

If the Sun–Neptune distance is scaled to 100 meters (330 ft), then the Sun would be about 3 cm (1.2 in)
in diameter (roughly two-thirds the diameter of a golf ball), the giant planets would be all smaller than
about 3 mm (0.12 in), and Earth's diameter along with that of the other terrestrial planets would be
smaller than a flea (0.3 mm or 0.012 in) at this scale.[65]

Habitability

Main article: Planetary habitability in the Solar System

Besides solar energy, the primary characteristic of the Solar System enabling the presence of life is the
heliosphere and planetary magnetic fields (for those planets that have them). These magnetic fields
partially shield the Solar System from high-energy interstellar particles called cosmic rays. The density of
cosmic rays in the interstellar medium and the strength of the Sun's magnetic field change on very long
timescales, so the level of cosmic-ray penetration in the Solar System varies, though by how much is
unknown.[66]

The zone of habitability of the Solar System is conventionally located in the inner Solar System, where
planetary surface or atmospheric temperatures admit the possibility of liquid water.[67] Habitability might
be possible in subsurface oceans of various outer Solar System moons.[68]

Comparison with extrasolar systems

 Comparison of the habitable zones for different stellar
temperatures, with a sample of known exoplanets plus the Earth, Mars, and Venus

Compared to many extrasolar systems, the Solar System stands out in lacking planets interior to the orbit
of Mercury.[69][70] The known Solar System lacks super-Earths, planets between one and ten times as
massive as the Earth,[69] although the hypothetical Planet Nine, if it does exist, could be a super-Earth
orbiting in the edge of the Solar System.[71]

Uncommonly, it has only small terrestrial and large gas giants; elsewhere planets of intermediate size are
typical—both rocky and gas—so there is no "gap" as seen between the size of Earth and of Neptune
(with a radius 3.8 times as large). As many of these super-Earths are closer to their respective stars than
Mercury is to the Sun, a hypothesis has arisen that all planetary systems start with many close-in planets,
and that typically a sequence of their collisions causes consolidation of mass into few larger planets, but
in case of the Solar System the collisions caused their destruction and ejection. [69][72]

The orbits of Solar System planets are nearly circular. Compared to many other systems, they have
smaller orbital eccentricity.[69] Although there are attempts to explain it partly with a bias in the radial-
velocity detection method and partly with long interactions of a quite high number of planets, the exact
causes remain undetermined.[69][73]

Sun

Main article: Sun

The Sun in true white color

The Sun is the Solar System's star and by far its most massive component. Its large mass (332,900 Earth
masses),[74] which comprises 99.86% of all the mass in the Solar System,[75] produces temperatures and
densities in its core high enough to sustain nuclear fusion of hydrogen into helium.[76] This releases an
enormous amount of energy, mostly radiated into space as electromagnetic radiation peaking in visible
light.[77][78]
Because the Sun fuses hydrogen at its core, it is a main-sequence star. More specifically, it is a G2-type
main-sequence star, where the type designation refers to its effective temperature. Hotter main-
sequence stars are more luminous but shorter lived. The Sun's temperature is intermediate between
that of the hottest stars and that of the coolest stars. Stars brighter and hotter than the Sun are rare,
whereas substantially dimmer and cooler stars, known as red dwarfs, make up about 75% of
the fusor stars in the Milky Way.[79]

The Sun is a population I star, having formed in the spiral arms of the Milky Way galaxy. It has a higher
abundance of elements heavier than hydrogen and helium ("metals" in astronomical parlance) than the
older population II stars in the galactic bulge and halo.[80] Elements heavier than hydrogen and helium
were formed in the cores of ancient and exploding stars, so the first generation of stars had to die before
the universe could be enriched with these atoms. The oldest stars contain few metals, whereas stars
born later have more. This higher metallicity is thought to have been crucial to the Sun's development of
a planetary system because the planets formed from the accretion of "metals".[81]

The region of space dominated by the Solar magnetosphere is the heliosphere, which spans much of the
Solar System. Along with light, the Sun radiates a continuous stream of charged particles (a plasma)
called the solar wind. This stream spreads outwards at speeds from 900,000 kilometers per hour
(560,000 mph) to 2,880,000 kilometers per hour (1,790,000 mph),[82] filling the vacuum between the
bodies of the Solar System. The result is a thin, dusty atmosphere, called the interplanetary medium,
which extends to at least 100 AU.[83]

Activity on the Sun's surface, such as solar flares and coronal mass ejections, disturbs the heliosphere,
creating space weather and causing geomagnetic storms.[84] Coronal mass ejections and similar events
blow a magnetic field and huge quantities of material from the surface of the Sun. The interaction of this
magnetic field and material with Earth's magnetic field funnels charged particles into Earth's upper
atmosphere, where its interactions create aurorae seen near the magnetic poles.[85] The largest stable
structure within the heliosphere is the heliospheric current sheet, a spiral form created by the actions of
the Sun's rotating magnetic field on the interplanetary medium.[86][87]